4SHOT Sports

AAU Basketball
2008 Southern Shootout
By Larry "L.A." Williams
Mar 16, 2008, 08:07 EST

The 22^nd Annual Southern Shoot-Out

Clayton State University – Morrow, GA

WORLDWIDE, GT Stars and Georgia Stars win

Morrow, GA - Once again Al Outlaw and the Team Georgia Elite organization had a wealth of talent on-hand for the 22nd Annual Southern Shootout AAU Tournament held on the campus of Clayton State University.

On hand where some of the top AAU Teams in the country, like the Worldwide Renegades (GA), Team Georgia Elite (GA), Birmingham Ice (AL), Birmingham Raptors (AL), Georgia Stars (GA) and the Birmingham Storm (GA).

While I saw a lot of players in the 15 and 16 under brackets my focus was on the 17U age group that included several high profile performers like 6-10 DeMarcus Cousins (Birmingham Storm), 6-6 Ari Stewart (Worldwide), 6-5 Courtney Carr (Birmingham Raptors), 6-0 Eric Bledsoe (Birmingham Ice), 6-4 Harold Dolby (Augusta Metros) and 6-0 Lazabian Jackson (Team Georgia Elite Black) just to name a few.

After the dust had cleared and pool play was completed the four best teams, Worldwide, Birmingham Storm, Birminingham Raptors and the Birmingham Ice battled it out for the Southern Shootout Championship Trophy.

17U Championship Game

Worldwide RENEGADES 53 - Birmingham ICE 43

Ari Stewart throws down 2 of his game high 16 points for the RENEGADES.

Morrow, GA - ‘Washington, what do big-time players do in big-time games? that’s right they step up’. Edward Daniels came up big for the ICE scoring 11 of Birmingham’s 27 first half points. Ari Stewart and Mfon Udofia did likewise for Worldwide with 13 and 8 points respectively as the RENEGADES took a 31-27 halftime lead.

Edward Daniels from the ICE goes up against Olsen and Howell from the RENEGADES.

In the second half the ICE cooled off, Eric Bledsoe however did pick up his game, knocking down a three-pointer enroot to scoring 8 second half points.

Worldwide used their decided height advantage by pounding the ball inside to 6-8 Colin Reddick who responded by hitting 5 of 5 free-throws as the RENEGADES went on to a hard fought 53-43 championship game victory.

Stewart finished with a game high 16 points and Udofia added 12 for the RENEGADES. Daniels and Bledsoe pace the ICE with 15 and 12 respectively.

17U Semifinals

Morrow, GA - The two most talented teams on paper were Worldwide and the Birmingham Raptors and they met in one of the semifinals game. The other semifinal game pitted the Birmingham Storm and arguably one of the top five juniors in the country in DeMarcus Cousins against the Birmingham Ice and Edward Daniels a 6-7 jumping jack.

Birmingham ICE 42 - Birmingham STORM 35

Birmingham Storm's Demarcus Cousins is double-teamed by a pair of ICe defenders.

Bledsoe scored a game high 16 points for the ICE.

Morrow, GA - Playing with a chip on the shoulders, the ICE defense held a tired DeMarcus Cousins in check in the first half holding him to just 1-point. David Daniels scored 5 and A.J. Holland knocked down a three-pointer to give the ICE a 17-15 halftime lead.

After a good halftime rest Cousins came out and just let everyone know that he was still in the building by scoring 16 points for the STORM. The ICE turned to their rising junior point guard Eric Bledsoe who matched Cousins by scoring 14 points (6 for 6 from the free-throw line) as the ICE held off the STORM by the scored of 42-35.

Bledsoe paced all scorers with a game high 17 points for the ICE. Cousins finished with16 for the STORM.

Worldwide RENEGADES 47 - Birmingham RAPTORS 43

The RAPTORS Ladarius Welch hauls down this rebound between Udofia and Howell of the RENEGADES.

Morrow, GA - The Worldwide Renegades showed up with all of their firepower on Sunday when they met the highly touted Birminingham Raptors in the other semifinal game and they needed every bit of that firepower to overhaul the Raptors.

The RENEGADES Jeremy Olsen puts up a jump hook over the RAPTORS Rashad Perkins.

The RAPTORS backcourt of Josh Cremel and Ladarius Welch continued their outstanding tournament play scoring 7 and 4 points respectively as the Raptors took the early lead.

Some of the firepower that showed up for the RENEGADES came in the form of 6-6 Ari Stewart. Stewart drained three long jumpers and 6-8 Colin Reddick added 4 points to as Worldwide took a 20-19 lead into the half.

The game continued to see-saw back in the second half, Cremel added 10 more points to his total (including a pair of three-pointers) but the RENEGADES countered that with a pair of three-pointers from Mfon Udofia. Highly touted 6-7 forward Richard Howell stepped up his game scoring 9 second half points and down the stretch he hit 4 of 4 free-throws to give Worldwide a hard fought 47-43 win.

Howell and Stewart who are also teammates at Wheeler H.S. (GA) led the RENAGADES with 12 and 10 points respectively. Cremel scored a game high 17 to lead the RAPTORS.

Players who hit the 4SHOT Hoops Radar Screen

Josh Cremel – Birmingham Raptors

Ladarius Welech - Birmingham Raptors

Courtney Carr - Birmingham Raptors

Rashad Perkins - Birmingham Raptors

Ricardo Hall - Birmingham Raptors

Jeremy Olsen – Worldwide

Ari Stewart – Worldwide

Richard Howell – Worldwide

Mfon Udofia – Worldwide

Russell Powell – Worldwide

Colin Reddick – Worldwide

Brandon Peterson - Birmingham Ice

Edward Daniels - Birmingham Ice

Eric Bledsoe - Birmingham Ice

Demarcus Cousins - Birmingham Storm

Jeremy Adams - Birmingham Storm

Joshua Pritchett - Birmingham Storm

Siddeeg Cooper - Birmingham Storm

Saleen – Team Power

Whorrell Chalor – South Georgia Rebels

Richard Conner – South Georgia Rebels

Raphael Johnson – Atlanta Select

Jarod Houston – Atlanta Select

Adam Denegal – Atlanta Pacific

Jarvious Bryant – Atlanta Pacific

Lazabian Jackson – Team Georgia Elite Black

Herbert Brooks - Team Georgia Elite Black

Malcom Jackson - Team Georgia Elite Black

Harold Doby – Augusta Metros

Dwight Wright – Team Georgia Elite Gold

M. Brown - Team Georgia Elite Gold

16U Championship Game

GT Stars 50 – Team Georgia Elite 44

TGE's Carlton Ross tries to split Malcom Chester (34) and MC Nettles (8) fro the GT Stars.

Morrow, GA - Having lost a 61-60 overtime thriller to the GT STARS in a preliminary round game on Saturday, Team Georgia Elite Head Coach Al Outlaw and his 16U ballers were looking for a little payback in Sunday’s championship game but the STARS weren’t having it.

Having witnessed the early match-up I could see that both coaches were going to turn their teams loose and reel them in during the crucial moments of the game. Terrey Fitts and Fhambrer Hugley led TGE early on but it was the play of the STARS J. Newberry and Clarence Jackson that helped them take a 20-16 lead into the half.

TGE came out in the second half knocking down three-pointers from everywhere (Jessie Stubbs, Andrew Roberts, Dominique Cannie and Britt Duncan each hit a three) to square the game. Duncan also started taking the ball strong to the hole and he connected on 3 of 3 free-throws enroot to 10 second half points.

The STARS all-round talent really showed up in the second half and that was the difference in the game. Zack Bradley, Malcolm Chester, Sean Rowe and M.J Nettles all turned their games up a notch for GT. Bradley knocked down a three, Chester scored 3 baskets, Nettles scored 2 baskets and Rowe canned 8 free-throws as the STARS fought back a late TGE surge and went on to defeat Team Georgia Elite by a score of 50-44 to capture the 16U Southern Shootout Championship trophy.

Bradley and Rowe each finished with 10 points to pace the STARS. Newberry and Chester added 7 each and Jackson chipped in with 6. Duncan who scored a game high 12 points led Team Georgia Elite. Stubbs added 7 and Hugley, Andrew Roberts and Cannie each chipped in with 5 for TGE.

15U Championship Game

Georgia Stars 41 – Lou Williams Elite 35

The Georgia Stars Kevin Ware throws down this dunk for two.

Morrow, GA - Gwinnett County bragging rights were on the line when the upstart 15U Lou Williams Elite Team met up with perennial AAU power the Georgia Stars. Both teams are headquartered in Gwinnett County, GA. With all of these kids having played with or against one another already in their young careers it was only logical that neither team would back away from the challenge so that really made for a tough exciting game.

Believe me keep an eye on several of the players that played in this game. Both are loaded with tall talented young kids that are only going to get better.

Team Lou Williams got off early behind the play of K. Simmons who drilled a pair of three-pointers and H. Brooks who scored three big hoops. The Georgia Stars “Triple Threat”, Nigel Snipes (2-three-pointers), Romeo Lewis (3-baskets) and Malcom Brogdon (5 points) combined for 17 of the STARS first half points as they took a 25-22 halftime lead.

The STARS defense did a nice job in the second half of controlling the boards, which limited the number of shots that LWE was able to get off. Simmons who stroked a pair of early three’s was limited to 5 free-throws in the second half.

Snipes continued his outstanding play in the second half, he drained his 3rd three-pointer of the game enroot to 9 second half points as the STARS held off their cross-town rivals 41-35 to capture the Southern Shootout 15U Championship.

Snipes score a game high 15 points to pace the Georgia STARS. Simmons and Brooks scored 11 and 10 points respectively for LWE.