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4SHOT Sports AAU Basketball GBOA South Region Tournament Battleground ATLANTA Norcross H.S. – Norcross, GA Norcross, GA - The GBOA (Grassroots Basketball of America) has put together a NCAA Tournament type showcase consisting of the top AAU teams from the four regions of the country. The top 2 teams from each regional tournament advance to Chicago to play in the “Challenge of Champions”. Two other teams from the 4 regions will be voted in. Having already completed the East, North and West Regions the GBOA blew into Atlanta for the final piece of the puzzle as the top teams in the South battled for the final four spots in “The Show”. The South Region boosted some of the top players in the country, like 6-9 Derrick Favors (Atlanta Celtics), 6-10 DeMarcus Cousins (Birmingham Storms), 6-2 Kenny Boynton (Team Breakdown), 6-7 Richard Howell (Worldwide Renegade), 6-0 Joe Jackson (Memphis Pacers), 6-5 Jelan Kendrick (Hoop Planet) and 6-7 LaQuinton Ross (MBM/Atlanta Celtics) just to name a few. The tournament got underway Friday night with one game before Saturday’s full day of high packed action. The quarterfinals, semi-finals and the championship game were played on Sunday and 4SHOT Hoops was there to bring you all of the action. Early games on Saturday
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Jacksonville quickly and rather easily defused the Georgia Tornadoes besting them by 28 points. 6-8 Patrick Young and 6-7 Chad July dominated the play inside while JP Kuhlman and Alex Bodney provided the long range shooting. Young finished the game with 15 points and 15 rebounds. Stephon Hopkins and Raymond Gregory were the lone bright spots for the Tornadoes. Hopkins finished with a game high 17 points and Gregory grabbed 9 boards.
Birmingham Ice (AL) 64 vs. Richmond Squires (VA) 50
The Ice rolled to their second victory in the morning session as the pulled away from the Richmond Squires in the second half. Brandon Peterson continued his impressive play, scoring 16 points and grabbing 7 boards. EJ Hardy may be small in stature (5-6) but he makes up for that with his hustle and desire; it also doesn’t hurt that he has a nice outside shot. He finished with 11. Highly touted Eric Bledsoe did his usual thing, playing defense and dishing off the rock. I was impressed with the athleticism of the Squires guards Rico Ferguson, Mike Winn Jr. and Antone Exum Jr.
Franchize All-Stars (TX) 42 vs. Team Florida 40
It wasn’t pretty but the All-Stars improved to 2-0 as they held off a solid Team Florida squad. 6-7 Ray Turner, 6-7 Kelly Lawson and guard Darius Gardner paced the All-Stars to the win. Team Florida got a solid performance from 6-6 Vlad Kronski, Darrick Brown and Dennis Mauin who came off the bench to lead the team in scoring with 9.
Birmingham Storm (AL) 62 vs. Atlanta Celtics (GA) 58
6-9 Derrick Favors (Celtics) and 6-10 DeMarcus Cousins (Storm) are probable so tired of seeing and playing against each other until it’s become kind of boring, but they had better get use to it because one day “The League” is going to come calling. The Storm added a new twist to their roster with the addition of Georgia All-Star guard Tariq Muhammad.
Muhammad’s floor generalship paid off for the Storm as he and Cousins looked like they had been playing together for years. Cousins went on and outscored and outplayed Favors this time around, 16 points to 4. Phillip Crawford led the Storm with 16 points and teammate Ronnie Mack added 14. Smooth 6-7 forward LaQuinton Ross paced the Celtics with 14 and Manny Atkins did a nice job adding 13.
Memphis Pacers (TN) 81 vs. Worldwide Renegades (GA) 78
In probably the most dynamic game of the morning session the Pacers and their outstanding 6-0 point guard Joe Jackson squared off against the Renegades and their 6-7 do-it-all power forward Richard Howell. Jackson scored 6 straight points (2 dunks) and it looked like the Pacers were going to blow the Renegades right out of the gym. The Pacers padded their lead on baskets by Tim Peete and Zachery Jones.
The Renegades didn’t fold; they regrouped behind the play of Howell, Brandon Reed and Phil Taylor and got right back in the game. With 1:17 left to play in the game World Wide actually held a 76-75 lead. A fastbreak dunk by Tarik Black of the Pacers but them back in front 78-76 with :38 seconds left to play. World Wide had one final chance to tie the game but Reed’s shot came up short and the Pacers came away with an exciting win.
Tim Peete scored a game high 19 points to lead the Pacers. Joe Jackson finished with 17 and Mardracus Wade and Zachery Jones added 14 and 13 points respectively. Phil Taylor and Richard Howell paced the World Wide with 18 point apiece. Taj Tate and Brandon Reed added 11 and 10.
Birmingham Ice (AL) 57 vs. Southeast Elite (AL) 57
Playing 3 games within a three-hour span you would have thought that the Birmingham Ice would have melted by now but they hung tough and held off a big rally from Southeast Elite to up their record to 3-0. AJ Holland who has been coming on strong for the ICE broke out and scored a team high 15 points. Nigel Ramsey and Brandon Peterson both played well and quietly 6-7 Edward Daniel continued to be impressive. Trevor Lacey a 6-3 freshman had an impressive debut for Southeast with a team high 17 points.
Arkansas Hawks (AR) 55 vs. Jacksonville Lee Bulls (FL) 37
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