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Time for the AAU National Championship

Orlando, FL- After a full day of battle between eight of nation’s top programs, it will be Team Breakdown and King of the Court that will play tomorrow for the National Title.  Read more for recaps of every quarterfinal and semifinal game played today.

Quarterfinal Play

G.E.S.U.S. Ball- 53
Georgia Stars- 60
The Georgia Stars built a nine point lead by halftime behind solid early play from 5’9 sophomore guard Matthew Brabham and 6’8 senior Al-Farouq Aminu (Wake Forest) and they never looked back as they went on to win the game 60-53.  Aminu finished with 12 points while Brabham added 10.  G.E.S.U.S. Ball was paced by 6’4 senior Aaron Austin’s 13 points.

Georgia Blazers- 60
Team Breakdown- 69
Team Breakdown’s 6’2 sophomore Brandon Knight had a monster first half in which he hit five three-pointers and scored 19 points.  Behind his strong play, Breakdown led 36-23 at the break.  Knight’s 6’0 junior teammate, Kenny Boynton, took over and scored 17 points in the second half to help Breakdown to the 69-60 win.  Knight finished the game with 25 points and Boynton tallied 22.  The Blazers were led by 6’5 junior Jarvis Jones’ 17 points.

Ambassadors- 56
King of the Court- 71
6’7 senior Delvon Roe (Michigan State) continued his dominant play as he scored 29 points to help his team to an easy win and a birth in the semifinals.  Their were a number of players that deserve some ink from the Ambassadors squad, but due to a number of roster errors, we’re going to hold out until tomorrow so we give credit to the right kids.

Alabama Challenge- 61
Westchester Hawks- 56
This was by-far the best game of the quarterfinals as the teams exchanged leads and runs numerous times before the Hawks pulled away in the end.  Early in the game it was all Westchester as they built a 10 point lead at the end of the first quarter, but Alabama went on a run of their own in the second period and led at halftime, 36-34.  6’7 seniors Kevin and Mookie Jones combined for 24 first-half points for Westchester while JaMychal Green did the damage early for Alabama and scored 10 points in the first two periods (and straight dominated the offensive boards).  The difference was Westchester’s outstanding job of shutting Green down in the second half when they held him to a single point.  Without Green making a difference in the paint, Alabama never could sustain a big run.  Westchester won the game 61-56 to advance to the semis.

Semifinals

Georgia Stars- 57
Team Breakdown- 63
Team Breakdown jumped out to a 5-0 lead right out of the gate and thanks to 16 first-half points from 6’0 junior Kenny Boynton they led at halftime 31-24.  The Georgia Stars fought their way back into the game in the second half behind impressive play from 6’4 senior Travis Leslie, 6’8 senior Al-Farouq Aminu (Wake Forest), and 5’9 sophomore Matthew Brabham and they even took a three point lead midway through the 4th quarter.  But 6’2 sophomore Brandon Knight scored nine straight points late in the game to secure the 63-57 win for Breakdown.

Kenny Boynton led the winners with 18 points while 6’10 senior Eloy Vargas chipped in with 16 and Brandon Knight with 11.  The Georgia Stars were led by Al-Farouq Aminu’s 19 points while Matthew Brabham added 11, and Travis Leslie eight.  Leslie also did a tremendous job on the boards and blocked a handful of shots. 

An interesting storyline for this game was the individual matchup between Knight and Brabham.  Knight is widely considered the top guard in the 2010 class, while Brabham is an up-and-coming player that is also a 2010 prospect.  Both players started the game cold from the field, but Brabham was a big reason the Stars made a comeback when he scored 11 points in the second half.  In the final minute, however, he tried to do a little too much and forced a pair of costly turnovers.  We’ll blame his late play on his inexperience as this no-doubt was the highest-level game the youngster has ever played in.  Brabham is a tremendous talent and competitor and we expect big things from him.  Knight, on-the-other-hand, has had plenty of experience playing at the highest level and hit big basket after big basket in the fourth quarter, and considering Breakdown won the game we’ll give him the slight edge in tonight’s matchup.  We doubt this will be the last time we see those two phenoms go at it.

Westchester Hawks- 58
King of the Court- 63
The second semifinal game of the night was also very evenly matched.  The two teams traded baskets for nearly the entire first half and King of the Court led by one point, at 29-28, at the break.  6’8 senior Tom Pritchard had an outstanding first half for King of the Court and finished the half with 14 points.  6’6 senior Mookie Jones scored 12 points for Westchester in the first two quarters.  The teams continued to trade baskets in the second half, but when 6’7 senior Delvon Roe finally got things going, King of the Court slowly began to pull away.  Roe scored 15 points in the second half and finished the game with 20 to help his team to the 63-58 win.  Mookie and Kevin Jones scored 18 points apiece for Westchester.

Stay tuned for a complete tournament recap, including a championship-day report, coming tomorrow!