Weekend AAU Report:

All-Ohio Purple

Memorial day weekend always brings out some good competition around SW Ohio, and this year was no different. Several local teams competed in the Kings Island Memorial Day Madness tournament in Cincinnati while other teams descended on Chicago, Columbus, Fort Wayne, and even Los Angeles to play against other top traveling teams. CPHR was able to take in the action in Columbus on Friday and Saturday at the annual Midwest Future Stars Showcase. 

All-Ohio Purple: Without All-Ohio Red in the field the road was clear for Purple to have an easy path to the championship game. In the title game they struggled with a passionate Columbus Hawks outfit but got the two point win. SG Tommy Kreyenhagen (Summit) was the tourney MVP; while SG Jermaine Freeman (Taft), PG Geovonie McKnight (Middletown), and SF Jalean Lowe (Taft) made the All-Tourney team. AOP also benefited from the play of PG Josh Lemons (LaSalle) who seems to have fully recovered from injury. 

All-Ohio Red 16u: Won the 16u division of the event by defeating All-Ohio Varsity in the final for the second time in as many weekends. PF's Marc Loving (Toledo St. Johns) and Nigel Hayes (Toledo Whitmer) continue their strong play since returning from playing in Italy. Loving was the event MVP for the 16's while Hayes and PG Jaaron Simmons (Kettering Alter) made the All-Tourney team. 

Mark Williams

King James Shooting Stars 16u: While the team didn't make the championship game this weekend they had one major bright spot as they received the services of PF Mark Williams (Cleveland Benedictine). Williams has solidified himself as one of Ohio's premier prospects; the 6'8 forward has a smooth jumpshot with the ability to face up and attack the rim. This is all complimented by his broad build and solid athleticism. Williams will continue to be a matchup nightmare for any team he plays against with his ability to dominate the 3-5 spots. 

Shining Stars (Price) 17u: If you say one thing about this team it's that, as usual under Coach Price, they play hard. CPHR came away impressed with '14 PG Tyler Williams (Lakota West) who had two solid games while playing up two age groups. Williams has a nice body for a PG, can handle pressure, sees the floor pretty well, and really shoots the ball nicely. He's an interesting guard to keep an eye on for West next year.

Shining Stars (Walthar) 17u: Another scrappy team that has some under the radar talent. CPHR was impressed with the play of wing Drew Hall (McNicholas). One Shining Star assistant coach told CPHR, "You never seem to notice it during the game but you look in the book afterwards and Drew will always have 15-20 points." That's kind of how it was this year as Hall was the leading scorer in the GCL. 

Tyler Williams of Lakota West

Ohio Basketball Club 16u: Lost in the finals at the Best Buy Chicago Classic presented by Indiana Elite. OBC lost to CIA Bounce (Canada) for the second time this weekend in the title game but had a strong showing. 

All-Ohio Red 17u: In the third event of the Nike EYBL, in Los Angeles, Red was off to a tough start with an 0-2 record. AOR finishes the long weekend scrambling to qualify for the EYBL finals at the Nike Peach Jam in Georgia in July. For more AOR EYBL coverage click on the Buckeye Prep Report link on the left. 

Cincinnati Knights 17u Gold: Won the prestigious Gym Rats Memorial Day Classic presented by Spiece in Fort Wayne. '11 PG Semaj Christon (Winton Woods) was terrorizing opponents all weekend while HS teammate PF Zach McCorkle provided a major spark off the bench on the interior as did PF Paul Woodson (Clark).