Orlando Report- Final Day

Sterling Gilmore

CPHR's last day in Orlando was an eventful one as we saw several high talent level games come down to the wire...........  Pics

• All Ohio Purple: An impressive run to the semifinal game of the Silver Super Showcase AOP was eliminated by Baylor Basketball out of the St. Louis area. After falling down by as many as 15 points in the second half Adolphus Washington got going inside, scoring on 6 straight possessions at one point. Washington finished the game with 28 points and took AOP all the way back to take the lead but some big times shots by Baylor, and costly Purple turnovers, put the game out of reach. Washington had a phenomenal tournament, in which many coaches told CPHR that they believed he could be a conference player of the year if he had not decided to go the football route for college.

• All Ohio Red 16u: The game of the week occurred this afternoon as AOR squared off against a loaded Memphis YOMCA game in the first round of bracket play in the 16u National Championships. Red trailed by as many as 17 points early before slowly chipping away. Down 8 with two minutes left the tiny Keon Johnson (Mansfield Senior PG) took over scoring twice, including a blow by layup at the buzzer to force overtime. Johnson scored 8 more points in overtime, where he was helped out by Jordan Lauf (Napoleon SG) and Charles “Cha-Cha” Tucker (Lansing, MI PG), to give Red a 10 point comeback win. The real star in this game was Ohio's top recruit, and '13 Ohio State commitment, Marc Loving (Toledo St. Johns SF/PF). Loving scored inside and outside for Red as Coach Matta looked on with a smile on his face, and finished with 36 points. Displaying an improved level of toughness Loving even drove down the wing and rose over two YOMCA defenders for a two handed dunk plus the foul.

  

  Marc Loving

  
  
• Queen City Prophets 16u: The team might have struggled but they did have one bright spot as PG Sterling Gilmore put together a nice performance by scoring from beyond the arc and in the lane. College coaches from the MAC, Indiana Purdue Fort Wayne, IUPUI, Robert Morris, St. Francis (PA) and more watched the game.
  
  
• Queen City Prophets 17u: After struggling in the 16u game Austin Grimes found a lot of success playing up with the 17u squad, finishing with 20 points in a loss to the talented Each 1 Teach 1 of Florida. Ladell Griffin and Kendall Beamon were the other main contributors for QCP who looks to bounce back in the remaining pool play games tomorrow. 

All in all CPHR had a great experience down in Orlando and would like to mention how proud we are of all the Cincinnati kids, Ohio kids, and national kids who competed from whistle to whistle in front of the college coaches. It is a bittersweet feeling watching these 17u AAU teams for the last time, but they all have bright futures ahead of them!