The Celtics16s opened the first weekend of play at Real Deal with a huge win over Hoopdreams from Lexington, KY in pool play. This game was a grudge match for Taylor Barnette who is from Lexington. But he was all smiles after emerging victorious against some of his close friends. The game was nip and tuck throughout. The score was tied at 60 with 21 ticks left on the clock. The Celtics executed brilliantly out of a timeout with Tylan Martin hitting David Howard for the go ahead basket, 62-60. Hoopdreams made 1-2 free throws. Alex Poythress snatched the crucial rebound, made 1-2 ft’s, and the Celtics defense thwarted a desperation attempt at the buzzer. Final score 63-61 Celtics!
Game 2 of pool play on Saturday morning saw the Celtics defense absolutely smother the North Texas Prospects. Guards Kielan Blanks and Daijon Williams set the tone right from the tip-off applying relentless pressure to NT ball handlers, which allowed us to get out on the break. We only allowed 11 points each half. John Ross Glover dominated the game on offense with his passing from the high post and also attacking the rim. David Howard was the recipient of many of those passes scoring 18 points and grabbing 14 rebounds. Kielan Blanks and Twin Lancaster added 14 & 12 respectively. Celtics win going away 74-22
Game 3 matched us with a very athletic Dallas Mustangs team. After a slow start, the Celtics battled back to take a one point halftime lead. In the second half, we experienced our first shooting slump of the tournament, particularly at the free throw stripe, missing 14. Add poor shooting to a few difficult match-ups on defense, mix in two incompetent officials and what you get is a recipe for disaster. Celtics go down fighting, 72-60. John Ross Glover paced the good guys with 13 points.
First round tournament action paired us with the Texas Thunder from Austin. The Celtics bounced back well with a tremendous effort on both ends of the floor. John Ross Glover posterized the Thunder’s 6’6 big man on a nice assist from Kielan Blanks in transition. This and-1 flush really sparked the team. He also had a nasty tip dunk in traffic which excited onlookers. 3 point snipers Tylan Martin and Taylor Barnette continued to burn the nets and David “don’t call me Dwight†Howard dominated the glass yet again. Blanks and Williams controlled tempo and set the table for teammates, while knocking down timely shots. Twin Lancaster’s defensive effort may have been the difference in the game. The Thunder’s post player scored the first 8 points of the game before Twin entered the game and locked him up. This was a total team effort with balanced scoring and 5 guys in double figures. It is really fun to coach such an unselfish group of guys.
In the quarterfinal round, the Celtics ran into the Wisconsin Playground Warriors and JP Tokoto, 4th rated player in c/o 2012 according to Rivals.com. This team was loaded and the Celtics were up to the challenge as this one went down to the wire. The game was well-played by both teams. Taylor Barnette led another balanced attack for the Celtics with 12 pts. The Warriors hit us with a flurry of baskets late in the game and took an 8 point lead with 1:20 left in the game… Enter Mason Ramsey, a 15 playing up. Ramsey goes on an 8-2 run by himself (2 3-pointers and an 18 footer) cutting the lead to 2 with 14 seconds left. We line up in our full court face-guarding press defense. The Warriors throw the ball right to…who else…Mason Ramsey. We set a high pick-n- roll, drive to cup and get fouled with no time left. With tired legs from the come-back, we were unable to convert at the line. Thus, ending our weekend prematurely. We were a little undersized in this matchup but our guys battled and fought their hearts out. Even though we came up short, I am so proud of the effort.
The first weekend of play is mostly about finding some chemistry, fine tuning lineups/ substitution patterns, etc. If we can shore up our defensive rotations a little better, make free throws and continue to learn each others preferences and tendencies, this team is going to make some noise in the very near future. This team doesn’t have any superstars and they work very well together. No one points the finger when things get tough and they do a great job of share the basketball. We had balanced scoring all weekend and a different leading scorer in every game. That kind of balance is fun to coach but is also fun for the players. I am encouraged by what I have seen so far and look forward to a great summer. Great Job Celtics!
