At this past weekend's summer league tournament at Dougherty Valley High School, Bellarmine (playing as Top Flight Elite) went 7-1 in route to a 2nd place finish amongst 40 of the best high school teams from Northern California. Together as a team, we executed, played solid defense, and kept our poise in close games all weekend. I was so proud of my teammates and the way they stepped up with the absence of Jack O'Hara, our starting center, and Blair Mendy, our starting point guard, who was attending the Columbia Elite camp over the weekend. I'd also like to congratulate Blair on playing very well at the camp and gaining serious interest from the Columbia coaches. Without him there, Danny Schatzman (our other point guard) played fantastic the entire weekend including cold-blooded late game 3's and free throws. He was on fire all weekend and it was a pleasure to see my teammates step up and fill the void of our starting point guard.
On Friday we beat Foothill High School and Washington High School with relative ease, and also Dougherty High School on Saturday morning. Saturday afternoon was the start of our overtime games. For our 4th game of the weekend, we got to play Castro Valley (who beat us in the Nor Cal playoff game earlier this year) and it was just as physical and entertaining as advertised. My body is still cut up and bruised from the play, none of which was cheap nor dirty but simply solid, physical play-off basketball during the summer. We ended up winning in overtime. There is nothing sweeter than a little basketball revenge.
Sunday morning, we played a very well coached and athletic Franklin team. We came back from a 9 point deficit with 10:00 to go to send the game into overtime and we were able to pull out a win. Following that, we played a very talented Capitol Christian team. It was a physical close game the entire time, which ended up in an overtime victory...again!! And in the semi-final game, we played a state finalist Modesto Christian team featuring a very talented Raymond Bowles. And once again, we won the game in overtime.
However, we had no such luck against Sheldon. We played them to a tie game at half-time before their athleticism and our fatigue kicked in and ended in a 15 point defeat. Although the weekend ended on a down note, it was a very positive weekend in total and I couldn't be prouder of my team and the way they played.
Generally, I was very pleased with the way I played this weekend. I averaged over 20ppg this tournament, including a 36 point effort against Modesto Christian in the semi-final game. But most important was the way our team played together this weekend. The defensive intensity we played with during a summer league tournament was amazing and I am ecstatic to continue to work with them all summer, fall, and winter to try and win a state championship.
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