BOSTON – Sunday was the day for championship games in the Hoopville Spring Finale, and six teams walked away with medals telling that story. The day started bright and early with young players in the morning before the oldest players took center stage in the afternoon. It also started with a few new faces in the winner’s circle before a couple of teams that have already won some titles returned to that place.
The 10-under championship was close for much of the game as Mass Elite and Boston Heat/DYC competed. In the latter part of the second half and especially the final minutes, Mass Elite took over the game to break away for a 45-36 win and complete a perfect weekend. It concludes a great spring for a team that was recently selected as the program’s 2013 Team of the Year.
The Boston Heat program took advantage of another chance, however, as their 12-under entry won that age group with a 59-35 blowout of the Xtreme Ballarz. The Heat survived a close one to start Saturday before winning the second game to reach the final and subsequently take home their first championship in the event.
The 14-Under final saw Fab 5 Elite build up a 10-point halftime edge over the Boston Spartans and keep the lead around that for a lot of the second half. The first-year program held on for an 84-77 win behind 20 points from Romario Ebanks, a 5’11” guard who will attend John D. O’Bryant High School next year. This caps off a spring where the team didn’t lose very often, having already won a state AAU title in Division II.
The Spartans would have another shot at a title in the next game as they took on QC United in the 15-under final. There, they broke through for their first title in this event, holding off QC United for a 62-51 win behind 18 points from Ernie Chatman (5’10” Fr. PG, Jamaica Plain (MA) Boston English HS) and another 11 from Kellan Grady (6’0″ Fr. PG-SG, West Roxbury (MA) Catholic Memorial HS).
The 16-under final was a big rivalry matchup as Expressions, fresh off a win over another rival program in Mass Rivals, took on BABC. The game was far from pretty, as BABC successfully grinded out Expressions without much offense save for a key stretch of the second half where they opened the lead up en route to a 44-29 win. The only double-digit scorer for the winners was Bobby Martin, Jr. (6’6″ So. SF-PF, Waltham (MA) Noble & Greenough School) with 10 points.
The last game of the day was the 17-under final between Expressions and Mass Rivals. Rivals kept it close in the first half, but Expressions was able to pull away in the second half for an 81-65 win. Jared Wilson-Frame (6’4″ Jr. SG-SF, Windsor (CT) High) led Expressions with 23 points, while Alec Brennan (6’11” Jr. PF-C, Weston (MA) Milton Academy) added 19 points. Jalen Adams (6’3″ So. SG, Boston (MA) Cushing Academy) led Mass Rivals with a game-high 27 points.
More notes on the tournament will follow shortly.
