Bluegrass Classic Highlights

Wisconsin Playground Warriors second half push wins title

The Wisconsin Playground Warriors and Charlotte Royals fought all weekend to get to this point. They both had magical come from behind wins earlier in the day, and they both wanted to walk out of Louisville as Nike Bluegrass Champions. Both teams fought back and forth for 19 minutes and with 13 minutes remaining in the Championship game they stood knotted at 41. The Playground Warriors caught fire and over the next 3:30 minutes went on a 16-2 run that clinched the title. The run included 3 huge three's, a three point play, and two put backs. The rally built a 14 point lead that they held onto until the waning moments. Charlotte kept firing the 3's and fouling Wisconsin attempting to get back in it. But great free throw shooting and ball handling under pressure held Wisconsin's lead intact until the final bell. With that final bell the Wisconsin Playground Warriors had taken home a 80-70 win over Charlotte in the Nike Bluegrass Classic 17 & Under Tournament.

The Family of Detroit powers it's way to 16 & Under Championship

The Family of Detroit took the lead early and fought off a big run by the Arkansas Rockets to take home the Nike Bluegrass Classic 16 & Under Championship Gold. Up by 14 at the break The Family extended it's lead to 18 before the Rockets took off. Arkansas used great quickness and some good outside shooting to cut The Family lead down to 6 with 10 minutes left. The Family responded in a big way as they took over the game with the great scoring of Lester Abrams and the muscle inside of Walter Waters. Abrams finished the game with 29 huge points. Waters worked underneath for 12 points and 16 big rebounds. The run ended in a big 79-58 title win over the pesky and hard working Arkansas Rockets.

Charlotte in a thriller and Wisconsin rolls

The Charlotte Royals were trailing the whole game, never a lead until the final 10 seconds but that's not gonna matter much to the Royals when they play in the championship game of the 17 & Under Tournament later today. Boo Williams Summer League team had a 6 point lead at the break, using balanced scoring and some hot shooting. J.J. Reddick poured in 19 points and Elton Brown muscled his way for 15 and 10 boards to give his team the lead going into the stretch run. Charlotte had been battling with great inside play by Rashan McCants and Donte Minter. Minter had 17 points and 9 boards. While McCants was working it inside scoring 21 and grabbing seven rebounds of his own. With 23 seconds left, the game was knotted at 62. After several near misses on steal attempts and several fouls by Boo Williams team the Royals finally got the ball inbounds for the play they wanted. Minter in the block. Minter took two dribbles and went up smooth laying it off the glass to give Charlotte the lead with 7 seconds left. Boo Williams team's desperation three pointer at the horn fell just short as Charlotte celebrated a great win.

From the opening tip you could tell that the Wisconsin Playground Warriors had it. Wisconsin shot lights out going 14-25 from the 3 point line en route to a 95-73 win over Coast to Coast. Greg Brown scored 22 points leading 5 players in double figures for the Warriors. Drake Diener had 20, Joah Tucker 16, Travis Diener 15 and Deonte Tatum 13. The Playground Warriors look to be flying high after an incredible win over Houston and a great 32 minutes against Coast to Coast. Charlotte and Wisconsin's magical runs today will cross paths in the final of the Nike Bluegrass Classic.

A Great Round of Quarter-finals in the 17 & Under Bracket

The Houston Hoops and Wisconsion Playground Warriors played one of the games that all in attendance will go home and tell their friends about. Houston controlled the tempo and score most of the game. Marcus Spears was dominating underneath and looked like Houston would roll to the semi's. A funny thing happened along the way, Wisconsin decided to get hot. Knocking down shot after shot the Playground Warriors closed the game to 1 with 11 seconds left. Carlos Hurt was fouled and calmly went to the line and sank 2 big ones. Wisconsin needed a three in the worst way. 11 wild seconds later, we were playing more basketball. (Click on the link to see what happened). In Overtime both teams fought back and forth. Joah Tucker knocked down 1 out of 2 free throws with 9 seconds left to give Wisconsin a one point lead. Houston quickly pushed the ball up the floor, the ball ended up in Stanley Asumnu's hands for a runner across the lane that wouldn't roll in for the Hoops. Wisconsin held on to win 81-80 but both teams and all the fans won for experiencing that great game.

The St. Louis Eagles coming off a huge late night win against Southern California were scheduled to meet the Charlotte Royals in another quarter-final match-up. St. Louis looked tired early as Charlotte got out to a 7 point lead. St. Louis battle back down the stretch with big performances from David Lee and Gregg Alexander. St. Louis had a shot to tie at the buzzer but caught the back of the iron and the two teams would go at it for 3 more minutes. With 5 seconds left in overtime Gregg Alexander knocked down a 3 to tie the game at 47. Charlotte inbounded the ball as St. Louis pressured, Nathan Crawford slipped around the sideline and got fouled in the backcourt as time expired. After the referees determined one second remained it was a all up to Crawford and his free throws. After a St. Louis time-out to ice him, Crawford calmly stepped to the line and knocked down both free throws for the Charlotte win.

Boo Williams Summer League team hit a snag in the beginning of the second half where they just couldn't find the basket. With Shreveport/Boosier Select leading 40-37, Boo's team got hot. J.J. Redick knocked down a big three and Elton Brown made two big offensive moves to give them a 5 point lead. at 49-44. Boo's team held on for the win and advanced on to face the Charlotte Royals.

Coast to Coast cruised for most of the game against Team Florida winning by 12 points to advance on to the semi-finals against Wisconsin Playground. Florida showed some athleticism but looked tired in the half-court offense and couldn't knock down many shots.

Both semi-finals look to be great games.

Houston Hoops look like a contender

The Houston Hoops shown here taking a moment to relax after defeating the Magnolia Stars 78-56. The Hoops won all three games in Pool B and will advance to the 17 & Under Championship Bracket. The Hoops are led by their star point guard Carlos Hurt, but use a balanced attack to wear down their opponents. The Magnolia Stars scored 8 in a row to cut Houston's lead to 3 at 38-35. Coach Josh Pastner called time-out and Houston woke up, outscoring Magnolia 40-21 the rest of the way. Hurt led the way by knocking down a couple shots and distributing the ball beautifully. Everyone contributed to the finishing kick with all 8 players scoring. Seven of them scoring 6 points or more. Marcus Spears (left in picture) had 20, Hurt (center) and Chris Rhodes had 12, Stanley Asumnu had 9, Daryl Mason (right) and Marcus Watkins had 8, and the big man Emeka Okafor chipped in with 6. Houston looks to be on the top of their game and will be a force to be reckoned with in the Tournament.