By MARCUS HELTON
BALTIMORE - The DMVelite Baltimore Tip-Off Classic presented by Buffalo Wild Wings returned to St. Frances Academy last weekend , attracting teams from the DMV, Florida, Pennsylvania and New York.
Taking part in the event were host St. Frances, Capitol Christian, Flint Hill, Imhotep Charter (Pa.), Poly, Our Savior New American (NY), Upper Room Christian (NY), Mt. Zion, Elev8 Institute (FL) and Scotland Performance Institute (Pa.).
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College coaches in attendance included Georgetown, Maryland, Towson, Delaware, George Mason, St. Bonaventure, Baylor, California, Morgan State, Virginia Union, Stevenson, Lebanon Valley, Lycoming, CCBC-Dundalk and Tallahassee Community College.
Here’s a look back at the action:
SATURDAY
UPPER ROOM CHRISTIAN (NY) 65, FLINT HILL 50 | BOX SCORE
After a slow start, Upper Room used a big third-quarter run to take control and pull away from Flint Hill.
Flint Hill jumped out in front early and led by as many as 8 points in the first half before Upper Room’s Rashan Allen beat the halftime buzzer with a 3-pointer to cut the Huskies lead to 33-31.
Allen’s shot served as a springboard for Upper Room, which outscored Flint Hill 18-6 in the third quarter to take a 50-39 lead into the final frame.
“That gave us some energy,” Royals coach Tom Femminella said of Allen’s shot. “And really, when Kelvin Tersheer came in the game, he changed the game. He came off the bench and gave us some energy. We came out really really flat, and then we had to kind of come back and try to make shot and kind of manufacture points. But once we got energy, we started getting points off our defense.”
Tersheer came off the bench to score 4 points and grab 8 rebounds in just 10 minutes of playing time, also notching a block and a steal.
Osbel Caraballo scored 20 points and grabbed 9 rebounds to lead Upper Room, while Allen added 15 points and Stefan Jevdjenijevic 10. Ben Stern scored a game-high 21 for Flint Hill, which also got 10 from Jordan Taylor and 8 from Justin Taylor.
CAPITOL CHRISTIAN 74, POLY 71 (2OT) | BOX SCORE
Capitol Christian 2016 guard Brandon Johnson scored a game-high 25 points to lead the Warriors in a thrilling second game that featured several nice individual efforts.
CCA held the edge early, leading by as many as nine points and holding a 36-32 at the half.
De’vondre Perry gave Poly its first lead on a 3-pointer with 3:47 to go in the third quarter, and the Engineers went into the fourth ahead 47-46.
The teams exchanged leads down the stretch in regulation. With Capitol Christian clinging to a 1-point advantage in the waning moments, Poly’s Jordan Jones was fouled and made the second of two free throws with with 1.2 seconds remaining to force overtime.
CCA’s Fred Rowles came up with several clutch baskets in the extra period, the last of which came on a strong drive to knot the score at 67-67 and force a second overtime.
Kobby Ayetey opened the scoring with a pair of free throws to put Capitol Christian back on top, and the Warriors held off Poly’s comeback effort to earn the victory.
Zion Jordan finished with 13 points for Capitol Christian and Ayetey had 12.
Perry finished with 22 points and 10 rebounds to lead Poly, while Demetrius Mims had 19 points and Jones 12 points and 12 rebounds.
ST. FRANCES 71, OUR SAVIOR NEW AMERICAN 47 | BOX SCORE
St. Frances’ senior guard duo of Daquan Bracey and Kurk Lee, Jr. [PICTURED, TOP] was simply too much for Our Savior’s young backcourt as the host Panthers cruised.
Lee - who was honored prior to the game for scoring his 1,000th career point earlier in the week - had 16 points, while the Louisiana Tech-bound Bracey had 11 and five assists.
2017 forward Tairik Johnson led the Panthers with 17 points and 8 rebounds, while 2018 guard Ed Ferguson added 10 points.
“Its great senior leadership and a great team effort,” SFA coach Nick Myles said. “We shared the ball, and it was balanced scoring, balanced rebounding and balanced assists. So, I think if we play like that, we’ve got a chance to be very successful this year.”
Quentin Williams scored 13 points to lead four Our Savior players in double-figures. Mekhi Hall finished with 11 while Boubacar Diakite and Mamadou Doucoure each had 10.
MT. ZION PREP 78, ELEV8 72 | BOX SCORE
2016 guard Ceasar Dejesus scored a game-high 18 points to lead Mt. Zion to a nice victory in Saturday’s nightcap.
“This game was huge,” Dejesus said. “Everybody doubted us; they’re the No. 5 team in the country, so thats a big win for us.”
The Warriors jumped ahead quickly, opening the game on a 6-0 run behind strong starts from Dejesus and forward Robert Montgomery, who scored 13 of his 14 points in the first half before being limited due to foul trouble.
“The way they came out, they let us punch them first,” Dejesus said, “so we had to capitalize on all that.”
Mt. Zion held Elev8 at arm’s length the rest of the way. Elev8’s last good chance to make a run at the lead came when they cut the deficit to four points and forced a Mt. Zion missed shot with 23.1 seconds to play, but the Warriors grabbed the offensive board.
Mt. Zion 2017 forward Alexis Yetni narrowly missed a double-double with 12 points and 9 rebounds, and Jared Armstrong finished with 11 points.
For Elev8, David Moya led the way with 17 points, former Clinton Christian standout Leroy Butts had 15, California commit Tyson Jolly 14 with 8 rebounds and Jax Levitch 10 points.
SUNDAY
CAPITOL CHRISTIAN 60, UPPER ROOM CHRISTIAN 55 | BOX SCORE
Playing the first of two games to open Day 2 after a late schedule switch, Capitol Christian used a 16-6 run in the second quarter to take control, then held off a late Upper Room rally.
Upper Room led 18-17 after one quarter, but Capitol Christian roared ahead in the second to take a 33-24 lead at the half.
Trailing 57-55 with 48.2 seconds to go, Upper Room had the ball but couldn’t capitalize
Koron Green had 13 points to lead the Warriors, who got 9 apiece from Brandon Johnson and Fred Rowles.
Upper Room’s Osbell Caraballo continued his strong weekend with 23 points and 10 rebounds, while Rashan Allen scored 10 points off the bench.
CAPITOL CHRISTIAN 62, OUR SAVIOR NEW AMERICAN 46 | BOX SCORE
The Warriors found themselves in a tough one before using another big second quarter run to take control.
CCA led Our Savior 11-10 after one quarter, but blew the game open by outscoring Our Savior 23-6 in the second quarter to take a 34-16 lead.
Kobby Ayetey scored 11 of his game-high 18 points in the first half and grabbed 8 rebounds for the Warriors.
Boubacar Diakite had 14 points and 7 rebounds for Our Savior, while Mekhi Hall added 13 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists.
ELEV8 47 , SCOTLAND PERFORMANCE 42 | BOX SCORE
Tyson Jolly [PICTURED, BOTTOM] scored 15 points to lead Elev8, which used timely rebounding and defense to hold off a pesky SPI squad.
Elev8 shot just 23 percent (13-of-55) from the field, but outrebounded SPI at critical moments down the stretch, and scored 16 points off of 22 SPI turnovers.
“Rebounding [was the difference],” Jolly said. “We gave up a lot of offensive rebounds yesterday, so rebounding and getting out in transition and being tougher than them was pretty key.”
Elev8 led 25-23 at halftime and held off SPI the rest of the way, answering seemingly every time SPI appeared set to tie or go in front.
Rodney Culver had 10 points and 8 rebounds for Elev8.
Nayquan Councel had 12 points to lead SPI.
ST. FRANCES 53, IMHOTEP CHARTER 52 | BOX SCORE
Sunday’s nightcap closed the event in thrilling fashion, as St. Frances survived a late 3-point attempt by Imhotep’s Daron Russell to pick up the win.
St. Frances led 15-10 after one quarter and extended it to 28-19 at the half behind a strong start from 2018 post Koran Moore. A transfer from Patterson, Moore had perhaps his best game as a Panther, scoring 11 of his 15 points in the first half. He also finished with 9 rebounds.
“Yeah, I’m starting to feel more comfortable with everybody, so it’s getting better,” Moore said.
Imhotep stormed back in the third quarter behind Russell and athletic 2017 wing Koby Thomas, and trailed just 37-34 going into the fourth quarter.
SFA guard Kurk Lee hit a pair of shots to open the final frame and give his Panthers some breathing room, but Imhotep - also nicknamed the Panthers - wouldn’t go away.
After Imhotep’s Joshua Townsend hit a pair of free throws to cut the SFA lead to 50-49 with 44.8 seconds to go, Imhotep got the ball back with a chance to take the lead. Russell’s drive to the basket rimmed out, however, and Bracey rebounded with 17.4 seconds to go.
Russell hit a 3-pointer with 5.4 seconds to go to trim the St. Frances lead to 53-52, and Bracey was fouled with 4.4 seconds remaining. He missed the free throw, and Russell rebounded and flew down the floor in a blink, pulling up for a 3-point attempt that hit back rim and fell no good to end the game.
“The key was just sticking to what was working at the time,” Bracey said. “The coaches were giving us plays, and on the floor we just went with what we’ve seen.”
Bracey finished with 16 points and 6 assists; Lee had 11 and 6 assists before leaving late to get stitches late in the game. Tairik Johnson added 7 points, 6 rebounds and three blocked shots.
Hampton-bound guard Jaekwon Carlyle had 16 points to lead Imhotep, while Russell finished with 14 points, 9 assists and three steals.
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