SEBL Summer Basketball League

Twin Wil 2014 doing what he do. In SEBL Summer Basketball League

Metro Conf. Men’s Finals - Sunday, August 9, 2020: South #5 MVP 78 North #1 Summer Hill-LL 75 Summer Hill jumped out early in the 2020 version of the Metro Co...nference A-League Title game, as Ryan Davis scored on a breakaway lay-in, but Preston Earle served notice, answering quickly with a three from the top of the key (remember that). The lead would change often in the early going, as the two teams who did not face each other in pool play, were feeling each other out. Summer Hill went up later on free throws from Davis, but MVP answered with an offensive bully-back (remember that too) from Mike Hemsley, wherein he drew a foul on the power move and sank the follow up free throw. With 14:05 left in the opening half, AJ Mosby drove hard and layed it up, to knot it at 10-all, then Eric Lockett stole an errant pass on the run and scored easily, to put Summer Hill up 12-10. Several MVP turnovers later, Summer Hill increased its slim lead to four on a Mosby 16-footer from the baseline. With both teams turning the ball over and missing well defended shots, the defenses were clearly ahead of the two teams’ offensive efforts in the first stages of this game. The game was still choked up at only 14-all over 11 minutes into the first half. After a Stephon Jelks free throw, followed by a Mosby feed to a wide-open Quincy Poitier, Summer Hill opened up a 17-14 lead at the 8:22 mark. After allowing the easy bucket, MVP called a timeout to re-think their approach. After the timeout, each traded possession of the ball, before Hemsley snatched another offensive board and deboe’d his way back up for the score and the foul. He finished the old fashioned And-1 and re-tied the score at 17-each at the 7:15 mark. Lockett later gave Summer Hill the 20-18 lead when he broke free from the short corner on a lay-in, but a quick pass down to an open Earle on the right side saw him quickly drill a trey, to give MVP the lead back at 21-20. After a Jelks foul, Hemsley grabbed yet another offensive rebound off of a JJ Bratton missed front end of a one and one, and in what would become one of the themes of this game, he executed his third ‘bully-back’ of the first half. The put-back gave MVP the 23-20 spread. Josh Brown and Earle would then take over the scoring for the next couple of minutes for MVP, as they combined for eight points, sandwiched between Summer Hill scores by Davis and Lockett. But, over the last four minutes of the first half, MVP outscored Summer Hill 11-7, behind a bucket from BJ Jennings and a trey from Brannon Hopkins. MVP went in to the break up 38-32, against an offensively frustrated Summer Hill squad. Mosby and Jennings traded baskets to begin the second half, leaving MVP’s lead at six, 40-34, but then Hopkins drilled a trey and suddenly MVP was up nine, at 43-34, less than two minutes into the final stanza. Mosby was able answer with at three in the right corner, followed by a coast-to-coast drive and jam by Ryan Davis. Jennings answered for MVP, but Lockett hit a mid-range jumper for Summer Hill, trimming the MVP lead to 45-41 at the 16:50 mark. Jennings then drew a foul and cleanly sank both for MVP. Hemsley pulled off another offensive bully-board and score, followed by a Locket score for Summer Hill. Then, MVP would settle into a stretch, where they looked to exploit Jennings’ versatile ability to play inside out against his defensive assignment. He got a bucket on a drive, to give MVP the 51-43 advantage, then on the next possession back down he was able to fed Hemsley cutting across the lane for a lay-up, opening up a 10-point lead with 13:23 left. That score forced Summer Hill to use a timeout. Out of the timeout, Mosby was able to trim it to two at the line, after drawing a foul on Hopkins. Then, Lockett cut it by two more with a pair of free throws on the next trip back down. After another MVP miss, Lockett got free for another bucket, to cap a 6-0 run, getting Summer Hill back in it. MVP’s Josh Brown ended the mini-run with a drive on the left side and MVP held a 55-49 lead with 11:11 left. Davis then got a floater in the lane for Summer Hill. After an MVP miss, Mosby then drove and pulled up for a mid-range shot, drilled it and went to the line where he also canned that, butting the Summer Hill deficit to 55-54. But, MVP’s Jennings answered with another clever move and lay-in. Mosby again answered with a runner and the score stood at 57-56 for MVP with 9:18 remaining. Earle would come big with another long-range bomb, putting MVP back up four. But, Summer Hill’s Mosby, who had worked to figure out how to get his shot off against the pesky defense of Hopkins was heating up, as he drilled another three in the extreme right corner with 8:28 on the clock, to cut it back to one at 60-59. After key defensive plays by both teams, Hemsley drove strong on the right side and finished off a lay-up, to put MVP up 62-59. After an SH miss, Hopkins broke free for a driving bucket and they led by five. Later, Jennings would work his magic again and scoop in a finger roll to go up 66-60 with 5:26 left. Lockett came back and made the front end of two at the line. 66-61, MVP. Hopkins traded the favor, going one of two on the next trip. 67-61. Lockett then spun free for a lay-in with 4:52 on the clock, cutting MVP’s lead to 67-63. After trading miscues, Jennings came up with another one, giving MVP the six-point spread, but Locket answered with a trey. MVP’s lead was at 69-66. 3:36 on the game clock. After MVP’s Hopkins had his drive partially blocked, Davis took a pass from Lockett, bobbled the ball in the lane, but grabbed it up and shoveled it in, cutting SH’s disadvantage to 69-68, with only 3:12 left. After Hemsley could not hit shot at the line, after pulling another offensive board, Davis fed Jelks in the right corner, where he canned a clutch three, giving Summer Hill a 71-69 lead its first since early in the game. MVP then executed a methodical possession with Brown perfecting a super left-handed lay-in, but Davis immediately answered with strong drive to the right, putting SH back up 73-71, with only 1:31 showing. Hopkins then missed a three, giving Summer Hill the chance to utilize some valuable clock. Davis drove left and coaxed a foul with 52 ticks left. He calmly sank them both and SH led 75-71 and looked to be in control late in this game. But, MVP was not going to go away so easily. MVP called timeout to advance, and Brown promptly drove into the lane and completed the floater with 46 on the clock. On the inbounds, Mosby was quickly trapped and was called for the travel, as he tried to split the defenders. MVP inbounded under its own basket. Hopkins drove right and kicked back to an open Earle, at the top of the key (told you to remember that), and he buried the trey with a statue pose follow through. MVP had somehow pulled the lead back out of a hat, up 76-75 with 31.6 on the timer. Summer Hill sprinted back the other way with the ball and Davis had the ball stripped as he entered the lane. Hemsley picked up the loose ball and whipped it down to Hopkins, who finished off the lay for the 78-75 lead with 14.8 left in the game. Poitier could not answer on the long SH three attempt with 6 ticks left and the loose ball was batted out of bounds. Hopkins attempted to toss the ball high to exhaust the clock, giving SH another shot at it. They called timeout and tried to design a play to free up someone for a look from beyond the arc, but MVP defended it well allowing them to complete their defense of the SEBL crown. Summer Hill-LL was paced by a trio of 20-point scorers in the game, as Mosby had 24, Lockett 22 and Davis 20. Jelks and Poitier were held to only four in the loss, as they finished the season with a 7-1 overall mark. For MVP, in fitting fashion, Earle, Jennings and Hemsley each tallied 18 in the balanced win, while Hopkins had 13 and Brown 11. For their stellar play, Hopkins was honored as the SEBL Metro Conference Tournament MVP, while AJ Mosby picked up another Metro Conference League Overall Most Valuable Player award for the 2020 season. ------ In the playoffs, MVP knocked off two teams it had lost to in pool play, including the South’s #1 Seeded Goshen Ballers and then the North’s #1 seeded Summer Hill-LL, both of which were undefeated on the season. In 2000, Baseline-1 had a chance to repeat, but lost to Servpro. Baseline-1 had the opportunity again in 2016, but lost to the SH-Baseline Warriors. In 2001 and 2004, Rome ServPro had opportunities to go back-to-back, but could not get it done. MVP, after starting the season out really shaky, losing the first two by double-digits, turned things around to win six of seven, including four victories in the playoffs. They actually slipped to the South’s #5 seed, after dropping its final pool game to Goshen and entered the playoffs with a 2-3 record. MVP may also be the first Metro Conference team to enter the playoffs with a sub .500 record and put it all together. Championship Sunday Notes: All three championship games came down the wire on Sunday, with SEBL history being set on several fronts. Firstly, the lower seed in all divisions staked claim to championships, while the third time was the charm for SH-Warriors in the men’s City Conference Final and Elite-77 in the women’s WSEBL final. Both teams had faced the same opponent for the third year in a row and finally pulled out victories. The City Conference final had to go to overtime to be decided, making it the fourth time that has occurred in the last five years. Also, MVP became the first Metro Conference A-league team in SEBL/Wilkins Pro Am Summer League history to repeat as champions since it was revived in 1989.

WSEBL Women’s Finals - Sunday, August 9, 2020: #4 Elite-77 59 #2 RAK Outfitters 55 Inside the warm confines of JH Morgan Gym on Sunday afternoon, Elite-77 fin...ally broke through on their third try to take the title from RAK Outfitters, who came in to the 2020 title game seeking to continue working towards matching OBG’s consecutive championship run from 2009-2015. OBG won five straight during that timeframe (there was no WSEBL in 2013). In this one, it looked as if RAK would have little trouble with Elite-77, as they got out to a 18-5 lead in the early going. The later led 23-13. But, Elite-77 defensively began causing RAK mistakes with their bothersome and swarming mentality and something didn’t seem right for RAK with out the smooth scoring of Livia Skinner. Elite-77 was able to get Ana Clair Atha and Jess Ann Reibly out of their comfort zone offensively. It helped that Tanisha Woodard developed the hot hand, as she began nailing deep three-pointers from the top of the key area. She hit four in the first half alone, leading Elite-77 on a 17-2 run to close the half and take a 30-25 advantage into the half. In the second half, Elite would maintain their spread for most of the way, clawing off several runs from RAK, behind the continued consistent scoring of Woodard. Elite’s Kierra Parks contributed some key buckets as well. RAK began to make a late run, as Reibly and Atha were working valiantly to keep thing interesting. In the closing minutes, they managed to cut it to two on several occasions, after strong drives from Nix and Becca Cheeks. But, Atha would pick up her sixth foul and have to exit the game, taking with her a scoring option for RAK. Skylar Oxford came up big for Elite-77 in the closing seconds with a free throw and a short shot off the glass to virtually ice it. For RAK, Atha finished with 18, while Reibly had 15 and Becca Cheeks 10. Without having the services of the high-skinner Skinner, RAK would have needed a solid showing from Carrie Cheeks, but she was only able to mange seven on the day. Tess Wright wrapped up the RAK scoring with five. RAK finished the season with a 5-2 overall record. For Elite-77, who claims their first WSEBL Championship, Woodard chose the right game to show up big, as she poured in 29 to claim game-high honors. She was aided by Oxford’s nine points. Parks and Taya Gibson each recorded eight for their efforts in the win. Elite-77 started the schedule out 0-2, before picking things up and generating a 5-1 record the rest of the way, including the three necessary wins in the playoffs. For her all-round performance in the playoffs, Elite-77’s Tanisha Woodard was awarded the WSEBL Tournament MVP, while newcomer to the league, Ana Claire Atha earned the WSEBL’s Overall Most Valuable player for the summer of 2020. Championship Sunday Notes: All three championship games came down the wire on Sunday, with SEBL history being set on several fronts. Firstly, the lower seed in all divisions staked claim to championships, while the third time was the charm for SH-Warriors in the men’s City Conference Final and Elite-77 in the women’s WSEBL final. Both teams had faced the same opponent for the third year in a row and finally pulled out victories. The City Conference final had to go to overtime to be decided, making it the fourth time that has occurred in the last five years. Also, MVP became the first Metro Conference A-league team to repeat as champions in the league since it was revived in 1989.

City Conf. B-League Men’s Finals Sunday, August 9, 2020: East #2 SH-Warriors 86 West #1 Baseline-2 83 (OT) The last five City Conference finals have been dec...ided by a mere 13 points, four of those five games have had to play an extra period to decide who took home the gold ball. It indeed took an extra period for the Warriors to sneak past Baseline-2 on Sunday afternoon at JH Morgan Gym. The lead changed hands early, with Baseline-2 opening up a 13-6 lead after treys from Jonah Abdolai and Jon Fowler. But, the Warriors’ TJ Horton would answer with several dribble-drives and floaters to fight back. With a feed from Cade Archer to Isaac Gridley, he dropped stepped on the block, made the shot and after drawing the foul, hit the free throw, giving the Warriors their first lead at 15-13. After a Baseline turnover, Archer found a seam to give the Warriors a 17-13 lead, capping an 11-0 run. Fowler would end the Baseline drought with another trey in the deep right corner, trimming their deficit to 17-16, with 12:30 to go in the half. A few possessions later, Tory Smith muscled up on the block for another And-1 situation, providing the Warriors the 21-17 spread. Later, Baseline-2 would go on a run after substitutions for both squads changed the flow of the game. The Warriors’ offense went stale, while Loren Hall and Kadeem Padmore came in to spice it up a bit for Baseline. Hall’s court vision found Korley Grier for an open look, which he missed from the perimeter, but was fouled and drained all three charity shots, followed by power moves into the lane by Padmore, who also went to the line twice. Hall then scored and after a missed free throw, snagged the loose ball and found Fowler for his third triple of the half and suddenly Baseline was up 30-24. Padmore finished another drive to the bucket, followed by a three from Grier, and Baseline-2 had opened up a 35-28 cushion, at the 4:20 mark. Ashton Burley cooled the Baseline run by answering with a trey of his own for the Warriors, 35-31. Padmore then executed a nifty reverse laying, followed by Hall’s two clean free throws and Baseline was up 39-31, late in the first half. But, the Warriors would again claw back, ending the half on a 7-0 run, coming on a trey from Bennett, a baseline runner from Kevane Washington, followed by two more at the line from Bennett. Baseline-2 led 39-38 at the half. In the second half, the two evenly matched teams traded buckets for the first few minutes, before Baseline-2’s Hall began to dictate the game with his ball control. Hall hit is second trey, after sinking two three throws and Baseline opened back up a seven-point spread. The Warriors scratched back again on a penetration move from Archer, followed by a block score from Smith and a pair of shots at the line for Bennett, to again trail by only one with 12:40 to go. The Warriors would go back up 58-57 on a lay-in from Gridley, with just over 9:00 left. A frenzied sequence of possessions saw neither team capitalize on defensive conversions. With 7:08 showing, Archer fed Smith on the right block and he powered up for another score and the Warriors led 60-58. But, Padmore would score five straight on a drive and a three in the corner, to put Baseline-2 back up 63-60. Archer again fed Smith for a lay-in, but Henderson answered with a tip-back, 65-62, Baseline-2. 6:02 left. After a Warrior miss, Padmore drained another big trey. Baseline-1 is now up 68-62 with 5:20 on the clock, prompting a time out by the Warriors. After the timeout, the Warriors got the front end of two free throws from Horton and another muscle-bucket from Smith, to trim it back to 68-65. 3:45 left and Baseline called a timeout to talk it over. After Archer dribbled into a trap, Grier hit a three with 1:59 on the clock, giving Baseline the 73-67 lead. Then, the Warriors gave it back, with Fowler getting fouled in the lane, hitting one of the two. 74-67 with just over a minute left. Burley raced the court and answered quickly, laid it up, drew the foul an answered at the line, 74-70. Then with 52 ticks left Hall struck again, coaxing another foul and hitting both. The Warriors, who trailed 76-70, called timeout to make plans and advance the ball, to save time and not have to work against the Baseline-2 press. Horton answered with 44 seconds on a floater in the lane, 76-72. Hall was fouled again. This time he made both again, 78-72. Burley found Archer in the deep right corner and he buried a three, to quickly cut it back to three at 78-75 with only 33 seconds on the clock. Baseline called the timeout to also advance the ball to half. On the inbounds, the Warriors fouled Fowler, who stepped to the line and made the second of two, to make it 79-75. The Warriors’ Horton was then fouled on a put-back attempt, sinking both free throws. The Warriors Archer then got a strip that went to Chaz Phillips in the lane, who flipped to Burley. The shot was blocked by Baseline’s Abdolai, where a Warrior fell on it and called timeout, preserving the possession on the baseline with 15 seconds showing. On the inbound attempt, Smith was fouled, where he sank the first, making it 79-78. He missed the second, but Gridley snatched the offense rebound, flipping it out to Smith, the Burley, who drove the lane and dished a no-look down to Horton. Horton went up strong, connected and drew the foul. He drained the free throw and the Warriors had pulled off the unthinkable comeback, leading 81-79 with only 9 seconds on the clock. Baseline-2 called the timeout to advance. They inbounded to Grier, who drove, missed the mid-range, where Abdolai tipped it back in to send it to overtime! Baseline-2 answered first in OT when Henderson scored freely directly off the tip. But, it would be their last points, as after several clutch defensive plays from both teams, including matching charges, the Warriors finally answered with at the line. Horton was fouled scrambling for a loose ball, after a Macland Shay miss. He hit one of the two, to trim it to 83-82. After another charge drawn on a Burley drive with 58 seconds left in OT, Baseline-2 was unable to convert, as Gridley stepped in front to take a defensive charge for the Warriors. With 32 seconds left, Baseline-2 applied a full court press. The Warriors found Gridley, who was fouled going up. He rattled the first in to knot the score, but missed the second. Gridley then swatted Hall’s shot in the lane with 18 seconds left. The Warriors Burley then drove and fed Horton across the lane, who scooped it up for the 85-83 lead. On the ensuing inbounds, the ball went to Baseline’s Braylon Sherfield, where Archer met the pass and deflected it up for what looked like a clean get, but he was called for the foul. Sherfield stepped to the line with 8 ticks left and a chance to re-tie the score. He missed both and Horton was fouled on the rebound. He missed the first, but sank the second for the 86-83 Warrior lead with 7.3 ticks showing. Baseline called timeout to advance. On the inbounds, Grier drove right and mis-dribbled, coughing the ball back up and allowing the Warriors to escape with the City Conference Title. Baseline-2, who finished at 7-1 overall, got 20 from Hall, along with 17 from Padmore and 14 each from Fowler and Grier. Henderson also tallied nine in the loss. The SH-Warriors also finished 7-1, when it was all said and done, while getting 24 from Horton. Gridley and Smith both pounded their way to 14 points, as Bennett finished with 13 and Archer nine. For their play, TJ Horton was awarded the tournament MVP award, while Bennett was tagged with the City Conference’s League Most Valuable Player honors. Championship Sunday Notes: All three championship games came down the wire on Sunday, with SEBL history being set on several fronts. Firstly, the lower seed in all divisions staked claim to championships, while the third time was the charm for SH-Warriors in the men’s City Conference Final and Elite-77 in the women’s WSEBL final. Both teams had faced the same opponent for the third year in a row and finally pulled out victories. The City Conference final had to go to overtime to be decided, making it the fourth time that has occurred in the last five years. Also, MVP became the first Metro Conference A-league team to repeat as champions in the league since it was revived in 1989.

I took quite a beating from the SEBL my back and wrist are killing me. I’m still a champion tho I took quite a beating from the SEBL my back and wrist are killing me. I’m still a champion tho