Weekend Recap: Battle of the Greatest
The Kentucky Expo Center in Louisville played host to the first ever Battle of the Greatest tournament. While the field was very small in the high school division, the Louisville Magic made a clean sweep in the 15u,16u and 17u divisions and narrowly missed an undefeated tournament as a program. Here’s a recap of the weekend’s action:
15u:
The Louisville Magic were the only Kentucky team in the event. They lost to SMAC Attack by 10 on Saturday but bounced back on Sunday by winning a marathon 5 games on the day. The championship game was a rematch with SMAC Attack. The Magic 15s took that game 62-53. They ended the weekend 6-1. Bowling Green’s Connor Cooper had a strong weekend for the Magic 15s.
The Magic’s second 15u team was not as fortunate. They lost two pool play games by double figures and were beaten by the Magic’s A team in the first game of bracket play by a score of 66-29.
16u:
The Louisville Magic 16u team is headlined by 3 out of state players in Ohio’s Zach Loveday and Jackson Ames and Ryan Kalkbrenner from Missouri. Pride Athletics led the Magic with under two minutes left but couldn’t close out the game. There were only 5 16u teams in the tournament.
Pride Athletics has multiple Kentucky kids in their program. Boyd County’s Blake Stewart had 24 points, 6 rebounds, 4 steals and 2 assists in the championship loss to the Magic while Madisonville’s Marquise Parker added 13 points, 8 assists and 4 steals.
17u:
The Magic won the championship with the rare Championship game forfeit by the Showtime Ballers. Judging by the semifinal game score, it looks like the Ballers game ended at halftime and they took their ball and went home. The 17u Magic went 3-0 in actual games played and then had 2 wins via forfeit, including the 17u title game.
Pride Athletics guards Kareem McDonald (Cordia) Jacob Rice (Johnson Central) Tanner Dickerson (Elliott County) and Carter Baughman (Mercer County) all had strong weekends for the Pride team that went 3-0 in pool play and lost to the Magic in the semifinals.