BMaze 16u Falls With Late Collapse at UA Finals
Friday night BMaze 16u did all they needed to win the UnderArmour 16u UA Finals Championship. Unfortunately, they stopped doing all the right things three minutes before the game concluded, 42-39 in G3 Grind’s favor.
The game had a couple huge runs.
The Struggle
G3 Grind began to take control of the contest in the second quarter. Three trends developed in that quarter.
Emory Lanier forced shots. Lanier’s shot selection was hurried and misguided. While Emory Lanier will certainly be a college scoring guard he looked unsettled in the evenly played second stanza.
Joseph Anderson collected rebounds consistently. For a 6-foot-1 guard to corral three defensive rebounds in one quarter just shows grit. Anderson didn’t release early on the break. Rather he hunted down misses and then started the break. Anderson’s basketball I.Q. is extraordinary.
The perimeter defense failed repeatedly. BMaze couldn’t keep GRIND guard Michael Saunders out of the lane. This falls on the shoulders of Anderson and his backcourt mate.
The Savior
If you had to guess which BMaze 16u player would save the day Luke Burnett would be near the bottom of the list.
Steal by Luke Burnett!! BMaze on a run. 33-25!!! as Burnett somehow finishes a sky hook!!! @bmazeelite1
— PrepHoopsTennessee (@PrepHoopsTN) July 28, 2018
Burnett’s hot shooting and fearless penetration vaulted BMaze to their biggest lead of the game. He helped put the team in a position to win and played one of his best games of the summer.
The Jet
Joe Anderson plays with such disruptive speed. As the fourth quarter tipped Joseph began pushing the ball into the withering G3 Grind defense. Anderson’s speed is dangerous by itself, but augmenting the threat is his patience. Almost never does Anderson push the ball into a bad shot or a turnover. He pushes it with purpose and makes great decisions rapidly.
Great teams win with great guards. As much as college coaches are falling in love with surefire superstar Jaden Bradley the astute observers are noticing Anderson’s positive influence.
The Star
Jaden Bradley is monstrously strong for his age. Already cruising into his junior year with high major offers, Bradley played like the best athlete on the hardwood Friday night.
Bradley’s mixture of strength and size are daunting for the 16u division. Few players can match him.
Bradley got into the lane without hesitation. His bounce helped him shoot over the opposing bigs. Aside from one final minute error Jaden Bradley played a perfect game in the biggest of moments.
Late Fear
A 39-29 lead slipped a little. Then it slipped some more.
Grind rattled off eight straight points midway through the fourth quarter. The 2-3 zone that carried BMaze so successfully through the third quarter failed to stop successive three point shots.
In actuality, Grind’s guards hit ridiculous shots that had no business going in. First, Hunter Jackson buried a 20′ high banked three-pointer from the near wing. In a championship game. Just silly.
G3 Grind did just like their name suggested they would do. They ground out a 8-0 run and buried a challenged layup in the final minute.
This make brought to the game to 39-39 with 0:50 seconds left. BMaze needed just the one bucket. Who do you go to?
Jaden Bradley.
Bradley broke into the lane with ease.
Charge called on Jaden Bradley!!!!!
Shocking, impactful call. Bradley needed the basket to end a 10-0 scoring run by the Indiana squad.
Instead G3 Grind patiently passed around after Bradley’s charge. They looked for answers.
And they found one.
Kenneth Tracy virtually ended the BMaze season. Truthfully the game ended seconds later after Luke Burnett’s missed three-pointer, but Tracy’s three-pointer late in the shot clock opened up a three point gap that BMaze never resolved.
G3 Grind is the UnderArmour 16 UA Finals Champions. BMaze 16u played wonderfully…until they didn’t.