Houston GASO: Championship Recaps
After two full days of tough competition, a handful of teams have run the gauntlet and taken home hardware from the Houston GASO. TexasHoops.com's Lyndon Cook dives in to recap the action from Championship Sunday.
NBA CHAMPIONSHIP GAMES
Basketball University 16U Gold 81 Texas Elite-Mitch 47
The exceptionally talented guard combo of Pierce Hellums (Concordia Lutheran 2019) and LJ Cryer (Morton Ranch 2020) was just too much for Texas Elite, as Basketball University coasted to a comfortable win to take home the NBA Blue bracket Championship. The Hellums and Cryer tandem hit 9 threes between the two of them, finishing with tallies of 19 and 16 respectively. Texas Elite played some great basketball during their run to the finals, but were unable to replicate the same brand of ball in the championship game. Kristopher Dixon (Dawson 2018) and Kenan Mitchell (Shadow Creek 2018) scored 8 a piece in the loss.
San Antonio GATA V 69 HD Toros Elite 57
San Antonio GATA V got the better of HD Toros Elite, eventually coming out with a 12-point win in an all-San Antonio championship matchup. AJ Clark (Johnson 2018) got off to a hot start, finishing with a game high 19 points to lead GATA to the win. Timmy Benavides (Reagan 2018) hit 4 threes in the first half as GATA took a 4-point halftime lead, and finished the game with 14. Also scoring 14 was big man Roman Morgan (Brandeis 2018) in an impressive game on the interior. HD Toros battled with GATA for the entire game, but were just unable to wrench control of the game back from GATA after a late run put the game to bed. Tylen Figueroa (Holmes 2018) and Brendan Wenzel (O'Connor 2019) scored 10 a piece as they fell in the Green bracket Championship.
RL9 17U Elite 60 Team Stage 46
RL9 Elite spread out their scoring and played stellar defense to roll past a streaking Team Stage and clinch the NBA White bracket championship. Faite Williams (Clear Springs 2018) and Donovan Deal (Atascocita 2018) led RL9 on the score sheet with 10 points each, while Nygal Russell scored 9. After coming up just short of a title at the Bryan/College Station GASO, RL9 was able to finish the job in Houston. Elijah Parquet (Beaumont Westbrook 2018) showed D1 ability throughout the weekend, but finished with weekend with a relatively subdued 7-point display. Bryan Arceneaux (Beaumont Central 2018) pulled his weight with a 15-point game, but Team Stage just couldn't piece together a run to get to within striking distance.
Corpus Christi Bruins 62 Shooting Stars Red 17U 54
Corpus Christi Bruins took home their second GASO title in as many attempts, this time beating Shooting Stars Red by 8 in the NBA Red bracket Championship. Usually when Bruins are featured on this site, the story is their dominant twin towers look of Dalin Williams (West Texas 2018) and Will Chayer (CC Veterans Memorial 2018). In this game, however, Creighton Avery (West Oso 2018) dominated from start to finish, ending the game with 25 points from all over the court. Williams and Chayer put up 10 a piece as they kept the momentum rolling from winning the Bryan/College Station GASO. Kristian Sjolund (Katy Tompkins 2018) showed off his deep range in a 12-point game, with CJ Washington (Tompkins 2018) adding 12 as well.
NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP
K-Town All Stars 72 TX D1 Ambassadors-Austin 16U 69
K-Town All Stars narrowly defeated D1 Ambassadors Austin in the NCAA championship game in what was a hotly contested and at times contentious affair. Trayvon Todd (Killeen 2018) and Ashton Vories (Harker Heights 2019) scored 14 a piece for K-Town, with Du'Wain Thomas (Shoemaker 2018) adding 3 threes as part of a 13-point game. Ambassadors came out to compete in this one, seeking to avoid a loss in the final game for the second straight GASO. Ryan Ward (Round Rock 2019) scored 13 to pace Ambassadors, with Enzo Arnold (Dripping Springs 2019) and Rhett Kelly (Westlake 2019) adding 9 and 8 respectively.
NIT CHAMPIONSHIP
Texas Elite 15U-Mel 79 Kyle Knights 61
Texas Elite-Mel's weekend at the Houston GASO culminated in an 18-point win over Kyle Knights after an impressive run to the NIT Championship game. Westley Sellers put up some numbers this weekend, and ended with 17 points in the title game. Ryan Hess and Melvin Holloway combined to score 22 as both players shot the ball well throughout the tournament. Kyle Knights put up a solid fight, but ultimately just couldn't find an answer for Texas Elite's offensive firepower. Marcos Cantu (Lehman 2020) paced Knights with 13 in the game, while teammate Zack Harris (Lehman 2020) dropped 12 in the loss.
8TH GRADE CHAMPIONSHIP
SA Hustlers 56 Scholar Athletes 38
SA Hustlers wrapped up a great showing at the Houston GASO with an 18-point win over Scholar Athletes. After upsetting Texas Elite 14U in the first round, Hustlers carried that momentum into the quarter and semi-finals before clinching the championship. Athletes had to survive a low scoring 3-point win over Shooting Stars Navy before making their run to the final.
7TH GRADE CHAMPIONSHIP
Elevation 13U Skills and Sports 70 BBA 67
Elevation's 2022 duo out of Aragon was too much for BBA to handle, with Ryan Moore going off for 30 as his teammate Jonavon went for 18 as they took home the 7th Grade Championship at the Houston GASO. David Gibbons (2022) added 11 for Elevation. BBA made an impressive run through the bracket on Sunday, but came up just shy of winning it all.
