Columbus Day Challenge 16u Report

Playaz 16s Chip Squad

 Basketball Columbus Day Challenge 16u Report

- After playing with only five bodies down at Hoop Group, the New England Playaz landed on Planet Basketbull with three valuable reinforcements in Aaron Falzon, Jashanti Allen, and Brian Mukasa to go along with Jeff Spellman, Kahari Beaufort, Colin McManus, Djery Baptiste, and Jacquil Taylor.  With the ability to rotate players in and out of the ballgame in a traditional manner, Coach Don Spellman, along with Dan Salazar, guided the club to a 4-0 weekend record and the Columbus Day Challenge 16u Chip...Aaron Falzon came in and immediately stepped in as the Quarterback  of the Playaz front-line, vocally initiating the pick and roll game with Spellman and Beaufort and the high-low game with Jacquil Taylor.  (Kid must have had an outstanding middle school coach.)  In addition to facilitating and directing traffic all over the floor, Falzon scored the ball from the post, knocked down trey-balls to extend the defense, and was terrific rebounding the ball defensively and quickly starting the break with a crisp outlet...Brian Mukasa made his Playaz debut and promptly announced himself on the scene as high-IQ left-handed lead guard who brings a steadying-influence to a talented squad.  Look for Mukasa in the Columbus Day Challenge Player Landings...Jashanti Allen strongly showed as a compact, spark-plug freshman point guard who uses his speed, quickness, and body to make plays of all sorts in between the charity stripes.  Allen looks to push the rock off the make of the miss to get his team high-percentage transition scoring opportunities and he also has the makings of a serious pest as an on-ball defender.

- Last weekend, the RI Hawks 16s had folks talking as they battled the BABC 16s down to the final minutes at the Middlesex Magic Fall Classic at Babson.  This weekend, they encored with another impressive performance, reeling off three straight wins to advance to the championship game, where they played their tails off before eventually dropping a close one to the Playaz. The three-guard attack of Jackson Donahue, Kealan Ives, and Henry Bolton was effective in scoring the ball consistently and dictating the flow of the game.  The trio shared the baton all weekend long, deftly taking turns behind the controls of the Hawk Helicopter.  With these 3 guards alongside Edson Dascy Brandon Eckles, Jerrelle Washington, and rim-rocker Zdahmond Dale, this squad is poised to make a ton of noise in 2012.

- Another 16u club which people were talking about was the Basketbull squad coached by Greg Lyons.  They won their first two games on Saturday before falling to the fore-mentioned RI Hawks in the semifinals on Sunday to finish the weekend at 2-1.  Impressing for Basketbull were David Murrell, Justin Crosby, Nelson Zayaz, and Joe Crapps.  This is an up and coming team with players to watch.