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Metro Summer League 2016 Session 1 Recap (6/16/16)

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The 2016 Metro Basketball Summer League tipped off on Thursday night at the Omaha Sports Academy.  Two hours later with 16 teams and eight games in the books, it looks like it will be a fun summer for all.

Incoming Creighton freshman Davion Mintz made his Omaha debut as well as Syracuse transfer Kaleb Joseph.  Both were fun to watch.  You had a classic toe to toe matchup with Creighton’s Khyri Thomas and UNO’s Tra-Deon Hollins in their matchup, while also seeing Marcus Foster posterize a player during his game.

Here is the recap from Thursday night:

NEBHSSPORTS.COM 91, Going Vertical 84

On paper, this game looked very lopsided heading into the night.  One key thing in Summer League is that in order to be successful, it is usually the team that has the most veteran players that can still win over the college kids.  Going Vertical with its veteran team of Ben Holling, Cody Levinson, Klaye Rowe, and Justin Carter have always been solid, but they also added in former Bluejay Austin Chatman and the dynamic duo of UNO’s Tra-Deon Hollins and Treshawn Thurman.

On the other side you had a NEBHSSPORTS.COM team that was made up of all college players. Their one veteran, Duol Mayot who just finished his college career at South Dakota wasn’t going to be there on Thursday night.  However, some motivation can make a big difference.  It seems Creighton’s Khyri Thomas and Justin Patton, along with KJ Scott had other plans for the evening.

The game went back and forth early, but NEBHSSPORTS ended up leading most of the first half, but Going Vertical went into half up 48-45.  Khyri Thomas, however was working.

Second half, you could tell that this had a big game feel to it and WBR’s Matt DeMarinis predicted it earlier in the day:

However, the wildcard in the game was KJ Scott.  The senior, who is reportedly walking on this season at Texas Southern after playing at Maryland Eastern Shore last season, was lights out from three.  Every time Going Vertical looked to try and get some space between them, Scott would hit a three.  He finished with 32 points on 12-of-18 shooting (6-of-9 from three) and had 7 rebounds and 7 assists.

At the same time, when NEBHSSPORTS would get out to a lead to as much as 7 or 8 points, Going Vertical would battle back to tie the game back up.  Hollins and Thurman used their athleticism to create havoc for NEBHSSPORTS, as well, but Thomas and Patton were factors as well with Patton having several finishes with dunks.

Key shots at the end and made free throws helped take NEBHSSPORTS.com to the 91-84 victory and a mild upset to open Summer League play.

OFWF 83, Bank of Nebraska 77

In the game to finish off the evening, this one was close throughout and OFWF clawed its way back to steal the victory.  Bank of Nebraska jumped out to a 38-31 halftime lead and continued to lead most of the second half.  That is when incoming Creighton freshman Davion Mintz went to work.

Mintz had a quiet first half with 5 points mainly shooting from the outside.  However, the second half was a different story.  Early in the second half, Mintz dribbled down the lane through traffic and through down a nice one-handed dunk.

 


It wasn’t too long after that, Mintz on the fast break received a lob under the basket in the air and threw down a crazy one-handed alley-oop jam. You really had to see it in person.

It was Game On after that as OFWF worked their way into the game to cut the lead.  Austin Hennings hit a three-pointer to cut the lead to 73-72 with one minute remaining.  Connor Moran then was fouled and made a free throw to tie the game with :45 remaining and then grabbed the rebound off his own miss of the second free throw and was fouled again.   This time he hit both free throws.  OFWF was able to get up 78-77 and Bank of Nebraska was forced to foule Mintz with :09 remaining.  He hit both free throws to go up 80-77 and on the ensuing play, B of N was trapped at mid-court and it was a scramble for the ball.  Hennings came out of the scramble and got the ball to Mintz who hit a three at the buzzer to seal the win 83-77.

Mintz finished the game with 21 points on 8-of-18 shooting, 8 assists and 2 rebounds.

 

Video Highlight from Bluejay Banter

Shanks Law Firm 87, Judd Knispel Insurance 73

Shanks Law Firm, which is a team full of Nebraska Wesleyan graduates, lived up to the preview that they could be the surprise of the league this summer.  However, it didn’t look like it at first.  Creighton’s incoming transfer Kaleb Joseph started things off early along with Marcus Foster by making some spectacular plays.  Seeing Joseph play for the first time, he will definitely be an impact player during the 2017-18 season for the Bluejays.  He has some great length and a nice wingspan. He scored some points early had some nice assists to Foster to get things going.

The play of the night also came in the first half as Foster received a pass about 15 feet from the basket.  He took on the challenge of dribbling against the defender toward the basket and through down a highly contested dunk that got the large crowd watching the game full of reaction.  He posterized the defender on the play and that must have got the Shanks team pretty fired up.

 

Shanks took a 56-44 lead into the half and frankly never looked back.  They continued with that lead throughout the second half and had an answer for every basket the Judd Knispel team was making.  If you know any history of the Judd Knispel team over the past few summers–the team struggles in pool play and the curse continues as Shanks gets the 87-73 victory.  Trey Bardsley from Shanks was on fire from 3-point land making at least 8 in the game.

A couple highlights from Bluejay Banter

Rooferees 72, EQ School of Hair Design 70

Will Artino and Ricky Kreklow harkened back to their days at Creighton as they teamed up with league organizer Jason Issacson’s Rooferees on Thursday night.  They jumped out to a 37-30 halftime lead over Mo Watson, Zach Hanson, and the EQ School of Hair design.

It was a very competitive second half with the EQ taking back the lead and jumping out to a 70-67 lead with 1:25 to go off of a Mo Watson jumper from the side.  The Rooferees tied it with a 3-pointer with 50 seconds left.  UNO Sophomore Zach Jackson was called for an offensive foul with 30 seconds and after a time out with 17 seconds to go, the Rooferees setup the final play winner.

Kreklow posted up in the post and got the ball.  He dribbled a bit and then flipped the ball over his shoulder to a flying in Will Artino for an alley-oop dunk with :02 remaining for the game winner.  The 3/4 court heave came up short.

UNO Alumni 100, Narmi Group @ Baird 96

You could have called this one a matchup of Creighton vs. UNO alumni.  The Bluejays of Narmi had Jahenns Manigat, Matt Dorwart, Taylor Stormberg, Austin Chatman and current player Ronnie Harrell against the defending MBL champs UNO Alumni.  The UNO Alumni jumped out to a fast 57-42 halftime lead.  As the Narmi Group worked to get their way back into the game, it was a frenzy at the end to catch up.  UNO Alumni missed some free throws down the stretch and Ronnie Harrell went to work looking to score every time down the court.  Jahenns Manigat hit a three-pointer with a few seconds left to cut the deficit to the final 100-96 score and UNO Alumni held on for the win.

Lopers 93, Apex Foster Care 86

This one was a back and forth, highly contested game.  Apex Foster Care (Peru St.) jumped out to a 59-56 halftime lead.  However, the Lopers (UNK) bounced back in a lower scoring second half to start out the season 1-0 and take on Bank of Nebraska next week.

BD 87, Winning Mentality 58

The one lopsided game of the night was between BD and Winning Mentality.  It seems BD had the bigger mentality to get a win as they jumped out to a 38-23 halftime lead.  BD was in total sync throughout the game, with most players on the team having played together in the past,  and was able to cruise to the 87-58 victory.

Regulators 74, Air Force 69

This game was close throughout as the Regulators, led by Bellevue University graduate Derek Bryant, survived being down 31-27 at the half and held off a furious comeback by the mysterious Air Force team out of Offutt Air Force Base.

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