2021 Exposure Hoopfest

Exposure Hoopfest – Championship Sunday

By Lavel Johnson

Sunday was championship day at The Exposure Hoopfest presented by The Hoopfest Tour. Bracket play began Sunday morning with the day culminating with a host of Platinum bracket championship games in the evening. As the day progressed the older age groups took on a definite magnolia flavor as Mississippi teams took home the championship trophy in the 17u, 16u and 15u brackets. Below we take a look at the championship results.

17u Platinum Championship Game

Team We It 60 Georgia Trendsetters 58

The 17u championship game was an extremely competitive hard fought affair with the teams exchange leads throughout. After trailing early Team We It pushed ahead to take a 33-32 halftime lead behind a strong first half from guard Devin Bates, who had 13 first half points. The second half was more of the same as the teams continued to exchange leads, with Team We It featuring more balanced team scoring throughout the second half while the Trendsetters were propelled by forward Christian Torres who had 13 of his game high 21 points in the second half. The game would go down to the final minute as Team We It would score the go ahead bucket with just under a minute left to break a 58 all tie and after getting a stop on the other end of the floor were able to stall out the win as the Trendsetters had too many foul left to give and were not able to get the ball back. Team We it was led by Bates with 18 points in the game while Demarious Coleman had 14.

Both teams made it to the finals with hard fought semifinal wins. Team We It battled past ProSkills San Antonio 2021 52-46, where they were again led by Bates with 20 points, while the Trendsetters slipped by the Louisiana Titans 58-52 behind a total team effort as they placed four players in double figures against the Titans.

16u Platinum Championship

Mamba Wolfpack 59 6th Man 46

Behind a balanced scoring attack The Mamba Wolfpack completed a dominant run thru the 16u Platinum bracket. With the championship game win the Wolfpack produced the third of three convincing wins in bracket play, with the 13 point win over 6th Man being their closest. The Wolfpack had five players score between 9 and 15 points in the game, led by Trey Alexander with 15.

6th Man reached the finals with a 63-51 win over the Louisiana Tigers.

15u Platinum Championship

Mississippi Celtics Elite(MCE) 53 MBA OSAG 43

MCE used a late game push to pull off late and take home the championship hardware in the 15u championship game. A battle between two teams who know each other well having played each other a number of times already this spring the final score was not indicative of how close the game was throughout. Only a one point game at the half with MCE leading 24-23, the second half was a game of runs. MCE came out of half with an 8-0 run to go up by 9 only to see OSAG answer with a 6-0 run to get back to only 3 down. With the MCE lead down to 2 at 38-36 MCE ran off a 5-0 run to take a seemingly commanding 43-36 lead as the game headed down the stretch, but again OSAG answered. With their own 7-0 run OSAG tied the game up at 43, but it was all MCE after that as MCE closed the game on a 10-0 run to take the championship. MCE was led by their diminutive sparkplug lead guard, Jay Watkins with 21 points, 16 of them coming in the second half.

MCE advanced to the finals slipping by Garrett Temple Elite 44-37, while MBA OSAG advanced via a 57-43 win over Community Saved.

14u Platinum Championship

G4wyw 35 Livon Fleur De Lis Black 33

13u Platinum Championship

Livon Fleur De Lis Black 56 Livon Fleur De Lis Blue 38

12u Platinum Championship

Team get Busy-Livon 43 BB4L 35

10u Platinum Championship

Take Flight Nola 30 Fleur De Lis 2030 23

Exposure Hoopfest – Saturday notes

By Lavel Johnson

The Exposure Hoopfest presented by the Hoopfest Tour actually started on Friday with a hand full of games, but kicked into full gear on Saturday. Most of the action happened at the Loyola University Sports Complex where four courts of play are in action. Here are some observations from Saturday's action.

Community Saved 16u went 2-0 on Saturday and they are led by the strong play of a trio of sophomore perimeter guys, Dominick Stewart, James Turner and Kamari Mitchell. Stewart a 6-3 wing is long and rangy, he can really shoot the ball and has range well past the three point line. He mixes that jumper with a crafty drive game and has the look of a developing mid major wing. Turner and Mitchell are both combos but with different games, Turner is a good ballhandler who uses his dribble to get to his spot for smooth pullup jays but is also good on the catch and shoot and can stick the three with consistency. Mitchell is also a very good ballhandler who can really attack the rim and scores it well in traffic, he also has a solid enough jumper that opponents have to come out to play him opening lanes up for his drives.

Maybe the best game I saw Saturday was a 15u battle between a couple of shoe sponsored teams, Adidas sponsored OSAG and Nike sponsored Livon Fleur De Lis. OSAG capture a hard fought 45-44 victory but Livon guard Lionel Larvadin was outstanding in the loss. A well built wing with good quickness and ball skills and a sweet jumper with three point range, Larvadin in is a problem. He finished with 20 points and made 5 threes in the game. For OSAG, guard Cannon Crowder came up big. A crafty combo who can really shoot the ball, Crowder was key down the stretch as he had 12 second half points and 18 for the game to lead OSAG to the victory.

A few other guys who caught my eye:

6-8 post Deakin Pereira of Community Saved 17u is a load. A big strong wide body who thrives on physicality but who also has nifty moves and nimble feet around the paint. A strong rebounder he has good hands to go with his good footwork. Led Community Saved to a 1-1 day and had two strong games in doing so.

KJ Sykes of Mamba Wolfpack packs a big punch in a small package. Standing only 5-5 Sykes is really fun to watch, a quick nifty ballhandler, he uses his dribble really well to probe the defense and set up his moves and once he has the defense on its heels he is just as likely to pull up and stroke a three or find a slashing teammate for a basket at the rim. When he doesn't have the ball in his hands he still demands the defense's attention because he is just as deadly on the catch and shoot spotted up outside the three point line.

Another small guard who packs a big punch is Jay Watkins of Mississippi Celtics Elite. Watkins is a strong ballhandler who gets from one end of the court to the other in a hurry. Always in attack mode, he's looking to attack the rim where he mixes floaters with crafty finishes at the rim. In the open court he can really get to the rim and score the ball and he is also a good passer who's apt at finding open teammates for easy baskets or open jumpers.