i95Ballerz.com AAU Game of the Year To Date - Playaz vs. Team Breakdown at the TOC
Ron Bailey, Publisher
The Playaz Family, after the victory
June 2, 2006 – Those in Duke University’s Cameron Indoor Stadium for the Bob Gibbon’s Tournament of Champions last Saturday afternoon witnessed a whale of a game. Skills, coaching, emotion, and geographical pride were all on display when the Playaz (New Jersey/Mid-Atlantic), coached by Mark Wright, defeated Team Breakdown (Florida/Caribbean), directed by D’Arrance Gillion, 74-72 at the buzzer. This one was a treat. .
Throughout the contest, both teams benefited from exceptional point guard play. Team Breakdown’s attack was run by Edwin Rios (16 points), who faced the Playaz’s guard by committee, including Antoine “Scoop” Jardine (10 points), Anthony Nelson (9 points), Gary Wallace, Jr. (5 points), Miles Beatty (5 points), and Richard Bishop (19 points).
Edwin Rios at the line, with Fred Brown in background
Rios put in a masterful performance, constantly finding teammates such as swing man Chris Baez (20 points) and center Alex Rivas (9 points), as well as fellow guard Alvin Mitchell (8 points), in addition to scoring himself. Much of Edwin’s damage was done in high pick and roll or spread sets, where his dribbling and passing ability were at a premium. Expect similar performances at the University of Miami, in ’07.
From the Playaz standpoint, Wright rotated his guards expertly, always having a fresh player defend the maestro Rios. An excellent example of this was the effectiveness of Wallace in the first half, and Jardine plus Nelson down the stretch.
Wallace had a stretch late in the first stanza when he supplied several steals, played the passing lanes nicely, and drove strong to the cup. Nelson was able expertly apply key ball pressure on Rios and other Team Breakdown players in the second half. Wright replied “With Ant on the ball that makes us a better defensive team. With him on the ball, we can deny the wings. It made it tough on them to get it down to their shooters”, when asked about Anthony’s defensive effectiveness.
Anthony Nelson sizing up the hoop
Nelson echoed that game plan afterward. “I knew who their best player was going to be (referring to Rios)” said Anthony. “I figured I’d try to take him out the game…and I knew once he gets out the game, their whole team can’t function without him”.
Jardin, who typically plays for the Philly Ballhawks along with Playaz frontcourt force Rick Jackson (11 points) was also assigned Rios in the second stanza, and immediately showed that in addition to being a top-level offensive point guard, he can ‘strap up’ with the best of them. In addition to defending Rios head up, Scoop basically stopped anybody in front of him, and played a key role in the last seconds of this match up.