D.C. Shootout's Championship Round Proves the Power of Fatigue
Ron Bailey, Publisher
April 30, 2007 - This past weekend, Charlie Weber's D.C. Shootout was held at sites across the Nation's Capital. Along the way, teams played at least five hard fought games to reach the championship rounds. Resultantly, the benefit of a strong bench was paramount, as the championship round indicated.
Following is a recap of the tourney's finals:
17 and under Championship
Cuttino Mobley /Studz 61- The Blast 39
Cuttino Mobley used a blistering fast break attack and superior bench strength to defeat a game, yet fatigued Blast team, a point both coaches readily recognized.
“Definitely” replied Blast coach, Rick Jackson when asked if his charges were in fact tired, given their non-typical short jumpers and inconsistent fast breaking. “We only had eight guys, and were short of the muscle inside”.
Earlier in the tournament, the Blast beat foes by close to 30 points.
His Mobley counterpart, Regi Huc, agreed, adding “Teams that run don’t like being run on”, and that being up by solid double figures in the third quarter, he wanted to manufacture a mercy rule stoppage (gained by being up 20 points late in the fourth quarter). As such, “We wanted to kind of take the steam out of them” he noted, by rotating all of his players liberally, while demanding they constantly push the ball up the floor and play intense defense.
Forward Andrew Randale led Mobley and all scorers with 21 points, while Max Huc added six. The Blast saw guard Dan Haverstock provide 9 points, and backcourt man Jacob Iati drop seven.
Cuttino Mobley/Studz used wholesale second half substitutions and a fast pace to wear down The Blast.
17 and under Championship
New York Panthers 57 - Greenville Grizzlies 54
In a hard fought battle, the Panthers prevailed after being down three at intermission. The key in the second half to a large degree was guard/forward Rashad Green (13 points), who early in the fourth quarter was able to attack the basket, via isolation mismatches.
“He was definitely a factor” said Panther coach Nate Cadogan, who also identified Green’s left handed status, in addition to his strength and broad skill set as thorns in the side of defenders.
Cadogan also went on to laud his team generally. “It was an overall team win” he said. “It helped that everybody played hard, because we had three games yesterday and three games today with seven guys”.
In addition to Green, guard Booker Hutch provided eight points for the Panthers. Greenville got 12 points from point guard Mike Lewis, and 10 from D. Meredith.
The Panthers bucked the D.C. Shootout's trend, as they won a title despite having seven players available.