Peach Jam NY Top 17U Performers (Day 2/Early Sessions)

NORTH AUGUSTA, SC – Two New York teams have emerged as unstoppable thus far in the Nike Peach Jam at the Riverview Park Activities Center. On Thursday the action continued and neither team disappointed during the early sessions.

Every team in the Peach Jam are stacked and the CIA Bounce was no different. 6’10” Cole Lawrence kept the Canadian squad competitive with both his scoring and defense but early perimeter shooting by Brandon Randolph (9 points & 3 steals) and strong finishes around the rim by Mohamed Bamba (20 points, 16 rebounds & 3 blocks) put the Cardinals up, 42-36 at the half.

Although Randolph continued to be money from the arc at the top of the second half before going cold, Jailen Llewellyn briefly shifted the momentum giving CIA Bounce the lead. The Cardinal would knot the score with 10 minutes left in regulation but Jayvon Blair extended CIA’s lead with long range shots.

The Bounce matched up nicely versus the Cardinals which somewhat neutralized their bigs but Quade Green (26 points & 8 assists) stepped up bigtime with a masterful performance that balanced scoring as well as setting the table for teammates.

Green put the Cardinals up by a point with under 3 minutes left to play. Llewellyn countered but with seconds remaining, Green hit a clutch midrange fade away that extended the Cardinals lead to 3 point with 6.6 seconds. Bamba would pull down a key defensive rebound that sealed the deal while keeping the Bronx, NY based team undefeated at 2-0.

Llewellyn as the high man for CIA Bounce with 15 points and 5 assists.

Playing against a much bigger North Carolina squad in Team CP3, the NY Rens once again climb out from under the abyss to snatch its second victory in as many days. In a team effort, the Rens were victorious.

The first half was powered by a scorching hot Jordan Tucker (20 points, 2 assists and 4 rebounds) who displayed short-term memory, rebounding from a subpar day one to drain four treys (shooting 4 of 5) in the first half along with Jordan Nwora (21 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists) who also nailed four three-pointers. Still Team CP3 maintained a 1-point lead at the half as the result of a balance scoring attacked with JP Moorman and Devontay Shuler leading the way.

Head Coach Andy Borman made a gutsy move as the Rens were competitive but trailing. He benched Tucker for the more defensive minded 6’5” Noah Morgan (Mt Vernon HS ’17) for most of the second half. Morgan, who scored 6 of his 8 points off turnovers, responded delivering a superb job securing rebounds and scoring key buckets for the Rens. The strategy changed the momentum and put the Rens. Point guard Jose Alvarado (16 point, 5 assists, 5 rebounds & 3 steals) had another good day at the point as he remained aggressive, skillfully picking his spots to score or pass and Hamidou Diallo (19 points, 7 rebounds & 2 assists) came up big in the clutch.

Moorman led Team CP3 with 19 points and 12 rebounds.

After a devastating loss to the California Supreme, the upstate crew rebounded nicely with a win over the St. Louis Eagles led by a 20-point performance from Hamier Wright.

The Eagles battled throughout as Jordan Goodwin and Darius Garland provided the impetus but teamwork by 6'6" Nahziah Carter (17 points & 6 rebounds) from Bishop Kearney HS and 6'6" Dom Welch (15 points, 3 rebounds & 3 steals) from Cheekowaga HS added the firepower necessary to improves the Albany City Rocks record to 1-1.

Goodwin paced the St. Louis Eagles with 18 points and 14 rebounds.

Markquis Nowell has come out blazing as the Brooklyn native has been playing with the NJ Playaz Club 16U team. In a 72-69 win over Mean Streets, the rising junior netted 18 points to go with 6 assists and 4 steals.

Nicholas Richards, another New Yorker, has been owning the board while playing with Expression Elite. During a game against Team Takeover, Richards inhaled 17 rebounds and 4 blocks to go with 15 points en route to a 74-71 victory on Wednesday. He followed that up with a solid performance of 14 points and 9 rebounds albeit in a loss to MOKAN Elite..