UAA Session 2 - New England Recap

by Gideon Hamot | Wednesday, May 3rd, 2017

New England's lone UAA team continued to play this weekend without big man Chol Marial, who remained out with a stress fracture in his foot. Nevertheless, CBC competed against a schedule that included two teams currently tied for the first place in WeR1 and Earl Watson elite, along with third place Philly Pride.

CBC opened play Friday night against a talented WeR1 squad and gave the league leaders all they could handle. After trailing by 10 at the half and 8 heading into the final frame, Jared Simmons, who scored 9 of his 11 in the second half, nailed a three to tie the game at 72. After a pair of free throws by Isaiah Wong gave WeR1 a 2 point edge, a Chaylyn Martin bucket with 28 seconds left helped send the game to overtime at 74 a piece. In OT, the charity stripe gave CBC all of their 5 points and a lead as time wound down, but WeR1’s Tyrese Martin hit a three ball that sent the game into a second overtime where CBC was unable to score and eventually fell 83-69. Despite the loss, CBC had an impressive balancing act with 6 players scoring in double digits with Filip Petrusev leading the way with 15 points & 8 rebounds including two 3’s. For WeR1, New England prep product Eric Ayala recorded a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds while Tyrese Martin recorded 28 points and 12 rebounds in the win.

Saturday morning CBC had another tough contest with a Philly Pride team that was undefeated coming into the game. CBC led by as much as 15 midway through the third quarter off the strength of Petrusev’s 12 first half points along with 9 points from Kewan Smoot and 6 points, along with 4 boards, from Nicholas Guadarrama. Despite the lead, the Pride was able to claw back within four entering the game's final frame. With just a minute and a half left, the Pride were able to take a three point lead of a John Harrar lay-up but Chaylyn Martin hit two free throws to bring CBC back within one. However, it was not enough as the Pride escaped with a 61-58 win and an intact undefeated record. Harrar had 14 points and 11 rebounds while Jack Clark added 15 points including 3-6 from behind the arc.

The grueling schedule for CBC continued with a nightcap on Saturday against Earl Watson Elite, one of the Association’s most talented teams. Earl Watson used 5-Star sophomore Cassius Stanley’s 8 points and 2018 wing Trey Anderson’s 11 to jump out to a 36-25 lead at halftime. Their stingy defense held CBC to just 1-12 shooting from beyond the arc and 32% overall. However, in the second half Calvin Whipple got hot from beyond the arc, hitting 5 of 6, while Christian Adams added 8 second half points as well.  Earl Watson’s Wes Slajchert answered with 10 of his own and Anderson put up another 11 in the back frame to help ice the game down the stretch and give Earl Watson a 78-73 win.

Despite three tough losses, CBC was able to end the weekend on a high note with a victory over Grassroots Sizzle. The game went back and forth with CBC holding a 33-32 halftime advantage behind 8 points from both Petrusev and Simmons. It remained close in the second half with Calvin Whipple hitting a long three to tie it up at 74 with only 90 seconds remaining. Sizzle was able to gain the lead back at the free-throw line with ten seconds left, but Kewan Smooth went 1-2 from the stripe himself to force OT. Emotions were running high in OT but Jaecee Martin stayed calm and nailed a critical mid-range jumper with 12 seconds left while a Smoot lay-up would seal the victory. The unsigned senior finished with 15 while Petrusev and Martin both had 12.

In other New England prep news, Ayala had a productive weekend for WeR1 including a 15 points outing against Louisville bound guard Anfernee Simons (who scored only 8).