Houston Hurts Wisconsin to win the Global Challenge

The Houston Hoops and Wisconsin Playground Warriors played one time this year and it was an epic battle. Wisconsin drilled a three at the buzzer to tie it and then won in overtime by 1. It was a quarter-final match-up at the Bluegrass Classic. After the big win Wisconsin cruised to the championship in that event. Houston wanted revenge.

The Hoops jumped out to a quick 14-3 lead in the first 3 minutes of the game. The run was highlighted by 5 points from Carlos Hurt (26 points, 8-10 from three point range) and the quickness of point guard T.J. Ford. After the initial run Wisconsin settled down and battled the Hoops for the rest of the half. At the half they had cut the lead to 8, 43-35. Hurt led the way for Houston with 14 at the break. Joah Tucker had 12 to lead the Wisconsin scorers.

Drake Diener (10 points) came out hot for Wisconsin knocking down 3 quick three-pointers. His last three tied the game at 49 with 11:36 on the clock. Wisconsin took their first lead moments later 51-50. The lead change seemed to upset Hurt as he quickly knocked down two deep three's (his 5th and 6th of the game) to take the lead back real quick. Houston held that lead until Travis Diener (14 points) knocked down a three from the corner tying the game at 66 with 3:39 remaining. With two minutes left Diener picked up a loose ball and layed it in to give Wisconsin a 69-67 lead. Hurt came right back for Houston knocking down his 7th three giving Houston the lead 70-69. 2 free throws by Greg Brown and one by Drake Diener gave Wisconsin the lead 72-70 with 28 seconds left.

Houston called time-out with 21.2 seconds remaining and set up a play. Out of the time-out Hurt drove right but the ball was knocked out of bounds with only 4 seconds left. Coach Josh Pastner called for another time-out and knew it all came down to this. He called a play for his main man Carlos Hurt. Hurt threw it in to Emeka Okafor and then ran off a low post screen and recieved the ball back from Okafor for a catch & shoot. Hurt caught it and HIT NOTHING BUT THE BOTTOM OF THE NET with a fadeawy three as time expired giving Houston a 73-72 win over Wisconsin and the Nike Global Challenge Championship.

Pastner had this to say after the teams big win, "Just very thankful for the opportunity!"

The star of the tournament Carlos Hurt remarked, "we lost to them earlier by 1 (Bluegrass Classic) and we just wanted to redeem ourselves." When asked about the game winner he said, "Yeah, it's a set play we've been running all year - I just throw it up & he (Okafor) just tips it back out for a catch & shoot."

Catch & Shoot he did, all the way to a championship. Louisville is awaiting this dynamic guard in 2 years.

Championship Game Highlights:

Carlos Hurt with the Game Winner and celebration dance
Hurt's first three of the game
T.J. Ford scores the first points of the game for Houston
Wisconsin's Joah Tucker knocks down a jumper
Tucker converts on the break
T.J. Ford with an amazing follow dunk
Wisconsin's Greg Brown hits nylon
Wisconsin's Deonte Tatum working hard underneath
Ford uses the glass for a leaner
Hurt's 7th three of the game to take the lead with a minute left
Tucker working hard in the post for 2 of his 21
Travis Diener nails one of his 4 three's on his way to 14 points
Tucker lays it in for 2
Houston's Stanley Asumnu finishes on the break

Wisconsin rolls into the finals

The Bluegrass Classic and Peach Jam Champions will play for another title after downing Boo Williams 67-57 in the semi-finals. Boo Williams squad came out slow, possibly tired from their 3OT win over Southern Cal earlier in the afternoon. Wisconsin jumped out to a 29-11 lead behind 14 big points from Travis Diener. Diener (18 points) finished off his great half with a tight pass to J.R. Morris who flushed it as time expired in the first half. The dunk gave Wisconsin a 35-16 lead at the break. Wisconsin continued to extend their lead behind consistent shooting and a balanced scoring attack. Drake Diener (9 points, all in second half) knocked down a three to give Wisconsin a 51-24 lead with 11:40 left in the game. From their Wisconsin threw it in to cruise control and held on for the 67-57 win. Greg Brown had 13 points, Deonte Tatum and Joah Tucker added 10 each for the Playground Warriors. The lone bright spot for Boo Williams squad was Ricky Shields who poured in 17 points in a losing effort.

Wisconsin Highlights:
Greg Brown goes coast to coast and hits a jumper
Travis Diener dishes to J.R. Morris for a big slam
Drake Diener nailing a 3 to extend the lead to 27
Brown drives baseline for 2 of his 13

Hurt and Spears send Houston to the finals

Michael Lee (21 points) stroked a three, then caught a feed on a fast break and turned it into a 3 point play. Chris Rodgers (12 points) then knocked down 2 free throws to finish the 8-0 run and send the Portland Legends into half-time with a 33-27 lead. Down 6 Carlos Hurt (24 points) came out and led the Houston Hoops on a 13-3 run that gave them a 48-41 lead with 8:24 left. After Vic Remmers knocked down a free throw for Portland the lead was only 1 at 48-47. Hurt again had an answer. He made a sweet dish down low and converted a fast break lay-up to extend the lead back to 5 with 4:10 left. The Legends kept battling back cutting the lead to just 56-53 with 2:00 left. The last two minutes were Marcus Spears time. The big man went on a 9-2 run himself. Spears tipped in a rebound for two, knocked down two free throws, then the All-American Tight End made a sweet catch off a Hurt pass and finished on the break. With the score 62-55 with 55 seconds left Spears shut the door on Portland's hopes. Spears spun baseline and layed it in and got fouled. The 3 point play left the score at 65-55. Portland was unable to answer the big man's heroics as Houston advanced to the Championship game behind their dynamic duo.

Game Highlights:
All American Tight End Marcus Spears with the sweet catch and finish for Houston
Houston Hoops Carlos Hurt knocks down a 3 from the corner
Portlands Aaron Miles drills a 3
Portlands Chris Rodgers goes to work on Hurt
Houston Hoops Dante Stiggers with a sweet follow
Hurt hits the bottom of the net from the wing
Spears gets a big tip in down the stretch
Hurt ahead of the crowd lays it in on the break
Michael Lee with a 3 for Portland
Lee finishes strong and gets the 3 point play on the break
Hurt takes in to the middle, hitting the jumper in traffic

Elton Brown's Heroics lift Boo Williams in Triple Overtime

Boo Williams and Southern Cal tested each other's patience, nerves, talent, and ability to perform in the clutch in a grueling 3 overtime affair. At the half it was Southern Cal who had the lead 30-29 on the strength of Cedric Bozeman's 14 points and 4 three pointers. Elton Brown and J.J. Reddick scored 11 and 10 points respectively to keep Boo Williams squad right there.

With 12 minutes left in the half Boo Williams Center Jason Clark went to the bench with 4 fouls. Feeling he had to shorten the game on the talented California squad Boo Williams elected to hold the ball with 10:30 left on the clock trailing by the score of 39-37. When Boo Williams finally decided to attack the hoop at the 6:30 mark Robert Strickland fed Ricky Shields with a sweet no look pass that he layed in to tie the game at 39. Southern Cal feeling like Boo was going to hold the ball again if they gave it back to them, decided to one up Boo Williams and hold the ball themselves. Southern Cal held the ball until just 6.9 seconds remained. After a time-out Southern Cal came out with a chance to win the game. Josh Childress' (13 points) 3 point attempt bounded off the rim and was rebounded by Jamal Sampson (9 points) who couldn't get the follow off before time expired sending the game to overtime.

In overtime Elton Brown converted a lay-up but on the way down caught Bozeman with an elbow that forced Bozeman to leave the game bloodied. After a Timmy Smith (10 points) score Boo Williams led 43-39. Sampson converted one of two free throws to cut the lead to 3. With 40 seconds left, Josh Childress came up huge knocking down a 3 from the corner tying the game at 43. With 4.7 seconds left on the clock Boo Williams called time-out to set up a play. Ray Reed stole the inbounds pass with 4 seconds left giving Southern Cal the ball back. After two passes the ball ended up in Childress' hands and he hurled a 30 footer at the hoop for the win, the ball barely missed sending the game to a second overtime.

In double overtime no one had managed to score. With one minute left Brown had the ball inside but Tyson Chandler swatted his shot out to Reed who set up the SoCal offense. While Reed was setting up, Sampson was called for an offensive foul underneath with 41 seconds left giving Boo Williams the ball back again. Timmy Smith broke free down the baseline for what looked to be the go-ahead hoop until Childress came out of nowhere to throw the lay-up attempt out of play with 11.8 left. After Southern Cal forced a Boo Williams turnover it was there ball on the side with 2.9 seconds left. Floyd North inbounded the ball to Chandler who swung it to Reed behind the arc. Reed was tightly covered and couldn't get up a good shot before time expired forcing a third overtime.

With 2:35 left Chandler got fouled underneath and calmly went to the line and sank both free throws giving Southern Cal their first lead since way back at the 10:30 mark of the second half. Boo Williams elected to hold for the final shot. With 12 seconds left Boo Williams called time-out setting up Elton Brown's heroics. After J.J. Reddick couldn't find an opening he passed it to the big man who shot a three with confidence that hit NOTHING BUT THE BOTTOM OF THE NET with 5 seconds left giving Boo Williams squad the stunning 46-45 win and a semi-final match-up with Wisconsin.

Game Highlights: Elton Brown's Game Winner
Southern Cal's attempt at the end of Regulation
Southern Cal's attempt at the end of the first overtime
Southern Cal's attempt at the end of the second overtime
Ray Reed's huge steal for Southern Cal
Josh Childress with a huge block at the end of double OT
Boo Williams Ricky Shields ties the game at 39
Elton Brown with two of his 16 points
Southern Cal's Cedric Bozeman for 3
Bozeman with another of his 4 first half three's

Wisconsin battles past St. Louis

The Wisconsin Playground Warriors didn't play their best game of the tournament, but they played tough down the stretch and overcame a great 22 point effort by David Lee to defeat the St. Louis Eagles 64-59 to advance to the Semi-finals of the Global Challenge. Travis Diener led the way for Wisconsin scoring 18 points. With 1:30 left on the clock the Wisconsin lead was only 2 at 57-55. Greg Brown knocked down a clutch jumper to give Wisconsin some breathing room. St. Louis couldn't knock down enough 3's in the last minute to catch the sure shooting Playground Warriors. Deonte Tatum (18 points) knocked down some big free throws to keep the game out of reach.

Portland Legends keep on rolling

The hometown favorite Portland Legends came out excited to be in quarter-finals of their local tournament. The Legends jumped out to a 31-17 lead midway through the first half. After Georgia made a run it was 39-33 with time running down in the half. Chris Rodgers (19 points) recieved a pass with the clock ticking down in the half and buried a 3 from the corner giving the Legends a 9 point lead and momentum going into the break. After extending the lead for most of the second half, Georgia got hot. Hot shooting by the Stars cut the Porltand lead to 62-55 with 5:30 left in the game. Aaron Miles (13 points) knocked down a jumper and then got a steal and fed Michael Lee (18 points) streaking to the basket. Lee converted the lay-up and got fouled. After converting the free throw, Portland got a stop on the defensive end and Miles drove past the Georgia defense to cap off the 7-0 run. The run made the score 69-55 with 4:00 left and sealed the Legends spot in the semi-finals.

Portland Legend Highlights:
Aaron Miles knocks down the smooth jumper
Miles with a follow on the break
Vic Remmers knocks down a three
Chris Rodgers with a big three at the half
Rodgers bottoms out a jumper
Miles drives past the D for two

Carlos Hurt's 27 lift Houston

The Houston Hoops rolled through Pool B action with a perfect 3-0 mark. They seemed to be on their way to a great run, until, they ran into the rough and tough Club Partizan team out of Yugoslavia. Yugoslavia hung tough inside and was scoring right with the Hoops. At half-time the score stood 34-32 Houston. The game stayed close through the first few minutes of the second half until Carlos Hurt took over. Hurt (27 points) and fellow guard T.J. Ford (13 points) used their quickness to weave all over the Yugoslavia defense. Hurt's outside shot started dropping which opened him up to penetrate and find teammates like Emeka Okafor. Houston built a 14 point lead with 8 minutes remaining and made the most of their free throw attempts at the end to secure a 77-69 win and a berth in the semi-finals.

Game Highlights:
Houston Hoops Carlos Hurt feeds Emeka Okafor for a stuff
Houston Hoops Hurt hesitates to lose the defender then buries the jumper
Yugoslavia's Aleksandar Gajic converts on the break
Houston Hoops T.J. Ford takes it coast to coast

Southern California continues to dominate

It's Cedric Bozeman's world, the rest of us are just living in it. At least that's what the 6'6'' point guard for Southern California made everyone believe on this night. Bozeman racked up 18 points with some of the most dazzling ballhandling you'll ever see. Bozeman was abusing whoever the Georgia Stars threw at him. Despite Bozeman's heroics the Georgia Stars were down only 5 50-45 with 9:20 left in the game. Southern Cal swung the ball around the perimeter and eventually found guard Eddie Droughans for the open 3. Droughans knocked down the shot and was fouled AFTER THE SHOT. With the foul coming after the shot Southern Cal retained the ball. On the ensueing inbounds play Darius Sanders (13 points) was fouled underneath as he layed it in. After Sanders completed the three point play the score was 56-45 in favor of Southern Cal. The Georgia Stars were never able to recover as they fell 78-62 to a Southern Cal team that looks ready to make a run for the Global Challenge title. Big Man Jamal Sampson scored 16 and Tyson Chandler added 8 points and great defense on an ankle that he turned in the first minute of the game. The win ups Southern Cal's record to a perfect 3-0. The Pool D Champs will face Boo Williams in the quarter-finals in what should be one of the best games of the tournament.

Southern Cal's highlights:
Cedric Bozeman goes between the legs and behind his back to leave the defender grabbing air
Bozeman breaks his opponent's ankles and takes it strong
Bozeman sees the baseline open and drives hard to the rack
Bozeman picks up the loose ball and goes coast to coast
Eddie Droughans big 3 and the foul
Josh Childress dunking a ball to seal the W

Wisconsin Playground bounces back

The Wisconsin Playground Warriors bounced back from a rare loss in the afternoon to defeat Riverside Church 84-71. The Blugrass Classic and Peach Jam champions were in a strange position entering their third game of pool play, they needed to win to advance. With a new found passion Wisconsin jumped out to a big 18 point lead in the first half behind the leadership and hot shooting of Travis Diener. The Playground Warriors lost their focus and started to question some calls by the referee. The distraction knocked them off their game enough for Riverside Church to make a run behind some great three point shooting. Up only 7 points midway through the second half Wisconsin finished with the kick of a champion. Greg Brown finished off an acrobatic drive with a lay up, then, the next time down the floor Diener found Brown behind the arc draining a big time three that gave Wisconsin a 15 point lead and allowed them to cruise in for the victory. The victory gave them first place in Pool C action and a date in the quarter-finals with David Lee and the St. Louis Eagles.

Georgia Stars improve to 2-0 with a big second half

The Georgia Stars were down 2 at half-time and needed a spark. With 10 minutes remaining the game was still tight. Aaron Fitzgerald kept Emerald City in the game with some great shooting and terrific passing. Fitzgerald was hooking up teammates all over the place, like this no look pass to Kevin Field. Georgia started hitting the glass using their size and athleticism to wear down Emerald City. Jarius Glenn followed his own miss and layed it in. Fred Gibson then stepped behind the arc to nail a three. Cornelius Mitchell followed with a three and Georgia had pulled ahead by 11. Georgia put the clamps on Emerald City down the stretch causing turnover after turnover. The turnovers keyed fast breaks where Georgia cut strut their athleticism. Gibson recieved a pass and throw the alley oop to himself, throwing it down in style. The next time down the floor, another Georgia steal led to the game clencher. Chris MacFarland rebound a layup attempt and stuffed it with authority. MacFarland even had time to pose for the cameras after his impressive dunk. Georgia will face Southern California for first place in Pool D at 8:30 tonight.

Yugoslavia upsets Wisconsin in a great battle

Peach Jam and Bluegrass Classic Champion Wisconsin Playground Warriors became the first upset victim, and the first U.S. squad to lose at the Nike Global Challenge, as they fell to the Partizan Basketball Club from Yugoslavia 63-62. In a physical game Yugoslavia built a 7 point lead with just over 3 minutes to play, but Greg Brown rallied Wisconsin by drilling a 3 pointer to tie it at 58.

Yugoslavia quickly regained the lead as Marko Jovanovic canned 1 of 2 free throws and Ivan Andonov scored on a breakaway to extend the Yugoslavia lead to 61-58.

Wisconsin point guard Travis Diener, calmly stroked a 24 foot jumper, while being fouled. His free throw completed the 4 point play to give Wisconsin its' first lead of the second half 62-61 with 21 seconds left.

But, then, uncharacteristically the Playground Warriors committed a series of mistakes down the stretch. With 12.8 seconds left they fouled a driving Vladimir Popovic, who calmly made two free throws to take back the lead at 63-62. A Yugoslavia turnover gave Wisconsin a last chance to win with 2.3 seconds on the clock. The best shot Wisconsin could get was a fadeaway jumper from deep in the left corner that missed everything as time expired.

Boo Williams and Portland Legends control Pool A

Boo Williams and the Portland Legends improved to 2-0 in Pool A play and will play each other at 4:00 for the Pool A title. Both teams will advance onto the Championship bracket on the strength of their Friday morning wins.

Boo Williams was too quick and shot the ball to well for a game Olympiakos (Greece) team. Olympiakos kept it close for a majority of the game. The Greek team cut the lead to 38-29 with 13:20 remaining in the game. Boo Williams quickly substituted in the star of the game J.J. Reddick (16 points) to stop the bleeding. Reddick knocked down a three and on the next possession drove the lane and dumped off a great pass to Ricky Shields (13 points). Within 3 minutes the lead was 20 at 49-29 and Boo Williams squad cruised in for the 69-45 victory.

The Portland Legends played sloppy in the first half and were leading Adecco Estuaintes (Spain) by a score of 23-21 at the break. In the second half Portland took control by executing better on the offensive end and getting better looks at the basket. The Legends pulled away from a tough Spain team in the last several minutes to win 60-52. Chris Rodgers led the way for Portland, racking up 17 big points.

First Round of Pool Play goes Americans way

After one round of Pool Play in the Nike Global Challenge the American teams have flexed their muscles a little bit. In games between the two, the United States teams are a perfect 6-0. The teams from Spain and Yugoslavia played great games against Boo Williams and Riverside Church respectively, only to fall behind in the closing minutes. All the teams will play their last two games of pool play on Friday. The top two teams in each Pool will advance to the Championship Bracket on the weekend. The others will battle it out in the Consolation Bracket.

Thursday's Highlights:

Southern Cal's Tyson Chandler with a rebound and big slam
Southern Cal's Chandler with another huge dunk
Southern Cal's Floyd North catches an alley oop and throws it down
Southern Cal's Cedric Bozeman knocks down a three
Southern Cal's Jamal Sampson finishes after a great pass from North
Houston Hoops Carlos Hurt hits the bottom of the net from downtown
Houston Hoops Hurt takes it to the hoop
Boo Williams' J.J. Reddick with a 3 to seal the win
Boo Williams' Ricky Shields with a sweet jumper
Boo Williams' Elton Brown working inside for two
Boo Williams' Timmy Smith with a three