North vs. South for Gold

SOUTH vs. WEST

In what has to be one of the most lopsided affairs in the history of the USA Basketball Youth Development festival, the South manhandled the West by a score of 171-122. The West was never in the game as the South broke out to a 47-23 lead by the end of the first half.

Leading the way for the South, were potentially the top two players in the class of 2005 Louis Williams and Richard Hendrix. Williams led the South in scoring with 28 points on 11 of 20 shooting from the field. He also hauled down 12 rebounds. Hendrix hauled down a team high 16 rebounds and scored 20 points on 7 of 12 shooting from the field. Hendrix also had 6 blocked shots.

Also making significant contributions for the South were Texas commitment A.J. Abrams, scoring 26 points on 6 of 12 shooting from three point land, and the No. 2 ranked player in the class of 2006 Brandan Wright, who scored 20 points and had 10 rebounds.

Although his teammates did not give much of an effort, Jon Brockman did battle for the West and ended up with 19 points and 14 rebounds.

Mike Mercer locked up the camps leading scorer Mario Chalmers, holding the West star to only 10 points on 4 of 14 shooting. When Chalmers did break loose to the basket, he was the victim of the majority of Hendrix’s 6 blocks. Andre McGee scored a bunch of show off points during garbage time, apparently oblivious to the fact his team was down 50 points while he mouthed off to the crowd.

Tyler Smith sat out the game with a back injury, and Pierre Niles showed up late for the game and did not play.

NORTH vs. EAST

It was the second quarter that spelled defeat for the East as they could only manage a total of 4 points in the quarter. In the end it was the North with a 103-87 point victory.

Duke commitment Josh McRoberts set the tone for the North, beginning the game with a thunderous dunk on Andray Blatche and then on the other end swatting away a shot attempt by Blatche. McRoberts continued his domination throughout the game, totaling 20 points, 12 rebounds, and 4 blocks. As good as his numbers are, they do not do justice to the physical domination of his play.

With even better numbers for the North, Brandon Rush continued his stellar play by recording a double-double of 25 points and 15 rebounds. Eric Devendorf also continued his strong play with 17 points and 8 rebounds.

For the East, Andre Blatche had a double-double with 18 points and 15 rebounds. 2006 prospect Gerald Henderson followed his lead with 19 points and 10 rebounds.

For more information on the Youth Festival, including full box scores, check out www.usabasketball.com.