Posts tagged Tournaments
KC Truth Black 2015 Place at the KC Storm Fall Classic
Nov 24th
The KC Truth Black 7th Grade took 3rd Place in the 8th grade division of the KC Storm Fall Classic, held on November 20-22.
The KC Truth Black 2015 competed in the 8th Grade (2014) division of the KC Storm Fall Classic. The Truth were in a three-team pool with the KC Cowboys and the KC Knights 8th Grade. They lost a close game to the Cowboys, 39-36, and then beat the KC Knights by a handy margin. Their 1-1 pool record put The Truth in 2nd place in their pool, and left them unable to compete for the championship, as only the 1st place pool winners could advance to the championship. However, The Truth did play for 3rd Place in the division, against the Gardner-Edgerton Blazers.
The Truth dominated the 3rd place game from the beginning, thanks to their breathtakingly intense defense, and an offense that has been increasing in rhythm and perfecting its execution by the game.
The Truth dominated the offensive game both inside and outside the lane. The Truth owned the inside game on the strength of big men Vince Eskina, Tyrone Gibbs and Brandon Sublette, who outrebounded their opponents and scored at will under the basket. The Truth guards, for their part, showed off spectacular drives on the baseline and into the lane by Anthony “Fuzzy’ Bonner, Drew Lock and Shawntez Scroggins. The Truth also dominated from the three-point line, with a handful of players scoring from long-range, including Eskina, Lock, Bonner, Scroggins, Cartier Dean and DeAngelo “DeLo” Bruster.
Defensively, the Truth frustrated their opponent with an aggressive full-court press, while alternating man-to-man defense with a continuous trapping zone defense in the half-court.
Overall, the KC Truth Black looked like a well-oiled machine.
KC Truth Competes in the Shawnee Mission West Viking Invitational
Nov 18th
The KC Truth Red Make it to the Semi-Final Game in their Division
The KC Truth Red won all three of their pool games in the Viking Invitational, which earned them a trip to the semifinal game against the Mo-Kan Elite 6th grade team. The semi-final turned out to be a hard-fought battle, from which Mo-Kan emerged the winner. And while the Truth did not make it to the championship, they clearly made their mark on the division by reaching the semifinal game.
The KC Truth Black Earn Second Place in their Division
The KC Truth Black won all of their pool games in the Viking Invitational, in very convincing fashion. The Truth then faced the Blue Valley Hawks 8th grade team in the semi-final, and once again posted a solid victory. However, in moving on to the championship game, the Truth would face their toughest competition of the tournament when they played the Mo-Kan Elite 13Under. Both of these 7th grade teams had dominated the 8th grade recreational division, and it was inevitable that they would face each other in the championship.
The Mo-Kan Elite came out offensively strong compared to the Truth in the first half, posting twice as many points the Truth did. By half-time, Mo-Kan was leading 21-10. The Truth had posted no fewer than 40 points in any game prior to this one (and racking up 70 in one), yet their offense was stalling on missed shots, and passed-up shots. And while the formidable Truth defense caused a handy number of Mo-Kan turnovers, the Truth were not converting those turnovers to points.
In the second half, though, the Truth started to go to their offensive strengths, while concerning themselves less with their formal offense. Behind some undefendable drives to the basket by guard Anthony “Fuzzy” Bonner and an increasingly aggressive press, the Truth scored twice as many points in the second half as they did in the first half. And leave it to the Truth to make it interesting until the end. With barely a minute and a half to go, the Truth finally employed their full-court press, causing successive turnovers and ending the second half with an offensive flurry by the Truth on an 8-2 scoring run. However, while the Truth outscored Mo-Kan 19-17 in the second half, they paid the price for their offensive inconsistency. The Mo-Kan played a more consistent game from the beginning, and won the championship, 38-29.
KC Truth 2015 Take Second Place at MAYB Nationals
Nov 1st
The KC Truth 2015 ended their 2008-2009 tournament basketball season on August 6-9, 2009, with a trip to Wichita, Kansas, where they competed in the Mid-America Youth Basketball (MAYB) 2009 National Tournament. They planned for nothing less than winning the championship.
In pool play, on Friday, the Truth chalked up victories against the Kansas Force and the Memphis, Tennesse, Hornets, but dropped a close game to the Colorado Hawks. However, in earning the second place in their pool, the Truth moved into the championship bracket.
On Saturday morning, the Truth faced off against the JBBA Hoops, a familiar Kansas City metro area adversary, in the first round of championship bracket play. The Truth won handily, and moved into the second round of the championship bracket, where they faced the Oklahoma City Spartans, and again posted a solid victory.
Moving closer to the championship, the Truth moved on to the third round of the bracket, where they met up with the Texas Select. Once again, the Truth prevailed in convincing fashion, which led them to the fourth round of pool play, against the Texas Big 12 Eight.
Played at 10PM on Saturday night, the fourth round game would be the fourth game of the day for the Truth, and the third game of the day for the Big 12 Eight, and would determine which team advanced to the semi-final game the following morning. Both teams and their coaches would have to fight through physical and mental exhaustion to prevail.
The game ended up being a contrast in styles. The Truth brought a high-pressure game that featured speedy, aggressive guard play and swarming full- and half-court defenses. The Big 12 Eight focused on a methodical, half-court offense that featured the biggest and strongest player in the tournament down low. Ultimately, the Truth prevailed. Crucial three-point shots by guard Anthony “Fuzzy” Bonner down the stretch, and relentless drives to the basket by guard Dee Wilson, saved the game for the Truth in the waning minutes. The Truth athletes were out of gas, but ready to move on to the semi-final game on Sunday morning.
In the semi-final game, the Truth faced off with the Oklahoma City Wizards, who were undefeated in the tournament up to that point. Given the Wizards’ record in the tournament, and after the nail-biter they played the night before against the Big 12 Eight, the Truth were fully prepared for another tough game in their semi-final match-up.
As it turned out, though, the Truth came out strong and dominated the semi-final game from the beginning. The Truth defense flustered the sharp-shooting Wizard guards, and kept them off balance throughout the game. In turn, the Truth took advantage of multiple fast break opportunities and were very efficient in their half-court offense. The Truth won the game and moved on.
The KC Truth had earned a trip to the MAYB National Championship game, held at Wichita State University, where they would face the Oklahoma Southwest Elite.
In the championship game, the Elite made a statement right away with the aggressive and versatile play of their highly skilled and athletic big man. And, while the game was a battle of two very talented teams, the Elite ended up prevailing over the Truth in the end to win the MAYB Championship.