PEACH JAM REVUE: PLAYAZ HOLD THEIR OWN AT PEACH JAM!

North Augusta, South Carolina… The Nike EYBL Peach Jam event is as competitive and entertaining as Grassroots Basketball can be!

The best players in the country participate and the Playaz Basketball Club AAU teams are no exception as they were in the middle of most of the action! The Playaz 17u Gold team, who won the event two years ago went 3-2 for the Tournament, losing two crucial games by a combined 5 points! They started the week with a 74-68 win over CIA Bounce(Canada) as R.J. Cole and Jamir Harris each scored 19 points to lead the scoring! Playaz lost a close one to Indy Spiece(Indiana) 70-67! Cole and Leondre Washington led with 16 points apiece and Justin Minaya added 11 points and 6 rebounds! Jamir Thomas contributed 8 points and 9 rebounds! The Playaz then lost another tough one to Meanstreets(Illinois) 62-60! Cole and Marcus McClary led the Playaz with 18 points apiece! Princeton bound Elijah Barnes chipped in 9 points and 9 rebounds in the game! The Playaz got a big win 86-73 over Nike South Beach(Florida)! Cole led the scoring with 22 points to go with 7 assists, Washington scored 19 points, McClary added 18 points and 12 rebounds, Minaya 12 points and 10 rebounds and Barnes chipped in 10 points as they played their best game of the Tournament! The Playaz finished up by defeating PSA Cardinals(New York) 62-60 on a Jamir Harris “triple” with 2.6 seconds! Cole again led the scoring with 23 points! McClary and Washington finished with 12 and 10 points respectively! PSA, which went on to play in the Peach Jam final did not play all their players as they had clinched a playoff spot, but it was still a good victory for the Playaz!

The 16s won their pool, going 3-0 before falling to Team Takeover in the Quarterfinals! They played Meanstreet to start the Tournament and won that game 72-69! Marcellus Earlington came off the bench to score 19 points and grab 8 rebounds! Marquis Nowell scored 18 points and dished out 6 assists! Tavon Jones and Ja’Quaye James chipped in 11 points each! The Playaz then met Expressions Elite(Ma.) and held them off in a 81-78 win! Marquis Nowell  led the way with 28 points! One of the best games of the entire Peach Jam was the Playaz 99-94 Triple Overtime win over E1T1(Florida)! The Amare Stoudamire sponsored team was a tough opponent and seemed to have the game in hand! But, Nowell hit a deep “triple” to send the game into the first overtime! They went to a second and third O.T. where Jalen Carey scored the final 5 points to help pull out the victory! Nowell finished with 34 points and James added 20 points and Carey finished with 17 points(Stoudamire took pic with team after game)! The Playaz then fell to the Takeover(MD-DC) team 60-53! Jones led the Playaz with 19 points and Savion Akuwovo scored 12 points, grabbed 11 rebounds and blocked 5 shots!

The 15s fell in the Semifinals to Team Florida on two free throws 63-62 but are primed for the future! Al-Amir Dawes, Paul Mulcahy,  Anas Amos, Cartier Bowman and Zach Freemantle are just a few of the top players on the team! Dawes led them in scoring with 17 points and Cartier had 12! Amos and Mulcahy added 8 points apiece with Mulcahy also pulling down 8 rebounds and dishing out 5 assists!