Youth basketball championships: Pelicans top Suns in overtime
Published 7:56 pm Sunday, February 26, 2017
Tyler Harrell’s layup with 40 seconds left in the fourth quarter was enough to send the Suns’ 13-16 boys’ championship match against the Pelicans into overtime, but it was the Pelicans that came out on top, 65-57, in Sunday’s showdown.
Harrell almost knocked down an open 3-pointer on the wrong basket, but quickly made up for it with an assist on Antwone Godley’s layup. It was the first basket in overtime, but the Pelicans got three quick baskets, including a 3-poing play by Isaiah Bailey-Pope.
Bailey-Pope scored four unanswered shortly after to effectively seal the win. The Suns couldn’t get anything besides a trey from Harrell.
The Pelicans got the first three buckets of the game. Dezyre Moore nailed a triple to give his side a 7-0 lead early on. Dreylon Brooks then took over for the Suns. He scored his team’s first seven points to fuel a 9-2 run that tied the game,
Jaquez Ruffin’s layup gave the Pelicans a 14-9 lead, but Harrell quickly countered with his first 3 of the game. It brought the Suns within two, 14-12, but they wouldn’t be able to draw even by halftime.
Layups from Brooks bookended a 6-0 spurt by the Suns that leveled the game at 29 apiece in the third. He turned a steal into a layup to send them into the fourth with a 36-34 lead.
Devon Thigpen’s trey knotted the game at 44-44 with less than four minutes in the fourth. The Pelicans couldn’t quite shut the door until overtime, though.