The Grind: BMaze 17u Versus Houston Defenders

WESTFIELD, IN - 

BMaze faced a monster task Sunday morning with the fearsome Houston Defenders lining up across the sideline.  Clad in yellow, the Houston Defenders brought a daunting mix of quickness and toughness.  Were the BMaze Elite 17u men up to the task?

The game ended 74-68 with BMaze Elite on top. 

Tamba Island

The Defenders fearlessly attacked the BMaze big and most of the BMaze team defended away from the basket.  The three main-court officials really let the guys bang and Tamba tried to use his body to defend.  Unfortunately, BMaze left him on an island too many times and the Defenders capitalized. Edwards did dig down a couple times and it mattered.  Not often enough the BMaze men collapsed and helped Tamba. 

The Attack

BMaze ran much of its offense through BJ Edwards and Quante Berry.  The slashing guards found some gaps, but the help defense in the first half was tremendous from the spunky Houston Defenders.  Just because Berry beat his first man he still found plenty of resistance in the lane.  The Defenders lived up to their name and then some. 

BMaze’s favored lineup was:

C Handje Tamba
F Braeden Ilic
G Brian Edwards
G Quante Berry
G Jakobi Gillespie Jakobi Gillespie 6'0" | PG Greeneville | 2022 State TN

For most of the game Jakobi hung around the corner and the play was initiated by either Berry or Edwards.  Tamba’s touches were brief and provided temporarily relief and/or screens to the swinging guards.  Jakobi’s effectiveness was modestly mitigated as the Defender quickness matched his own.  Often Jakobi thrives with a quicker first-step than the opposition.  Houston did not suffer that weakness.  Jakobi did get to the free throw line where he is reliable.

Houston Defenders vs. BMaze Elite 17u on Court 1. This is gonna be a hot one.

— Prep Hoops Tennessee (@PrepHoopsTN) May 30, 2021

Big Man Being Big

Tamba really played with wonderful mobility and quickness. Despite the height advantage and expected speed deficiency, Tamba covered a lot of ground around the rim.  His matchup was a ferocious, foreboding one as the Houston Defenders ran out the bruising Jourdain Dishmond (2021).  Dishmond is listed 6-foot-9, but appears more like 6-foot-7 or 6-foot-8 and a hulking 235 pounds.  Tamba is no longer a string bean, but he certainly suffered a strength gap and gave up the lower leverage to Dishmond.  Still, Tamba fought and outlasted Dishmond with tremendous endurance.  

The @BMazeElite 17u @HandjeTamba team looks great . I think he is capable of defending at the MM level. Perhaps HM. He still needs more bulk, but this display of toughness surprises me.

— Andrew Force (@AndrewForce8) May 30, 2021

Tamba played with much more strength and willingness to be battered than anticipated.  

Tamba is currently our 15th best prospect, but looked more like a top 10 player in this particular battle.

Follow @AndrewForce8.