Midwest Live!: Sunday Game Recpas
15U Final 4 (10:10): WI Playground Warriors 71 vs Iowa Barnstormers Gold 44
The Barnstormers divided its 15U squad into two teams this weekend and the Bowen Born led Gold squad came out of the split pretty well. That is until they ran into this supremely talented Wisconsin squad. The ‘Stormers were out-sized, but hung in there at the beginning thanks to 10 early points from Born. But the height and athleticism of Playground Elite was too much, particularly in the second half. Several high-level Division I players are on the Playground Elite roster, including athletic 6’6 sharpshooter Jalen Johnson; they’ll likely win this whole thing. It should be noted that Masen Miller was the leading scorer for the ‘Stormers, the 5’10 Regina G netted three 3s and scored 17 in the loss.
17U Final 4 (11:15): MOKAN Elite EYBL (16) 68 vs Iowa Mavs Purple 48
For about the first eight minutes of this game it looked like it would be nip-and-tuck throughout, but it turns out that’s because the EYBL MOKAN squad was playing poorly. They turned on the jets later in the first half, and took a comfortable 41-31 lead into the break. MOKAN then came out hot in the second half and put the game away within the first few minutes. This Mavs team is certainly one of Iowa’s best, Tyler Kelley, Peter Timmerman, Griff Clark, Luke Empen and Co. can likely go toe-to-toe with likely any other team in the state. But these EYBL teams are on another level. Des Moines North’s Tyreke Locure started with the MOKAN squad and scored eight points. Timmerman led the Mavs with 13.
15U Final 4 (12:20): All Iowa Attack Red 55 vs Thunder Elite Platinum (NE) 40
This Attack Red team has been one of the most successful in Iowa throughout April, and had another nice run here in Des Moines. But a 12-0 deficit to start the game against this athletic bunch from Omaha was too much for them to overcome. The game normalized after the brutal start, but Attack — led by Japannah Kellogg’s 13 points — could never capture the lead, nor could they really get close; it was a steady 8-15 point lead for the Omaha team throughout. Kellogg was utterly impressive while flashing his ability to pot the ball on the deck and finish at the rim; he’s going to be very good at Ames the next two seasons. Collin Lister again showed why he’s one of the state’s most improved players, he netted 11. Evan Gauger was impressive while chipping in with eight points.
16U Blue Division FINAL (2:30): Iowa Dynasty 46 vs Lincoln Supreme Black 59
In a wire-to-wire win, Lincoln Supreme Black took home a title in the B division at Southeast Polk High School on Saturday afternoon. Iowa Dynasty made a nice run to get to the title game, and beat a very good Cornsharks Select team in the semis, but could not overcome a slow start against the Nebraska team in this one. A couple guys did standout for the Eastern Iowa program; Iowa City High sophomore Ryland Threlkeld-Wiegland was a sniper from deep, flashing his versatility as a stretch-four while connecting on four triples. And Iowa City West sophomore Jalen Gaudet was another versatile stretch-four, using his weight well to absorb contact and scoring in a variety of ways for the 16U runners up.