ESPN RISE

Elite 24 2007: Game Story

By Jon Mahoney

NEW YORK -- Brandon Jennings hails from California and attends Oak Hill Academy (Mouth of Wilson, Va.), but he's felt quite at home at Rucker Park the past years.

That was evident from the opening tip of Friday night's second annual Boost Mobile Elite 24 Hoops Classic powered by RISE Magazine. Just a few seconds into the game, Jennings cut towards the lane, stopped and lofted a sick alley-oop feed to Compton (Compton, Calif.) senior guard DeMar DeRozan, who flushed it home to the delight of the capacity crowd.

"I was kind of nervous, but when I got that lob off, everything was good," said Jennings.

Jennings' nasty dime was just a small sampling of what the senior point guard had in store for The Rucker. He finished with an Elite 24 record 23 assists in addition to 19 points and seven boards to cop co-MVP honors for the second straight year and lead The Goat Squad to a thrilling 169-164 victory over the Skip To My Lou Squad.

Last year, Jennings earned the nickname Do Be Doo at Elite 24 while dishing out a game-high 15 assists. At this year's game, he was being called The Takeover, which was fitting thanks to his play with just over five minutes left to play in the fourth quarter.

With Jennings' team clinging to a 148-147 lead, the Arizona-bound Jennings took matters into his own hands by hitting a big 3-pointer while setting up his teammates for several easy buckets to put the game away.

"My goal was to get everyone involved, just like I did last year," said Jennings, who finished 8 of 10 from the field and 3 of 5 from downtown. "In all-star games, a lot of people just try to get theirs. But I was sharing the wealth."

One of the beneficiaries of Jennings' crisp passes was American Christian (Aston, Pa.) senior combo guard Tyreke Evans, who shared MVP honors on The Goat Squad with Jennings and poured in 26 points.

Evans also showcased his phenomenal 1-on-1 skills by breaking ankles of Campbell Hall (North Hollywood, Calif.) senior shooting guard Jrue Holiday and Lincoln (Brooklyn, N.Y.) junior combo guard Lance Stephenson, both of whom shared MVP honors for Skip To My Lou.

Holiday and Stephenson, however, were mostly able to answer. Stephenson scored a game-high 38 points to surpass J.J. Hickson's Elite 24 benchmark of 34, but air-balled two consecutive 3-pointers with his team trailing by three with less than 30 seconds to go in the game.

The UCLA-bound Holiday chipped in 24 points and a team-high four assists.

"The top 24 came in here and put on a show," said Holiday. "Yesterday in practice, the game wasn't like that. In Rucker, everybody stepped up. It showed that the West Coast is just as good as the East Coast. I thought I could have done better. I know it was my first time out there, but if I got another chance, I think I'd do a whole lot better."

Other top players for The Goat Squad included DeRozan (26 points), St. Benedict's Prep (Newark, N.J.) senior power forward Samardo Samuels (21 points) and St. Thomas More (Oakdale, Conn.) senior small forward Devin Ebanks (18 points).

Meanwhile, Canal Winchester (Canal Winchester, Ohio) senior center B.J. Mullens (18 points), Rice (New York, N.Y.) senior point Kemba Walker (16 points, three assists), American Heritage (Plantation, Fla.) junior shooting guard Kenny Boytnon Jr. (17 points) and St. Patrick (Elizabeth, N.J.) junior point guard Dexter Strickland (16 points) were the other standouts for Skip To My Lou.

Walker, in particular, opened a lot of eyes with his strong drives to the hoop, including one where the UConn recruit broke down his defender and in the air, shielded Our Savior New American (Centereach, N.Y.) 7-footer John Riek en route to a layup.

But while Walker and others deserved plenty of praise, it was Jennings whose play had everyone talking and sent the fantastic floor general off to Oak Hill as the only player to win two Elite 24 MVP awards.

"That's real big," said Jennings about winning the award. "This game will be going on for years, so my name is going to be mentioned a lot."

As a high school point guard from the West Coast who felt right at home in the intimidating Rucker Park.

Elite 24 2006: Game Story

By Lauren Silva

New York -- At first it seemed like Harlem's Rucker Park might get the best of Michael Beasley. The senior forward is known for his brash demeanor and his high-flying dunks, but after the first half of the Boost Mobile Elite 24 Hoops Classic powered by RISE Magazine on Friday evening, Beasley's "Skip to my Lou Squad" was trailing and his jaw-dropping moves were few and far between.

But by the end of the game, it was clear Beasley was biding his time rather than getting served. After trailing by seven at the half, Beasley teamed with St. Mary's (Phoenix, Ariz.) senior point guard Jerryd Bayless to lead Skip to my Lou Squad to a 141-139 comeback victory over The Goat Squad that had the crowd of 200-plus on its feet.

"I think every All-Star game, the beginning is just to have fun and get a dunk in," said Beasley, who finished the night with 26 points and nine rebounds and was named co-MVP of the Skip to my Lou Squad along with Bayless. "But at the end of every game, period, you've got to win."

Beasley took that philosophy to heart, not only by asserting himself in the paint but by showing off his perimeter game, something he said he worked especially hard on over the summer. All the while, he took the Rucker atmosphere to heart by unleashing plenty of trash talk to opponents.

"They can't guard me," he said he told his defenders. "I know it's not good to be cocky off the court, but on the court you've got be cocky and you've got to be confident."

Along with that characteristic swagger, Beasley and Bayless, who finished with 15 points, three assists and two rebounds, displayed a chemistry uncharacteristic of an All-Star game. That connection came courtesy of the time they spent playing together with USA Basketball's Under-18 Men's National Team over the summer.

"All it takes is one of us to do something," said Bayless. "Me and Mike just went out and played together, and we played real well."

But in the first half, Beasley and Bayless were overshadowed as Oak Hill Academy (Mouth of Wilson, Va.) junior Brandon Jennings made Rucker Park look like his personal playground. The point guard for The Goat Squad wasted no time channeling the streetball mecca's energy by whipping out enough no-look passes and through-the-leg moves to have celebrity announcer Bobbito Garcia dub Jennings as his favorite player and nickname him "Doobie Doo."

"I just go out there and try and get my teammates involved," said Jennings. "I'm a very unselfish player."

Wheeler (Marietta, Ga.) senior forward J.J. Hickson could attest to that. The big man was the primary recipient of Jennings' gems, throwing down a handful of two-handed dunks to finish with 34 points and eight rebounds and earn co-MVP honors for The Goat Squad. Jennings, who finished with 12 points and a whopping 15 assists, was named The Goat Squad's other MVP.

"He's a great point guard," said Hickson of Jennings. "He has the best basketball IQ I've seen, and he's so young."

With two of the country's top recruits, O.J. Mayo of Huntington (Huntington, W.Va.) and Bill Walker of North College Hill (Cincinnati, Ohio) unable to attend the game, many other players got a chance to shine. Also earning props from Bobbito and the crowd were Jefferson (Bloomington, Minn.) senior center Cole Aldrich, Lincoln (Brooklyn NY) sophomore guard Lance Stephenson and Christian Life Academy (Humble, Texas) senior center DeAndre Jordan from The Skip to my Lou Squad and South Medford (Medford, Ore.) senior forward Kyle Singler, Lake Oswego (Lake Oswego, Ore.) senior center Kevin Love and St. Benedict's (Newark, NJ) junior forward Samardo Samuels from The Goat Squad.

Aldrich made himself a quick crowd favorite by throwing his weight around in the paint and throwing down a couple of quick dunks. That early momentum helped Aldrich keep up the pace and allowed The Skip to my Lou Squad to pull off the comeback win.

"I hadn't really played in front of such a hostile crowd - there were guys that were just getting killed out there, the crowd was eating them alive," he said. "That first slam dunk just got them to like me."

At Rucker, sometimes that's all it takes.