The 8th grade pool at this year’s Fall Tip-Off
Tournament was absolutely loaded. Three of the top four teams in last year’s state tournament met up to battle for the first
tournament title of the 2014 fall season! The Boston Corinthians, the South
Shore WolfPack and “the Academy” are all very familiar with each other and
would pick up right where they had left off last spring.
The Boston Corinthians would have a tough road to the title by having to get through both the Academy and the Central Mass Swarm. The Swarm,
appropriately named, did just that in the first half versus the Corinthians
causing havoc on the defensive end and generating dozens of turnovers. Behind
lead guard Sam Adusei, the Swarm looked much improved from last year and will be
a team to keep an eye on this year. If they continue to improve at their
current rate, I wouldn’t be surprised to see them in the mix for the 8th grade Final Four this spring. The game went back and forth for a while, but the
Boston Corinthians proved to be too much and would start to slowly pull away
behind very good team basketball. With a well balanced scoring attack and very
impressive play by guard Matt Doherty and forward Chris Camille, the
Corinthians came out on top. Never once did the Swarm back down and fought till
the final buzzer. The Swarm may have lost the game, but showed a lot of people
the type of team they really are.
The WolfPack advanced to the finals after an incredible back
and forth matchup with the Academy. Despite being behind early and trailing by
double digits at half time, the WolfPack continued to battle and clawed their
way back to cut the game to a two point deficit with ten seconds to play. Ten
seconds was all the time they would need, as the ball swung around half court
into the hands of Mike Simon who swished a game winning three point basket as
the horn sounded. The Academy had a strong showing in and around the paint from forwards William Goss and Daniel Schlackman who both posted double doubles in
the losing effort.
With pool play complete, the Boston Corinthians would
advance to play the South Shore WolfPack in the Championship Game of the MPC Fall
Tip Off Tournament. The Corinthians would hop out to a 15-5 lead to start the game behind an aggressive full court press off of the opening basket. Matt
Doherty was impressive on both ends of the floor causing steals on one end and
finishing on the other. The WolfPack immediately answered with a run of their
own bringing the game to 20-15 with just over five minutes to play in the first
half. The half would end similarly to the way it started as Corinthians forward
Christopher Camille started taking the game over. He was a beast around the
rim, grabbing offensive rebound after offensive rebound and finishing the half
with a near double-double. The WolfPack would go into half time down by 16,
36-20.
Just as they had done all weekend
the WolfPack refused to give up and with strong interior play from Matt Malone
and Spencer Cassell they would bring the game back to a single digit deficit
trailing only 33-40 with just over 5 minutes to play. Spencer Cassell played
very strong around the basket, battling Camille for rebounds and finished the
game with eight points 12 rebounds. Matt Malone took advantage of smaller defenders
covering him, posting up other guards and finishing strong around the basket.
He finished with 10 points of his game high 16 points in the second half fighting
to keep the game close. Over the last five minutes Doherty, Camille and the rest
of the Corinthians proved to be too much and finished the game on yet another
double digit run.
Congratulations to the
Boston Corinthians for capturing the 2014 MPC Fall Tip-Off Title with an
impressive 52-37 victory in the finals.
All-Tournament
Team for the 8th Grade Division
MVP
Matt Doherty Boston Corinthians
All Star Team
Christopher Camille – Boston Corinthians
Spencer Cassell – South Shore Wolf Pack
Matt Malone- South Shore Wolf Pack
Sam Adusei - Central Mass Swarm
Daniel Schlackman – MPC the Academy
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