It was an action packed first day at the Global Basketball Summer League. Games kicked off, Thursday July 7, 2016. Four games took place and each game was nothing short of special. Oceania took on Swiss in game one, in which Oceania grabbed the victory 87-78, after LaDarius Tabb had quite a showing on the offensive end. Tabb is a 6 foot 5 swingman that recently completed his collegiate career at Alabama A&M. He scored 23 points, by going 10 for 15 from the field. Swiss did not win the game but they got great contribution from Sam Akano as he scored 24 and Erick Katdina chipped in a double-double, with 20 points and 15 rebounds.
Scouting 4 U defeated Point Streak Point, 80-68 in game two of the day. Jared Woolfok, a 6 foot 3 former standout guard from the University of West Alabama led the way for Scouting 4 U, as he scored 22 points.
Games got better and better as the day went on. D Las Vegas squared off against Windsor Express in game 3. The Windsor Express are coached by Scott Newman who happens to be the Assistant Coach for the Windsor Express NBL of Canada team. His team ran uptempo all game but appeared to become burned out late in the second half as D Las Vegas pulled away, thanks to Kennon Washington’s 17 points and 6 assists. D Las Vegas took advantage down low as well, as Kelvin Downs and Emmanuel Ogunfolu showed to be quite a tandem in the post with their ability to stretch the defense with their outside shooting. Denzel Mensah was a bright spot for Windsor Express as his consistent high motor sparked his team for much of the game. His energy was not enough as D Las Vegas claimed victory with a score of 68-80.
The best was certainly saved for last, as the defending champions, Nevada Desert Storm took on the Southern Stars in game four of the day. Nevada Desert Storm seemed to have home court advantage as a large crowd was attendance to support the hometown team. Current Brazil player, Jamal Smith was the MVP of the GBSL championship last year but this year proved to be a new year and the Souther Stars had a different conclusion in mind. Former Central Washington guard, Gary Jacobs set the tone early and had the last word late as he scored a game high 34 points to lead his team to a nail-biter victory. His team led for most of the game but they began to squander the lead late, until Jacobs went on a mini run late with a minute and a half left in the game to secure his team’s win, 112-108. Demario Butler was solid for the Nevada Desert Storm, as he earned a double-double with 28 points and 10 rebounds.
Day one is in the books, and day two should be even better at the Global Basketball Summer League.
~Chantay Jordan