By Colin Schofield
Day two at the Danny Rumph Classic gave the fans of the Daskalakis Athletic Center four games of high-level basketball that featured multiple close finishes and standout performances. When the final buzzer sounded, two teams were officially eliminated from the field, leaving four teams vying for the crown.
Today, matters further intensified as two more teams were sent home while the other two pushed into the semifinals.
Game One
Rumph Center and Coach Tone Runs got the first crack at advancing to the semifinals Saturday afternoon. Both teams already had one loss and one more would mark the end of the road.
The first half showed neither team wanted to head home early.
But that was before Rumph Center kicked into second gear. They stepped on the gas and took a 44-30 lead at the break and the lead never left their grasp.
The second half was an offensive explosion for Rumph Center. Guard Rasool Diggins scored the first eight points out of halftime to set the tone. Every player in a maroon jersey found the bottom of the net to balloon the lead to 30.
By the time the dust settled, Rumph Center cruised to an 85-70 win and advanced to the semifinals on Sunday.
Rumph Center needed just five minutes to build a double-digit lead. Samme Givens piled up seven early points, including a three to push Rumph Center’s lead to 11. Marcus Randolph stayed on the attack for Coach Tone Runs with an and-one layup as he tried to keep his team from elimination.
Despite Randolph’s efforts, a pair of Temple Owls began to take flight for Rumph Center.
Hysier Miller got home on a layup and Nick Jourdain followed suit by flushing home a lob that pushed Rumph Center’s lead to 12. After Coach Tone Runs got a bucket back, Miller exploded on a fast break for another layup to force a timeout from Coach Tone Runs.
Rumph Center kept Coach Tone Runs at arm’s length for the rest of the first half behind a balanced scoring attack, where five players scored at least six points. Khalif Meares scored a layup just before the buzzer to give Rumph Center a 44-30 lead entering halftime.
Diggins had been the offensive force for Rumph Center in the first two games but was held in check in the first half. The second half was a different story for him.
Diggins drilled back-to-back threes to push Rumph Center’s lead to 20. He was then fouled on a heat check three and made two of three free throws to score the first eight points of the half. It was smooth sailing from there for Rumph Center.
Jourdain continued to show his hops with an easy poster dunk and Meares followed him with a transition slam. The next two possessions ended in a put-back layup and long three-pointer from Jourdain as the Rumph Center lead extended to 30.
After Jourdain’s run, it was Miller’s turn to stuff the stat sheet.
Miller got a flurry of buckets from inside and out. A heat check three that he drilled from way downtown put the nail in the coffin for Coach Tone Runs. The offensive explosion for Rumph Center saw five different players score in double figures, led by Jourdain with 15.
Rumph Center will face off against Blue Magic in the semifinals Sunday afternoon, while Coach Tone Run’s time in the Rumph Classic comes to an end.
Game Two
F.O.E. and L.O.E. battled in the last game of the day with both teams looking to earn the final semifinal spot. The teams played like they had no more lives left, because they didn’t.
Neither could build a lead into double digits and traded offensive blows for nearly 40 full minutes.
F.O.E. and L.O.E. went at each other on the offensive end during the entire second half but with four seconds left, it was L.O.E. with a three-point lead and needing one more defensive stop.
The ball was inbounded to Jax Clark of F.O.E. and he launched a straight-away three-pointer that fell short to give L.O.E. a 70-67 win and the final spot in the semifinals. Jon Harrar and Josh Sharkey took over in the second half for L.O.E., combining for 23 of the 38 second-half points.
L.O.E. threw the first punch of the game with six straight buckets in the paint, capped off by a Jon Harrar dunk. However, both teams settled into a defensive struggle for the next few minutes.
F.O.E. finally started to get the offensive engine revving midway through the first half with a Markus Kennedy and-one layup and “ManMan” Robert Smith transition layup. Ahmed “JR” Gilbert had a counterpunch L.O.E. for every F.O.E. bucket and the teams remained tightly contested.
F.O.E. finally got the momentum they needed late in the first half in the form of Markus Kennedy.
Kennedy slammed home a coast-to-coast dunk to cap off a 6-0 F.O.E. run, then made an and-one jumper out of a timeout. The big man added one more transition dunk for good measure and F.O.E. suddenly had breathing room. Chris Ings connected on a deep three for F.O.E. just before the buzzer to give his team a 36-28 halftime advantage.
Despite a good offensive back and forth in the first half, both teams took the competition to another level in the second half.
Kennedy continued to provide F.O.E. with offensive reliability to hold the lead, but Josh Sharkey began to cut the lead down for L.O.E. With about 10 minutes left in the game, L.O.E. flipped the game on its head.
Harrar decided to take matters into his own hands and went to work in the paint. The Penn State product got to his spots with ease around the rim and cut the L.O.E. deficit to one after a flurry of buckets.
Sharkey followed Harrar’s efforts by drilling a three-pointer while being fouled. Sharkey converted on the free throw and just like that, L.O.E. had the lead.
L.O.E. held the lead for a majority of the final 10 minutes despite Donta Scott turning up his sliders for F.O.E. Scott got bucket after bucket to keep his team hanging around and finished with 17 second-half points.
However, Scott’s efforts were not enough for Sharkey as he stepped up and made free throws when it counted for L.O.E. After an offensive-centric second half, L.O.E.’s defense stepped up and got stops in the final minutes to pick up the win.
L.O.E. will face TBB in the semifinals tomorrow night and F.O.E. heads home after being eliminated.