City of Basketball Love

Stephen Pianovich (@SPianovich)
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Overseas Elite’s title defense was on the rocks.

The team’s once 13-point lead had vanished and teammates were arguing amongst one another as they went to the bench for a timeout. Then Overseas Elite responded like the kind of team it is.

The squad found its composure, relied on one of its many talented former high-major players (DJ Kennedy) to get buckets and pulled away from Trained To Go for a 74-66 win in The Basketball Tournament’s South Regional final.

“We all play in big-time leagues overseas, so we play in big-time games and you can have a lead early and teams make runs,” said DeAndre Kane, a former Iowa State standout who is playing in his first TBT. “…We stayed together. Coach drew up some great sets for DJ to get going and we took the lead right back.”

Overseas Elite is heading back to New York and TBT’s Final Four after closing the game on a 12-4 run that was sparked by six consecutive points from Kennedy – a former St. John’s star who is now playing professionally in Russia.

Kennedy finished with a game-high 18 points, and the 6-foot-6 wing combined to score 40 points during Overseas Elite’s two wins at Philadelphia University.

“Any one of us can score 20 points. We’re all great scorers,” Kennedy said. “That’s what I think makes us so tough to scout and guard. For me, I was playing point forward and was trying to take advantage of that mismatch. The last few games there’s been a big on me, and we were trying to take advantage of that.”

It looked as if Overseas Elite would not need any clutch baskets as it stretched a one-point halftime lead into a 13-point advantage six minutes into the second half. But Trained To Go – an Atlanta-based team that was the No. 8 seed in the South region – got right back in the game with a 14-3 run.

Led by Brandon Robinson’s 3-point shooting (he finished with 15 points, hitting three treys) and some hard-earned field goals by former NBA player Damien Wilkins, Trained To Go was not leaving the tournament field quietly.

But after Trained To Go tied the game, the team committed three turnovers in three minutes as Overseas Elite went on an 8-2 run.

“I over-coached it. We were on a run, and I tried to start drawing up stuff,” said Trained To Go coach Marc Hughes. “I felt like we should have just kept going like we were going. They were on their heels, bickering and arguing, and instead of me just saying ‘go with the flow’ I think I overanalyzed it.”

Erick McCollum (CJ’s brother) was second in scoring for Overseas Elite with 14 points and Kennedy filled out his box score nicely with nine rebounds, five steals and two assists. Overseas Elite got at least eight points from six different players, including Kane.

Kane and forward Ryan Richards are new faces for Overseas Elite, which slightly altered its roster and had a bigger overhaul of its practice schedule for TBT in 2016.

“Last year we didn’t practice until the Final Four,” McCollum said. “This year we had six or seven practices before this.”

Overseas Elite heads to Fordham’s Rose Hill Gym facing the same Final Four opponent as last year in City of Gods. City of Gods is out for some revenge, but Overseas Elite is used to it this year.

“We’re the target,” forward Paris Horne said. “So it’s definitely a different feel. We’re trying to defend our crown. And we’re not looking ahead, we’re looking to the game that is in front of us.”