City of Basketball Love

Aron Minkoff (@AronMinkoff)
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Lost in all of the hoopla surrounding the first live weekend of the summer for high school basketball players was the beginning of the road for 48 of the 97 teams competing for a million dollars in The Basketball Tournament.

With games kicking off in two regions (Atlanta and Los Angeles), we found out eight of the teams that will be joining last year's reigning champs, the Notre Dame Fighting Alumni, in Chicago for the tournament's Super 17 in two weeks. 

West Region
Top-seeded Grantland, led by Brian Scalabrine and Mike Bibby, was upset by 7outz, 85-82 in a heartbreaker. 7outz's Drew Lavendar, a former Xavier University star, hit the game-winning 3-pointer with just two seconds left to send Bibby and his 21 points packing.

Team 23, led by Davin White, who recorded 18 points in their regional victory, will take-on 7outz in the Super 17 thanks to an 86-72 win over Team BBallBreakdown. White, a Cal State Northridge product, was joined in scoring by Alex Scales and Larry Owens, each of whom tallied 15 points. 

LAUNFD ("L.A. Unified"), coached by former Sixer and current Laker, Nick "Swaggy P" Young punched their ticket to the Super 17. The team was led by former NBA player Dijon Thompson, who recorded a double-double with 24 points and 11 rebounds.

The final team to come out of the West region, Team Utah defeated their opponent, Novastars, 93-69. Team Utah was led by Justin Hawkins' 30 points and 12 rebounds. They will face LAUNFD in the next round.

South Region
Overseas Elite, led by Errick McCollumm II's 32 points, came back to defeat Trained to Go 71-68. Trained to Go featured former NBA player and dunk sensationalist Jamario Moon, who recorded 25 points.

Sean Bell Allstars rolled to a 73-56 victory over Team No Excuses and were led by Marvin Roberts, former FIU standout, who tallied a team-high 17 points. They will face Overseas Elite in the Super 17.

Dirty South were carried by Brandon Robinson's 21 points and 10 rebounds in a 90-84 victory over Queen City/VIP.

PrimeTime Players used an 18-point outing from Division II and Israeli League player Donald Rutheford to edge out HBC 66-59. They will take-on Dirty South in the next round.

With this weekend in the books, all eyes are turned to Philadelphia and Chicago as the Northeast and Midwest regions begin play this weekend. CoBL will have you covered with everything pertaining to the Northeast region so stay tuned.

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If you're interested in purchasing tickets to this weekend's Philadelphia region,  or to the championship in NYC (August 1-2), CoBL can actually get you a 25% discount! Go to TBT's ticket sales site and use the code "TBTCOBL" at check-out!