Team Final, Brad Beal Elite to meet for Peach Jam title

Kyle Dawson, Aiken Standard, S.C.
·2 min read

Jul. 25—NORTH AUGUSTA — It didn't take long for Team Final to be knocked from its perch atop the Nike Elite Youth Basketball League.

The Pennsylvania-based squad dropped its North Augusta opener last week, falling to Texas' ProSkills and eventually dropping from the No. 1 spot to No. 2 in The Circuit's EYBL 17U Top 25.

Sunday, Team Final has the chance to once again stand at the top of the mountain.

Team Final got the best kind of revenge with an 82-68 win over ProSkills on Saturday morning in the Peach Jam quarterfinals, then blew out NY Renaissance 73-52 Saturday night in the semis to advance to Sunday afternoon's championship game at Riverview Park Activities Center.

All that stands between Team Final and the title is eighth-ranked Brad Beal Elite, the team with the largest combined margin of victory of anyone in the tournament.

Brad Beal Elite's quarterfinal was another rout, an 84-53 blistering of 12th-ranked New Heights Lightning. In the semifinal round Brad Beal Elite showed it can win the close ones, too, knocking out top-ranked Meanstreets with a 59-53 victory to clinch a spot in the final.

Team Final's twin towers again stood tall in the semifinals. Jalen Duren, the 6-foot-10 center ranked by ESPN as the No. 2 player in the Class of 2022, had 15 points, eight rebounds and six blocks. Dereck Lively, II, a 7-1 center ranked 10th by ESPN, was just as imposing in racking up nine points, nine rebounds and nine blocks.

Those two were a big reason why NY Renaissance shot just 32.8 percent from the floor. Nothing came easy, especially around the basket. Team Final had a plus-12 rebounding advantage and was plus-10 in blocks.

Otega Oweh scored a game-high 17 points for Team Final, which closed the first quarter on a 12-0 run for a 19-6 lead and never looked back. Soon the game became a dunk-fest, and Team Final ended it shooting 49.2 percent.

Denver Anglin hit three 3-pointers and scored a team-high 11 points for NY Renaissance, and Simeon Wilcher scored 10.

Brad Beal Elite has been riding the hot hands all week — it's just a matter of who it's going to be. Brandon Miller had 24 points and 10 rebounds, Braxton Stacker scored 17 points and Kellen Thames added 11 in the quarterfinal, then Nick Kramer and Nicholas Smith scored 11 apiece and Tavion Banks had 10 in the semis.

Meanstreets had its hopes of adding a second Peach Jam title to its 2006 crown dashed just hours after denying E1T1 United a shot at matching its 2013 championship.

NY Renaissance knocked out Team Durant in the other quarterfinal, bringing the field to its final four.

That number is now two, and by early Sunday evening Peach Jam will have crowned its 25th champion.