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AMERICUS – After three months of competition throughout league play and in the playoffs, 14 teams from seven different age groups gathered at the Ninth Grade Academy Gymnasium on Sunday, July 30, in hopes of taking home a championship trophy in the Dwight Harris Boys Club (DHBC) Basketball Summer League tournament finals.

Game 1 of the day was an All-Star game made up of players from three 8U teams: the Warriors, Lakers and Kings. For the seven and eight-year-old division, it was decided to create two All-Star teams using players from those three teams. One All-Star team wore blue and the other team wore gold uniforms.

It was a hotly-fought contest throughout between both All-Star teams, but in the end, the game ended in a 16-16 tie.
Jamie Thompson led the Blue All-Stars with four points and De’Aden Richardson led the Gold All-Stars with eight.

The second championship game of the day featured two teams from the 12U Girls’ Division: the Aces and the Liberty.
Early in the first quarter, the Aces jumped out to a 7-0 lead, but the Liberty went on a 5-0 run before the Aces’ Sara Fussell hit a short jumper to give her team a 9-5 lead about four minutes before halftime.
Over the remaining three minutes of the first half, the Liberty scored four unanswered points, tying the score at 9-9 by halftime.

During the second half, it was a low-scoring affair between both teams, but during the last minute of the game, the Aces outscored the Liberty 4-1 and earned a 21-18 victory to claim the 12U Championship.
Zaya Solomon led the Aces with nine points and Princess Covington scored all of the Liberty’s 18 points.

The third championship game of the day featured a game in the 17U Girls’ Division between the Aces and Liberty.
Early in the contest, the Liberty jumped out to an 11-2 lead, but late in the first half, both teams traded baskets and the Liberty led the Aces 18-9 at halftime.

However, the Aces stepped up their defense in the third quarter and went on a 16-5 run to take a 25-23 lead with one more quarter to play.
Over the final eight minutes, both teams traded baskets, but just as the buzzer sounded, kamiyah Barron drilled a short jumper to give the Aces a 39-37 victory.
Lauren Harris scored 13 points to lead the victorious Aces and Liyah McGarrah led the Liberty with 18 points.
The next championship game of the day featured teams from the 11U Boys Division: the Clippers and the Warriors. During the first half of this contest, the Warriors jumped out to a 12-6 lead and extended their lead to 18-7 by halftime.

During the second half, the Warriors continued to maintain control of the game and though the Clippers were able to cut their deficit to 35-29 with 1:36 to go, the Warriors were able to hold on and win the 11U Boys’ Championship by the score of 40-33.
Kyle Robinson led the Warriors in scoring with 14 points and both Chance Roberts and Brendon Roberts led the Clippers with 11 points.

The next championship game of the day was for the 14U Boys’ Division title and it was between the Celtics and the Lakers.

Over the first six minutes of the second half, the Lakers would jump out to a 25-21 lead before time out was called, but over the next few minutes, both teams traded baskets and the Lakers maintained a 33-26 lead with nine minutes left in the game.

As the second half continued, both teams continued to compete at a high level, but the Lakers were able to hold on for a 35-32 victory. Austin Davis led the Lakers with 15 points and Ajalyn Thomas led the Celtics with 14.

The next championship game of the day was for the 17U Division and it was between the Knicks and the Clippers.

The first half was a low-scoring half and the Knicks went into halftime with a 19-16 lead.
In the second half, it was a back-and-forth affair between both teams, but the Knicks were able to come out on top by the score of 46-45.

Javin Lewis led the Knicks in scoring with 12 points and Anthony Tyson led the Clippers in scoring with 20 points.

The final game of the day was for the Adult League Championship (ages 18-25) between the Lakers and the Knicks. After a hard-fought first half, the Knicks had a 22-20 lead. However, over the first four minutes of the second half, the Lakers went on a 7-0 run to take a 27-22 lead.

Over the next few minutes, however, the Knicks went on a run of their own and took a 31-30 lead and the teams would trade baskets shortly thereafter.

With 9:12 left to go in the game, time out was called with the Knicks leading 38-32, but both teams continued to trade baskets for the remaining minutes until the 1:23 mark. At that point, the Knicks had a 43-40 lead.

With 48 seconds left, Eric Brown Jr. scored to bring the Lakers to within one at 43-42. Then with 3.1 seconds left, Eric Brown Jr. was fouled in the act of shooting and made both foul shots to give the Lakers the lead. The Knicks tried one last time to take the lead and the championship, but fell short to the Lakers 44-43.