[youtube id=”2BYRnWc93kQ” width=”620″ height=”360″]Hometown product Isaiah Whitehead and Emmanuel Mudiay shine at 2013 Under Armour Elite 24 in Brooklyn. Mudiay, the nation’s top point guard, commits to SMU at halftime of national telecast.
For a while it looked like the Under Armour Elite 24’s return to New York would lose some of its luster because of a blowout on the scoreboard at halftime.
But that all changed when Team Bed Stuy, the slight favorites coming in, made a frantic comeback after falling behind by 30 points early in the second half against a Team Coney Island team that eventually pulled out a 114-109 victory at Brooklyn Bridge Park.
Not only did the fans at the makeshift outdoor court under the Brooklyn Bridge witness a competitive game in the second half, they also got to see a “battle,” a style of play where two players on opposing teams go back and forth trying to out do each other, that New Yorkers are known to love. The battle came between hometown product Isaiah Whitehead from Lincoln (Brooklyn) of Team Coney Island and Emmanuel Mudiay from Prime Prep Academy (Arlington, Texas) of Team Bed Stuy.
Whitehead led the victors with a game-high 26 points on 10-of-18 shooting from the field. He made 4-of-9 3-pointers for a team that shot surprisingly well from the outside in comparison to recent elite events. Team Bed Stuy made 10-of-20 3-pointers, while Team Coney Island made 5-of-17 from 3-point range.
A lay-up by Dion Wiley from Potomac (Oxon Mill, Md.) gave Team Coney Island its first 10 point lead at 37-27 with 7:20 remaining in the first half. Two minutes later, it led by 20 points.
Team Coney Island held a 66-42 halftime lead and built its lead to 30 points (72-42) on a lay-up by Chris Chiozza from White Station (Memphis, Tenn.) early in the second half.
That’s when Mudiay started cooking. The nation’s top point guard, who announced he’ll play for Hall of Fame coach Larry Brown at SMU during halftime of the ESPNU telecast, had four points in the first half. He began to convert his shots in the second half and helped Team Bed Stuy cut its large deficit. Mudiay finished with 22 points. Mudiay also made a couple of shots on Whitehead, but the Brooklyn native more than held his own in the matchup to the pleasure of the pro-Whitehead crowd.
Whitehead joined Justin Jackson from Homeschool Christian Youth Association (Tomball, Texas), who finished with 19 points, as MVPs for Team Coney Island.
MVPs for Team Bed Stuy were Mudiay and Stanley Johnson from Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.), who finished with 25 points. Johnson’s final points came on a 3-pointer with less than 10 seconds to go that cut Team Bed Stuy’s lead to three points, but Johnson’s team ran out of time. For Johnson, his MVP performance capped a spectacular summer where he was also named MVP of the Pangos All-American Camp.
On Friday, North Carolina recruit Theo Pinson from Wesleyan Christian Academy (Greensboro, N.C.) captured the Under Armour Slam Dunk title by jumping over his mother, Barbara Pinson, on a dunk that made ESPN’s SportsCenter Top 10 highlights of the day (video via Brooklyn Eagle Sports).
Devin Booker from Moss Point (Moss Point, Miss.) won the 3-point contest.
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