by Taylor Morrow
Over 100 teams assembled in Phoenix this past weekend for the 2016 AND1 SW Cactus Slam. AAU teams from Arizona, California, New Mexico, Texas and Mexico gathered for a memorable weekend of youth hoops.
The tournament heated up on Sunday as the single-elimination bracket got underway following two days of pool play action.
SLAM was able to catch some 17-Under action, including a dramatic ending in a semifinal matchup. It looked like the San Diego Prospects were going home after a shot put them down two points with 2.5 seconds remaining. However, after taking one-second to advance the ball, San Diego Prospects nailed a buzzer beating three-pointer to advance to the championship game.
Arizona Sting went on to beat the San Diego Prospects in the 17U championship game. Junior guard Terriq Tshaka (Paradise Valley H.S./Phoenix, Arizona) earned MVP honors after a solid weekend, including timely plays in the championship win.
Lawrence Alonzo, the tournament’s organizer and club director of the Arizona Sting, said, “There were several double OT games, last second shot wins on Sunday and even had a 16U quarterfinal game that ended in a triple overtime sudden death.”
In girl’s competition, Elite Black (Arizona) defeated Team Fusion Effect (Texas) in a 47-45 victory for the 17U Gold title. Junior Courtney Colleary (Hamilton H.S./Chandler, Arizona) of the Arizona Sting earned MVP honors.
Here are some other winners from this weekend’s SLAM-sponsored event:
Boys Championships
16U Aim High Elite Blue (AZ) 44, San Diego Prospects 28
15U AZ Sting Ballard 45, Aim High Elite Blue (AZ) 22
14U Team Flight 2020 52, AZ Stars 43
13U Aim High Elite Blue (AZ) 43, El Paso (TX) Dukes 36
12U New Mexico Select 62, Scottsdale (AZ) Wolves 47
11U AZ Storm Black 49, Team Arizona 37
10U Elite Blue 44, AZ Sharks 17
Girls Championships
17U Gold AZ Elite Black 47, Team Fusion Elect TX 45
17U Silver Team Fusion Elect (TX) 38, AZ Elite Gold 37
Junior Varsity El Paso (TX) United 28, El Paso (TX) Force 23
8th Grade Aim High Elite Blue (AZ) 24, Mavericks 20
7th Grade Team Fusion Elect 2021 (TX) 32, Shooting Stars (CO) 8
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Taylor Morrow is a graduate student at Arizona State University and covers fantasy basketball for FantasyPros.com.
