It was a battle of the titans in this one, as IMG post-grad and The Skill Factory National came to battle for a chance to compete for a championship. It was probably one of the best games we had so far at the loaded event and the smack talk started early in this one. TSF though came out incredibly strong, building an early double-digit lead led by Jalen DeLoach and Christian Wright, two that combined for 28 of the 40 first-half points for TSF. Finding themselves down big early on, IMG just has a ton of talent that you know they will make a run and they did, cutting the deficit down to 40-35 at halftime. Brandon Murray and Lynn Greer led the charge early on for IMG.
Second half was a slugfest as IMG tried to cut the lead down to even more and when they did, TSF seemed to have an answer, mostly coming from the play of Christian Wright who was off the charts. TSF built their lead back up and IMG made a late run, as the game started to slow down with a few foul calls and the teams heading to the line. Eventually, tied at 75, there came Wright one more time, attacking and getting to the line late. He knocked down one free throw, which left an opening for IMG. With six seconds left on the baseline, IMG wasn’t able to handle the out-of-bounds pass and TSF was able to regain possession. One free throw from Wright at the end as well and a desperation heave from IMG, it was TSF that came away with the impressive 77-75 win.
Stats:
TSF National
Christian Wright 34 points
Jalen DeLoach 19 points
IMG PG
Brandon Murray 25 points
Lynn Greer 16 points
Benny Williams 19 points