Noah Vonleh (second from left, No. 35) and Emmanuel Mudiay (center, No. 10) helped USA 2014 Red overcome a 10-point deficit in the fourth quarter to force overtime and eventually prevail in the adidas Nations championship game.
Photo courtesy of adidas
At the end of a grueling spring and summer grind for the nation's top basketball prospects, young legs prevailed Monday night in the championship game of adidas Nations.
Most valuable player
Noah Vonleh of
New Hampton School (N.H.) and the Mass Rivals club team took a pass from teammate
Emmanuel Mudiay and drilled a 3-pointer with 2.7 seconds left in overtime to lift his team of rising juniors (USA 2014 Red) past a squad of rising seniors (USA 2013 Blue), 86-84.
Noah Vonleh
Photo courtesy of adidas
"Nobody was on me and Emmanuel kicked it back," Vonleh said of the game-winner. "I felt like I was going to hit it and I shot it."
"It was an isolation for me but I saw the double team come and Noah just happened to be right there and he hit the shot," Mudiay added.
Vonleh, a 6-foot-8, 220-pound surefire five-star prospect in the Class of 2014 (MaxPreps.com's 2014 rankings will be released later this month) recorded a monster double-double Monday night with 25 points and 16 rebounds. He finished play at adidas Nations as the event's leading scorer and rebounder.
"He's a monster," Mudiay said of Vonleh.
Mudiay, a 6-4 guard from
Grace Prep (Arlington, Texas), added 18 points and was key down the stretch as USA 2014 Red erased a 10-point deficit in the final 6:46 of regulation to force the extra session. The 2014 squad blew a big lead of its own during the CBS Sports Network-televised contest, leading by as many as 16 in the first half.
Montverde Academy (Fla.) forward
Devin Williams led USA 2013 Blue with 16 points and eight rebounds.
Jordan Mathews (13 points), recent USC verbal commitment
Kendal Harris (12) and
Jermaine Lawrence (11) also finished in double figures for the seniors.
The weekend festivities at adidas Nations signaled an end to the competitive portion of the summer circuit. A few all-star contests, including the Elite 24 in Los Angeles on Aug. 25, remain before the 2012-13 school year begins.
Third place: USA 2014 Blue 82, Australia 62Craig Victor,
Isaiah Whitehead and
Justise Winslow sparked a come-from-behind runaway for USA 2014 Blue over a team comprised of players from the Australian Institute of Sport – a pipleline to American Division I programs in recent years.
After falling behind by 10 points in the first quarter, USA 2014 Blue turned the tables with a 22-2 run in the second stanza and was never seriously threatened after that.
Victor, a 6-8 forward from
St. Augustine (New Orleans), tallied 13 points and 10 rebounds to notch the game's only double-double. Whitehead, a 6-3 guard from
Lincoln (Brooklyn, N.Y.), recorded a team-high 15 points while Winslow, 6-6 wing from
St. John's (Houston), added 14 points and eight boards.
Australia was led by 6-4 guard Dante Exum with 17 points. Exum, whose father Cecil played with Michael Jordan on North Carolina's 1982 national championship team, turned in a strong performance at Nations. He is hearing from schools like Boise State, LSU, SMU and Vanderbilt.
Nations notes* Among the notables at Long Beach City College on Monday included 2011 NBA MVP Derrick Rose and the incoming UCLA freshmen quartet of Shabazz Muhammmad, 2011-12 MaxPreps National Player of the Year Kyle Anderson, Tony Parker and Jordan Adams.
