May 21,
2013
Dave Rogahn and Dave Keefer
CaliforniaPreps.com Staff
Open Championship: Infinite Ability 69, Team
Takeover 68
By Dave Rogahn
Jeremy Wright (Serra) made a left-handed lay-up over a wall of defenders with 2 seconds
left to lift Infinite Ability to a 69-68 win over Team Takeover in the open championship game
of the Muir May Memorial Invitational Sunday in Pasadena.
As time wound down, Wright drove from the left elbow and banked home the winning shot,
allowing Infinite Ability to escape with the win after losing a 17-point lead in the game's final
9:13. Wright was also fouled on the play; he missed the resulting free throw, but Jihad
Parker (Washington-LA) grabbed the rebound to seal the win for Infinite Ability.
All of that came after a remarkable comeback by the home team, Takeover, which trailed, 5841 with 9:13 left in the game. Takeover, coached by Muir assistant coach Malcolm Payne,
rallied to take a 68-67 lead on a pair of free throws by Jhamir Jenkins (Alemany) with 24
seconds left on the clock.
That was just the final chapter of a game with multiple twists and turns. Team Takeover used
a 14-2 run in the first half to take a 16-7 lead. Infinite Ability cut that deficit to a single point,
only to see Takeover push the lead back to nine points at 26-17 well into the first half. But
Infinite Ability used a 13-4 run to tie the score at 32 with 3:15 left in the half and took a 3732 lead at the break after a 3-pointer and a putback basket by Parker late in the first half.
Infinite Ability seemed to take over the game early in the
second half, building a 14-point lead at 50-36 with 15:27 left
after 3-pointers by Ahsante Gladden and Parker. Team
Takeover briefly cut the margin to single digits when Jenkins
made two free throws to make it 50-41, but then Infinite
Ability started to pull away again. David Wright (Animo)
passed to Joel Anderson for one basket and then scored one
himself on a driving lay-up to make it 58-41 with 9:13 left.
That was still enough time for Takeover to rally, however, as
the host team cut the margin to seven points on a 3-pointer by
Rayjon Moore (Blair) that made it 63-56. Moore made
another three with two minutes to go to make it 67-61, and
still another to make it 67-64 with 1:35 left. Jenkins scored on
a driving lay-up with 51 seconds left to get his team within a
point at 67-66, and put Team Takeover on top with his two
Photo by Dave Keefer free throws with 24 seconds left.
Jihad Parker
Jeremy Wright missed a lay-up moments later, and Takeover
had a chance to increase its lead when Jenkins got the rebound and was fouled with 11
seconds left. But he missed the free throw, the front end of a one-and-one opportunity, and
Anderson got the rebound for Infinite Ability with 9 seconds left. That set the stage for J.
Wright's game-winning lay-up following a timeout.
For Infinite Ability, Parker led all scorers with 28 points, including 5 three-pointers, and he
added 13 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals. David Wright had 18 points, 11 rebounds, 5 assists
and a steal. Jeremy Wright added 15 points, including a pair of threes and of course the
game-winning lay-up.
For Takeover, Jenkins had a team-high 22 points plus 7 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals.
Clarence McClellan (Citrus Hill) had a double-double with 16 points and game-highs of 14
rebounds and 3 blocked shots. Davin Hampton (Marshall) had 14 points and Moore had 12,
all of which came on 3-pointers.
Box score
Muir May Memorial Invitational
Sunday, May 19th @ John Muir HS, Pasadena
Open Championship - 4 pm
Infinite Ability 69:
2-Joel Anderson, F - 2/10 fg, 1/1 ft, 3 reb, 3 ast, 1 blk, 1 stl, 5 pts
4-David Wright, G - 7/13 fg, 4/6 ft, 11 reb, 5 ast, 1 stl, 2 pf, 18 pts
17-Zach Caltigirone, F - 0/4 fg, 2 reb, 1 ast, 1 pf, 0 pts
23-Jeremy Wright, G - 5/15 fg, 3/5 ft, 5 reb, 2 ast, 1 blk, 1
stl, 4 pf, 15 pts
31-Jihad Parker, C - 11/23 fg, 1/2 ft, 13 reb, 4 ast, 2 stl, 3
pf, 28 pts
10-Maxwell Watson, F - 2 reb, 1 ast, 1 pf, 0 pts
12-Ahsante Gladden, G - 1/2 fg, 1 reb, 1 stl, 3 pf, 3 pts
team rebounds: 4
Totals: 26/67 fg (.388), 9/14 ft (.643), 41 reb, 16 ast, 2
blk, 6 stl, 14 pf, 69 pts
3-pt fg (8): Parker 5, J. Wright 2, Gladden
Turnovers (8): D. Wright 2, Parker 2, Anderson, Caltigirone,
J. Wright, Watson
Team Takeover 68:
Photo by Dave Keefer
4-Jhamir Jenkins, G - 7/15 fg, 8/12 ft, 7 reb, 3 ast, 2 stl, 3
Clarence McClellan blocks Joel
pf, 22 pts
Anderson
8-Clarence McClellan, C - 7/11 fg, 14 reb, 1 ast, 3 blk, 4 pf,
16 pts
24-Rayjon Moore, F - 4/11 fg, 6 reb, 4 ast, 2 blk, 1 stl, 3 pf, 12 pts
32-Jerzy Messan, G - 2/4 fg, 2 reb, 2 ast, 1 pf, 4 pts
35-Davin Hampton, F - 6/14 fg, 1/1 ft, 3 reb, 1 blk, 4 pf, 14 pts
7-Chris Adams, F - 0/1 fg, 1 reb, 1 pf, 0 pts
11-Myles Nwoygo, F - 0 pts
2-Daniel Harris, G - 1 pf, 0 pts
team rebounds: 3
Totals: 26/56 fg (.464), 9/13 ft (.692), 36 reb, 10 ast, 6 blk, 3 stl, 17 pf, 68 pts
3-pt fg (7): Moore 4, McClellan 2, Hampton
Turnovers (7): Jenkins 2, Messan 2, McClellan, Moore, Hampton
Halftime Score: Infinite Ability 37, Team Takeover 32
Infinite Ability led by 17 points at 58-41 with 9:13 remaining.
Takeover took a 68-67 lead on 2 FTs by Jenkins with 24 seconds left.
J. Wright scored on a left-handed lay-up over a wall of defenders with 2 seconds left to win it
for Infinite Ability.
Photo by Dave Keefer
Muir May Memorial Invitational 17u Champions: Infinite Ability