McBride scores 19, Hawks win 17U title
Issac McBride earned MVP honors at the Real Deal in the Rock on Sunday afternoon, but the 6-1 guard had a plenty of support.
Five members of the Joe Johnson Arkansas Hawks scored 10 or more points as the host team shut down Game Elite Gold of Atlanta, 74-63, in the 17U championship game at P.A.R.K. in Little Rock.
McBride, who has helped lead Little Rock’s Baptist Prep to three consecutive Class 4A state championships, drilled five three-pointers to account for the majority of his game-high 19 points. The Hawks connected on their first three field-goal attempts and they finished 28 of 46 from the floor.
“We played better and better as the week went on,” Hawks Coach and tournament founder Bill Ingram said. “I was real pleased with our performance today.”
The Hawks also played well defensively holding highly-regarded point guard Ashton Hagans to five points and four assists. Haggins, who is ranked as the No. 1
player in Georgia and the No. 8 player in the country, recently decommitted from the University of Georgia and has picked up offers from Kentucky and North Carolina.
“That is a mystery to me,” Ingram said of Hagans. “I watched him last year destroy some 17-year-olds that were McDonald’s All-Americans. I don’t know. Maybe it was just our day but that was a mystery to me to hold him to five points.”
Hagans showed some frustration, losing control of the ball after grabbing a defensive rebound. The 6-4 guard argued with an official and picked up a technical foul with 3:06 remaining.
“Ashton is a really good player,” McBride said. “He knows his strengths and weaknesses, and I’m not saying he has any weaknesses. … But to hold him or anyone on that team under five points, well, that’s great. They have a lot of great shooters.”
And apparently so do the Hawks, who had five players hit a combined 11 three-pointers.
“They think their shots are going in every time,” said forward Kevon Cooper, who scored 9 of his 11 points in the second half. “They’re shooting with a lot of confidence and I have high hopes for them too.”
Guard Justice Hill, a University of Arkansas, Fayetteville commitment who was the main defender on Hagans, finished with 11 points and handed out six assists. Shawn Fudge and Kevin Cross each put in 10 points. Cross also had three steals and four assists.
Fudge, who has battled multiple injuries in the last year, hit two key three-pointers in the second half.
“He knocked down some big threes that really turned the game,” Ingram said of Fudge. “He put us over the hump in that second half. … Shawn’s been out and before he had all of those injuries, he was one of our better players and probably our best shooter. Now he’s finally getting back to playing tip-top basketball.”
“We knew we could those shots,” McBride said. “We have confidence in ourselves and we have confidence in all of our teammates. We just have to pass the ball, get good ball movement and be patient with our shot selection and knock down the shots we know we can make.”
Game Elite guard Quin Richey led his team with 17 points, 15 of which came via the three.
In Sunday’s semifinals, McBride scored 19 points and Allen Flanigan added 17 points, 7 rebounds, 6 steals and 3 blocks as the Hawks defeated Game Elite Black 74-44.