Trailing by one point with three seconds remaining, University School 2019 power forward Vernon Carey Jr. made two free throws and Nike Team Florida held off Baltimore’s Team Melo 60-59 Sunday evening to win the 16-and-under Bigfoot Hoops national championship in Las Vegas.
Nike Team Florida, a 15-U squad made up mostly of University School sophomores, was playing up a level in the 16s. It is their second national championship in the past three weeks. NTF also won the Peach Jam 15-U national title.
“We’ve had a great, great month of July,” said Nike Team Florida coach Adrian Sosa, who is also the coach at U-School. “A team camp at the University of Miami at the end of June really set us up for this run.”
Blake Hinson, out of Deltona High School, led Nike Team Florida in scoring Sunday with 28 points. Carey added 17 points and Balsa Koprivica had eight points, 15 rebounds and six blocks.
Koprivica, a 7-foot-1 center, is ranked the No. 8 prospect in America in the 2019 class while the 6-9 Carey is No. 19. This week coaches from the University of Miami, Florida, Central Florida, Baylor, USC and Georgia State were among those in the stands keeping close tabs on the pair.
Koprivica moved to the United States from Belgrade, Serbia, four years ago. He has six scholarship offers — Baylor, Florida, Georgia State, Louisville, Miami and Murray State. Carey, too, has six offers — Baylor, Florida, Georgia State, Louisville, Miami and St. Louis.
Nike Team Florida led Team Melo down the stretch of regulation, but then let a lead get away.
“It was a back-and-forth game,” Sosa said. “We extended the lead to five, six points late. … But give them credit. They hit tough shot, after tough shot, after tough shot, and the guy made a step-back 3 at the buzzer [to send the game to overtime].”
The future looks very bright for NTF and University School. Sosa will have Carey, Koprivica, Kenny McIntosh and Joshua Sanguinetti and company for three more high school seasons.
“It’s really tough, because we have so many good players on one team,” Sosa said. “They are very unselfish and want to win.”
VIPERS OUSTED IN NATIONAL SEMIFINALS
The Florida Vipers, meanwhile, made it to the Las Vegas Fab 48 17-U national semifinals Sunday before getting knocked off by eventual champion Earl Watson Elite at Bishop Gorman High School.
Earl Watson Elite defeated Splash City 65-50 in the championship game.
The Vipers, coached by Brandon McThay, made it to the quarterfinals by routing RM5 Elite 86-56 late Saturday night. The game started after midnight Eastern time.
Sunday, the Vipers moved into the final four with an impressive 67-48 dismantling of the New York RENS — a quality, quality program. St. Andrew’s 6-6 two-guard Anthony Polite, Dillard 6-8 forward RaiQuan Gray and Westminster Academy center Jason Strong led the way vs. the RENS.
Polite, Gray, Strong and Calvary Christian guard Jerald Butler all had big tournaments and upped their stock in front of a slew of college coaches.
