BN Roundup: Victory Lap

The Summer 2024 season for Ballers Nation Basketball ended where it began for the three traveling boys teams: PSA2 in Plano. High School Grey along with the Middle School White and Grey teams participated in the Court 23 Summer Exposure Finale. MS White took on the 7th Grade division, MS Grey in the 8th, and HS Grey in the Junior Varsity Division.

The Middle School squads took the court first with two early-morning contests. Grey opened the weekend with a 46-31 victory, while MS White would complete their first, but not only two-possession games. At first they would fall 54-52 despite being down by 15 at the half. HS Grey would play an hour later in the 9AM window but a late 8-0 run in the 2nd half wouldn’t be enough to defeat the DC Kings, with the final being 63-51. Both MS White and Grey would win games in the 10AM window, with White earning arguably the most intense win of their season in a 37-35 overtime buzzer beating win over DFW Splash. Grey would win an all-East Texas matchup by a final score of  51-46 finishing pool play 2-0. The final Saturday game would be a dominant 73-50 win for HS Grey that saw the squad shoot 6-10 from three in the first half. Head Coach Jeremy Tatum was pleased with the way the team played heading into Championship Sunday. “I’m just proud of the growth these young men made,” Tatum said. “With the changing of the line ups and different roles having to play each tournament, I’m just beyond proud of them for not giving up.”

Championship Sunday rolled around with MS White being the only pool play game remaining. They would lose heading into bracket play 64-41 with their only cushion in terms of seeing being point differential and the Saturday OT win. Their fate would be sealed as the 3rd seed and put a final exclamation point on the weekend by defeating fellow Puma organization South U while weathering a 3 minute scoring drought in the 2nd half to come away with victory 46-42.
Ballers Nation Grey would have a stacked championship bracket slate on Sunday, with the final game of the season for them being for all the marbles against a pretty familiar environment. The only thing that stood between Head Coach Jeremy Tatum’s team and a championship would yet again be an Arkansas opponent. Tatum looked back at the moment they saw the Arkansas Magic match up before game time and offered his initial thoughts. “You know what you’re gonna get against one of those (Arkansas) teams. Fast, tenacious, and coming with a raucous crowd behind them, but now we were prepared. We’ve been in this exact situation before with this team so I knew they could step up,” Tatum said. An 8-0 run from Ballers Nation at the 2:30 mark in the second half would force the Magic to play not only the clock but the foul count the rest of the way. A 7-8 tally from the free throw line in the final two minutes of play would deliver the Summer Exposure Finale Championship for Tatum’s club, delivering a picture perfect ending to the season. “The growth of this team from March and Tournament 1 in April to this final tournament was something to behold. They showed so much improvement throughout this process that you can only stand up and be extremely proud of them. All of our MS groups as a whole competed every time they touched the floor and showed fight no matter what team it was,” exclaimed Coach Tatum.

Ballers Nation Founder and CEO Brian Crawford was in attendance for the final game as MS Grey capped off an undefeated weekend. “I’m very proud of our coaches and kids for a strong finish this weekend to conclude what’s been a great season of both mental and physical development for our kids! Each team showed the Ballers Nation Mentality of competing on both ends of the floor and being resilient during any and all adverse situations that occur in the game! Each group showed toughness and won some games and to see the comeback win by our Ballers Nation 14U group to capture the championship was the icing on the cake for us,” said Crawford.

PHOTOS FROM THE WEEKEND  2024 Court 23 Summer Exposure Finale