Breakdown Takes AAU 17U National Title
August 1st, 2007 Posted in AAU Basketball
Photo: Team Breakdown, earlier in week at AAU Nationals
Team Breakdown Coach Kenny Gillion knows the talent King of the Court’s 6-7 forward Delvon Roe brings to the basketball court. After all, Roe is one of the nation’s most skilled rising seniors and the heart of his AAU 17U team.
That’s precisely why Roe became the focus of Team Breakdown’s game plan Wednesday evening during the AAU 17U Junior Boys National Basketball Tournament championship game.
“He’s their top player, so we figured if we could shut him down we could stop their offense,” Gillion said of Roe, King of the Court’s focal point.
That approach worked, as Roe struggled most of the night during Team Breakdown’s 74-45 victory at the Milk House in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., home of Disney’s Wide World of Sports Complex.
Meanwhile, 6-10 post player Eloy Vargas showed a crowd of more than 2,000 why he’s considered one of the nation’s top prep big men, and one of few 6-10 players with the range to sink shots from beyond the three-point arc.
Vargas blocked four shots, including three in the first half, altered several more and finished with 17 points, including an emphatic fourth-period dunk and two three-pointers, to help guide Team Breakdown, based in Plantation, to Florida’s first AAU 17U national championship.
“Without a doubt, he’s going to be an McDonald’s All-American. I’m glad people got to see what we’ve seen for the last three years. He’s a player who can score inside and out and also block shots and get rebounds. He’s one of the most underrated players in his class.”
Kenny Boynton, Team Breakdown’s rising junior shooting guard, is anything but underrated. Boynton was named the game’s most valuable player after scoring a game-high 20 points. Boynton, who averaged 29 points per game last season for his high school team, scored 20 or more in six of the team’s nine straight tournament victories. It was his defense, though, that helped to shut down King of the Court’s two talented guards, Frankie Dobbs and Anthony Burns.
“Coach wanted it to be a defensive game. We knew we’d get some offense, but we really played well on defense, and that created some easy baskets for us,” Boynton.
Boynton said after the game that he and his mother plan to decide within the next few days where he’ll go to high school this fall. He has said that he is considered Plantation American Heritage and Virginia’s Oak Hill Academy, where Carmelo Anthony, Jerry Stackhouse and other current NBA stars honed their skills.
“I’ll probably make the decision as soon as I get home,” said Boynton. “My mom is going to tell me where I’m going to go.”
Roe’s future is at Michigan State, but Spartan Nation didn’t have an opportunity to see his game on Wednesday. Roe, who is now set for his senior year at Edwards High in Lakewood, Ohio, picked up a second foul midway through the second period and watched much of the final four minutes of the first half from the bench. He proved ineffective in the second half and went to the bench for good with about five minutes left in the fourth period.
Gillion said he knows Roe is a great player.
“As a father, I’m always disappointed when someone with his talent doesn’t have the opportunity to show what he can do,” Gillion said. “But the basketball coach in me was happy to see our execution shutting him down.”
