2009 Rose City Showcase 2nd day recap

The second weekend in June annually brings some of the best high school basketball players from around the country to match-up with the talent of the Pacific Northwest. Traveling teams converge on Portland, Oregon for the Rose City Showcase, kicking off the AAU summer tournament season. The RCS is one of the premier events for high school seniors and juniors to display their on court prowess in a venue full of knowledgable basketball fans, college coaches and scouts. Top college prospects in the past have featured players like Brandon Roy, Spencer Hawes, Martell Webster, OJ Mayo, Kevin Love, Lance Stephenson, Jrue Holiday, just to name a few. This years group is no less star studded. Teams from Jackson, Misssissippi, Chicago, Illinois, Washington and Oregon make up the super 17 division, playing at Lewis & CLark college for the three day event.

After an opening day of teams and players trying to settle into their games, no player scored more than 19 points on day one. Day two of the 2009 Rose City Showcase saw some outstanding play by individuals and teams alike. In the first game of for the super 17's, Team Oregon and the Emerald City Pioneers of Seattle faced off. Each team coming of a day one loss, looking for their first win. The Pioneers were lead by the 32 points of Keith Stackhouse and 16 points from Brett Kingma. Setting the pace for Team Oregon was Cameron McCaffery, who put up 26 points on day two after an 18 point effort on Friday, 16 of those out of the gate in the first half. In the end, Team Oregon came out on top 87-77 to move into the consolation game on Sunday.

Game two saw Team Access from Federal Way, Washington and MBA Elite from Jackson, Mississippi. Another match-up of teams looking to secure a win and avoid the "suck it up game" on Sunday. The team from Jackson, after two days of travel to get to Portland and missing three nationally ranked started due to weather related travel problems, made a valiant effort with only seven players. Top ranked small forward, junior, 6-7 Laquinton Ross from William B Murrah High school in Jackson, MS and 6-6 shooting guard, Rodney Hood showed their talents. Ross taking on the unfamiliar role of point guard lead his team for the second day in a row in scoring with 21 points, after scoring 17 points against Seattle Rotary. His smooth play and confident court demeanor showed why he is considered by many the #1 small forward in the country for the class of 2011. The under manned MBA team kept the game close, playing only 6 players, but Team Access proved too much down the stretch. Access, comprised of players from the Tacoma/Federal Way area of Washington, have six players returning to the 4A defending state champion Federal Way Eagles. Cole Dickerson, looking forward to his senior season, lead Team Access with 19 points going 9-10 from the free throw line, matching his tournament leading 19 points of the previous day.

The third game of the day, put day one winners, Friends of Hoop from Seattle against the Derrick Rose All-Stars from Chicago, Illinois. For the second day in a row, the Chicago team played unselfish, getting points from everyone on the roster and moving the ball around the floor. In their day one win over Team Oregon, the All-Stars had four players in double digits and secured a 76-42 win. The balanced scoring on day two came up short 58-69. Point guard, Aaron Bright led the Friends team with 19 points and Ryan Nicholas added 16 to help their team move onto the championship game Sunday evening.

In the final game of day two, Seattle Rotary and Portland's I-5 Elite battled early and often. Stephen Madison got the Portland team team off to a quick start with four 3's and 16 points overall in the first half. I-5 Elite went into half-time up by 7 at 31-24. Coming out strong to start the second half, 6-9/270 lb big Josh Smith, from Kentwood high school got on track tallying 12 of his 18 points, including two big dunks to put Rotary ahead to stay. Garfield junior Tony Wroten contributed 8 first half points and four assists, but had to sit after a drive to the hoop where he went up strong, taking contact and landing hard on the floor banging his head. Wroten returned in the second half and distributed the ball well getting Smith two of his dunks with assists under the rim. Unfortunately, Tony turned his ankle on a hustle play on the baseline which led to another two handed jam by big Josh, but Wroten sat the remainder of the game. It was a two point game half way through the second half, when Dre Winston and Franklin small forward LC White each caught fire and came up with 8 apiece in the final 7:30 minutes. Highly touted Terrence Jones, 6-9 power forward from Jefferson high school, matched his day one performance with 12 points, but the well stocked Portland squad came up short. Seattle Rotary with Smith, Wroten and the final push from Winston and White held off their Portland rivals 67-54. Sending Portland to play in the 3rd/4th place game against the Chicago Derrick Rose All-Stars. After the game Wroten said he would be playing in the championship game on Sunday. With the win, the battle of Seattle teams was set and the 2009 Rose City Showcase championship will pit Seattle Rotary against the Friends of Hoop team from Seattle.

Championship Sunday at Lewis & Clark college will feature all eight teams, beginning at 4:15pm with the "suck it up" game between the Emerald City Pioneers and the team from Jackson, Mississippi MBA Elite. Both teams working to take home their only win of the weekend. Followed by the consolation game at 5:30pm between Team Oregon and Team Access. The 6:45pm game will be played for 3rd and 4th place in this year's tournament put Portland's I-5 Elite team against the Derrick Rose All-Stars. Finishing off a great weekend of high school basketball starting at 8 pm will be the 2009 Rose City Championship, Seattle's Friends of Hoop versus Seattle Rotary to see who will take home the trophy, but more importantly, the bragging rights until the next time these two loaded teams showcase their talents.