13U Division I: Georgia Jazz 71, Game Elite 61
The scrappiness of the Georgia Jazz and the smoothness of Game Elite definitely made for a fun-to-watch championship game. The Georgia Jazz came out with a defensive intensity that was amazing to watch. Their trap/press helped them jump out to an 12-4 lead. Fouls and free throws would soon pull Game Elite within one by halftime. Glendarius Tate put up an aggressive nine points while Khyle Cowan was very active on the boards for the Jazz and had seven points at the break. Game Elite’s first half scoring was spread out for the most part. Trenton Smith led them with six points.
The second half was a continuation of the first until about eight minutes left. The Jazz had a command on the boards that cleaned up any misses for easy put backs. They had a 10-point lead with six minutes left on the clock. Khyle Cowan had what was likely one of the most impressive performance of his young career, putting up a whopping 36 points and snatching 11 boards. Tate finished with 16 points and 13 boards while Kahari Dean added 7 points and 11 rebounds. Antonio Jewell had an all-around solid game from the point guard position, putting up 5 points, 6 assists and 5 steals on the big stage. In a losing effort, Emmanuel Vasquez had 10 points, 4 boards.