POSTED BY: Eurobasket News
Karon Wright
This Saturday in Columbia SC the East Coast Basketball League playoffs will begin with the Southern Conference playoffs taking place at Heathwood Hall and will be hosted by the Carolina Crusaders. The Northern Conference will also start on Saturday and will take place in Fayetteville NC.
The opening game of the tournament will feature the #4 seed Coastal Elite Pirates as they take on #5 Charlotte Tribe who are coming off of two wins this past weekend including Saturdays 127-111 win over the Pirates. The Pirates will be looking to pick up a win in the rematch and are led by outside shooters Justin Jones (6'5''-G-1995) and Karon Wright (6'0''-PG-1995, college: SC State) and 2022 Allstar F Teus Anderson (6'6''-SF-1998, college: Anderson) who averages 20 points and 9 rebounds on the season. The Tribe have been led during the season by Jalin Vince and Jaelan Kennedy who have averaged a combined 40ppg during the season, and with the addition of Junior Robinson who has averaged 31 points and 9 rebounds a game since returning from overseas are looking to put together two more wins this weekend.
The second game Saturday will feature the #3 Bishopville Devils against the #6 Gastonia Snipers. The Devils have been a surprise team this season with many people writing them off before the season to only see them at the top of the standing the entire season. They feature a tough backcourt with MVP Candidate Keyon Hilton (6'3''-G-1993, college: Clinton) 36.6ppg and PG Calum McIntyre 20.1ppg that play well together and the inside out game of Kendrick Holloman (6'2''-F) has been a tough matchup all season. The Devils also have a double double man in Deangelo Bratton (6'2''-F) who finished the season with 14.8ppg and 15.7rpg.
The Snipers strengths are similar with Warren Vinson 26.2ppg, Marquise Gaines 21.4ppg, and BJ Tyson 21.4ppg all having great seasons, but with the late addition of overseas veteran Damier Pitts 25.4ppg the Snipers are looking for their second win of the season over Bishopville.
Sundays first game will have the Southern Conference Regular season champions taking on the winner of the Charlotte Tribe/Coastal Elite game at 4:00pm. The Thunder are in familiar position and will be looking to get back to the Conference Championship game and ultimately back to the ECBL Championship game. The Thunder were led in scoring this season by Sheraun King at 27.1ppg in his first full season with the Thunder. Demetrius Knox (5'8''-PG-1998, college: Morris) 22.4ppg and DJ Mason 22.4ppg have been consistent all year and with the core players all returning toward the end of the season the Thunder have positioned themselves to make this the year.
The second game on Sunday with feature 6 Time ECBL Champions the PrimeTime Players who come into the game leading the entire league with 12 wins and also scored 188 and 187 points in games this season. PrimeTime again is led by Chris Moore (6'2''-G-1986, college: Charleston So.) who is averaging 33ppg on the season and with Cornellius Reynolds (6'6''-G/F-1997, college: Claflin) 28.1ppg returning from injury PrimeTime are hopeful for a return to the Finals. Kerigan Farley 11.4apg led the league in assists, Isiah Cureton 2.7bpg in Blocks, and PJ Heath and Odell Turner combined for 17
double double games. They will play the winners of the game between Bishopville/Gastonia with a 6:00pm tip-off.
Courtesy of: ECBL
Tags : KARON WRIGHT, COASTAL ELITE PIRATES, ECBL BASKETBALL
