Loading your audio article
CONSHOHOCKEN >> Team Awesome didn’t panic Tuesday night. Its double-digit lead over Positive Image Blue was gone and the game was tied with five-and-a-half minutes to play, but that was no cause for concern.
“We knew what it was already because just yesterday we were down 11 coming into the second half,” Team Awesome guard Deuce Jones said, referencing their semifinal win over M-Sport Monday night. “There was no pressure. We knew what we were capable of. Once we locked in, followed the gameplan and everybody started playing together, then we got the win.”
Jordan Ellerbe put Team Awesome ahead for good with five minutes left, but the lead was still within a possession in the final 90 seconds. Team Awesome, however, never left the door open for a Positive Image Blue run, hitting 26 of 31 free throws in the second half.
Team Awesome defeated Positive Image Blue, 104-94, in the 62nd Annual Albert C. Donofrio Classic championship game at the Fellowship House of Conshohocken.
“It’s like the stamp to my high school career,” Team Awesome’s Torin Bosch, a Perkiomen School senior, said. “Got the state championship at Perkiomen with my boys over here (teammates Haden Johns and Alex Zakheim) and now just put a stamp on it with this win right here.”
Jones, who earned the tournament’s Art Andrey, Sr. MVP Award, scored 24 of his game-high 38 points in the second half. He went 18-for-21 from the free-throw line after intermission. It was his second consecutive strong offensive performance after scoring 47 points in the semifinals.
“Resting, stretching, keeping my body right,” Jones, a College Achieve (NJ) senior heading to La Salle University, credited for his offensive success. “Without my body, I wouldn’t be able to perform the way I did both games. I got my body right, came out here I was feeling good.
“I still have something to prove. I feel like I should be higher than what I am right now, but I’m not going to get mad about it. I’m just going to play my game. That’s who I am.”
Team Awesome never trailed in the game. They scored on the first possession and built a 10-0 lead in the first two minutes. Positive Image Blue trimmed its deficit to five a few times in the first half and trailed by six, 51-45, after 20 minutes.
“We just had shots falling right at the start,” Bosch said. “We were attacking the rim, playing some good defense, getting on the boards, too. We came out hot and were doing everything well.”
Positive Image Blue tied things up at 73 with seven minutes left in the game and again at 76 with 5:25 to go, but they never took the lead.
Johns, a Perkiomen School junior, scored 15 of his 19 points in the second half for Team Awesome. Eleven of those points came in the final 11 minutes after Positive Image Blue got within one possession.
Tristan Guillouette, a George School senior, and Ellerbe, a St. Joseph’s Prep junior, also scored in double figures for the champions, contributing 14 and 12 points, respectively.
Abdrahaman Coulibaly, a West Philadelphia senior, led Positive Image Blue with 27 points. Friends Select Senior Fazi Oshodi, who earned the Whelan Twins Memorial MVP Award, added 16 points while Penn Charter junior TJ Bryson had 15 and Friends Select junior Jalen Chiles and West Catholic junior Saaid Lee each had 13.
Team Awesome 104, Positive Image Blue 94
Positive Image Blue 45 49 – 94
Team Awesome 51 53 – 104
PIB: Abdrahaman Coulibaly 27, Jalen Chiles 13, Kameron Waters 5, TJ Bryson 15, Fazi Oshodi 16, Ahmeil Mclaurin 5, Saaid Lee 13.
TA: Blake Hargrove 4, Manny Jo Samuel 7, Haden Johns 19, Jalen Harper 6, Alex Zakheim 2, Torin Bosch 2, Tristan Guillouette 14, Deuce Jones 38, Jordan Ellerbe 12.
2024 All-Tournament Team
Basketball Finders: Jackson Gaffney
Friends of Dave Oldfield: Owen McCabe, Matt Gardler, Jaden Murray
Difference Makers: Aiden Tobiason, Matt Gilhool
Great American Pub: Jaden Colzie
Hoop Dreams: Dior Kennedy
L&L Running Rebels: Jaen Chatman
M-Sports: Ryan Williams, Jake West, Jalil Bethea
NEPA: Macon Emory, Mikey Cumbo
PA Hoops Academy: Jordan Dill
Philly Hoop Group: Zaahir Muhammad-Gray
Positive Image Blue: Fazi Oshodi, Jalen Chiles, Abdrahaman Coulibaly, TJ Bryson
Raw Sports: Malachi Palmer
Team Awesome: Deuce Jones, Tristan Guillouette, Jalen Harper, Jordan Ellerbe
Keystone Blazers Philly Blaze: RJ Smith
Awards
Sportsmanship Award: Jalen Chiles, Positive Image Blue
Albert C. Donofrio Award: Tristan Guillouette, Team Awesome
Whelan Twins Memorial MVP Award: Fazi Oshodi, Positive Image Blue
Art Andrey, Sr. MVP Award: Deuce Jones, Team Awesome
