Saturday, May 7th, Island Garden New York, the Gotham Titans were victorious in all three matchups winning the New York Metropolitan Spring Basketball Series Mother's Day One Day Benefit Tournament and gaining eligibility to the AAU World Championships and AAU Nationals.
The tournament was played in a round-robin format with the Titans matching up against Team Brooklyn (SBBA), Castle Elite, and All The Smoke, with NY Lightning rounding out the 8th grade division. The final standings saw the Gotham Titans as the only undefeated team.
The opening game against Brooklyn was a much anticipated re-match of the consolation championship game from Hoop Group Jam Fest, which the Titans won on a last second buzzer beater. Yet again the Titans prevailed holding on for a 68 - 63 victory. Xavier Bala was unstoppable on his way to 37 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists. Xavier shot 53% from the field including 3 - 8 from deep, and was 14 of 17 from the free throw line. Mateo Morales scored 14 points with 3 steals and 6 rebounds shooting 50% from the field.
Castle Elite provided the strongest opposition on the day, forging ahead on the scoreboard through the first half of play. Ultimately the Titans were too fast paced for Castle and surged ahead in the final quarter of play to win comfortably by a score of 49 - 41. Mateo Morales was outstanding again hustling for every loose ball and relentlessly attacking the rim on offense for 18 points, 11 rebounds, 2 steals and a blocked shot. Xavier Bala had 15 points and 5 rebounds, while Stirling Sloman played through significant cramping in his legs to score 10 points, 5 rebounds, 3 steals, a block and an assist. Stamati Sideridis was a beast defensively with 11 rebounds, 5 steals and a block.
The final matchup against All The Smoke was a blowout from the start as the Titans' defense was simply too much for their opposition to handle. ATS turned the ball over 29 times due in large part to the Titans 24 steals. Combined with 53% shooting as a team the scoreboard was given quite the workout for a final score of 80 - 28. Mateo Morales was again brilliant and led the way with 26 points and a whopping 9 steals, shooting 69% from the field. Xavier Bala had an explosive second half on his way to 26 points of his own. Stirling Sloman scored 10 points with 6 rebounds and 5 steals. Stamati Sideridis scored 9 points with 8 rebounds.
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