amer-i-can rosters and results

Amer-I-Can aka the "I-Can All Stars" is a travel team coached by Rock Johnson and Ed Sandy, and they feature a lot of guys from South Central LA, Crenshaw, Inglewood and the surrounding areas, including some of the top players at this tournament, at least the #1 team did (unfortunately, while we know and are familiar with a lot of the I-Can #2 guys, we didn't get to see them except when we were all sitting around the gym waiting for I-Can's opponent to show in the first Gold single-elimination game. . . but we're getting ahead of the story.

Calvert Wright	6'-1" Sr. G	Locke
Travon George	6'-1" Jr. G	LA Jordan
Hassan Adams	6'-4" Jr. G/F	Verbum Dei
Michael Greer	6'-4" Sr. G	Compton
Deon Marcus	6'-7" Jr. F	Lynwood
Amani Daanish	6'-8" Sr. F	Pacific Hills
James Mathews	6'-8" Jr. F	Palisades
Ekene Ibekwe	6'-8" Fr. F	Carson
Onye Ibekwe	6'-6" So. F	Manual Arts

Missing from the tournament although listed on the roster was Giovanni St. Amat (6'-3" Jr. SG) from St. John Bosco--he's Schea Cotton's cousin-- Jamaal Barnes (6'-5" Sr. SF) from Compton Centennial, and Brian Freeny (6'-8" Jr. PF) from Arizona, who didn't make the trip. . . one of these days, he'll actually show up at a tournament which has him listed on a roster. We also heard rumors that he'll be transferring to Compton Centennial from Arizona, but again, those are just rumors. The Amer-I-Can I team won it's pool, beating, in order: Grizzlies (a HS team from Fresno) by a score of 65-50; SSA #2 (a team from Sacramento) by the score of 56-39, and the Oakland Soldiers #2 (who won the Silver Bracket) by the score of 69-51. Amer-I-Can I then advanced to the Gold Division, and picked up the forfeit win in the first round when CABC #2 failed to show. The next game just happened to be the Monday morning (9:00 a.m.) game against the Los Angeles Rockfish, and since the Fishies won the whole thing, the outcome is pretty easy to guess. But it was one heck of a game and several players did just about all they could do, but collectively, even with the injuries, Rockfish managed to come from behind to win. But Hassan Adams demonstrated that he's got the stuff to be a big-time player, an excellent shooter with a nice jump shot and a terrific handle who rarely turned the ball over and made some pretty good decisions, penetrating when the time was right or dishing off or pulling up. We also continue to be impressed by the athleticism of Amani Daanish, who runs jumps and blocks but who still could use a little polish on his footwork but who is a nice athlete. The Ibekwe brothers (cousins?) were also impressive at times.

Like Harry Wilson's rosters for the CABC teams, the height of each player on the #2 team wasn't listed either. . . if you want to know, just punch in their names in the "Search SoCalHoops" thingee. We didn't get a chance to see this team play but ran into some of them while waiting for the Amer-I-Can I's first round single-elimination opponent (who failed to show, resulting in a forfeit), and they had some familiar names and faces. The #2 team did well in pool play, beating (in order) the Oakland Hotshots 77-46, the Washington Union Panthers 74-48, and the Alleycats White 95-80. In the single-elimination Gold Bracket, they had the misfortune of running into Elvert Perry's Inland team and were eliminated as Inland moved on to win another game against EBO in the second round, and then ultimately lost to the Rockfish in the semifinals. Here's the roster:

Khali Young	Jr.	Morningside
Terrence Jones	So.	Crenshaw
Lester Clay	Jr.	Crenshaw
Harold Toomer	Jr.	Crenshaw
Daimon Commy	Jr.	Crenshaw
Dwayne Gilliam	Jr.	Morningside
Cory Lowe	Fr.	Washington Prep
Marlon Brisco	So.	Morningside
David Barclay	So.	Morningside
Anthony Lewis	Jr	Crenshaw
Marques Calcote	Jr.	Morningside
Martel Waller	Jr.	Morningside
Gary Hamilton	So.	Crenshaw