SAN FRANCISCO, CA – Over 1,000 basketball fans, many of the YouTube variety, converged on historic Kezar Pavilion near Golden Gate Park on Saturday afternoon for the inaugural 2HYPE + Bay vs. LA Showcase Basketball Games presented by Ballislife.
There were two games. The first one pitted the top high school players in the greater Bay Area with the top players from metropolitan Los Angeles. The second game, which admittedly many of the throng of adolescents among the like crowd was there to see, was between two teams with YouTube stars that were competing as 2Hype and Off Ballers.
In the high school game the LA boys, led by 6-11 power forward Evan Mobley, the ESPN No. 1 ranked player from the class of 2020 from Rancho Christian-Temecula, started out looking like they would run away and hide but in the end, and partially because Mobley has his minutes limited due to all nine players on the roster being rotated, they held off the Bay team in a 122-116 victory.
Mobley led the way with 25 points, 14 rebounds and five blocks and totally dominated the paint.
After the Bay scored the first basket the LA boys went on a 12-0 run and at one point in the first half led 61-33 but Bay fought back with a with a 15-4 run and only trailed 65-50 at the end of the first 20-minute half.
Bay closed to 69-59 but LA surged again to take a 92-69 lead before Bay went on a 21-4 run of its own to close to 96-90 but from there they could not get any closer.
Mobley was named the MVP of LA while the honor for Bay went to 6-2 junior Robby Beasley (18 points with two three-pointers, nine rebounds, two assists, two steals) of Dublin.
Nimari Burnett, a 6-3 junior guard from Prolific Prep-Napa, was a close second in the MVP balloting for Bay after hitting for 18 points with two three-pointers and snagging eight rebounds. Keshad Johnson, a 6-7 senior for from Envision Academy-Oakland, and Will Chaverin, a 6-4 senior forward from Bishop O’Dowd-Oakland, had 16 and 14 points, respectively, with each hitting a trey and snagging six rebounds, and Coleman Hawkins, a 6-9 junior power forward from Prolific Prep had a solid 12 points, six rebounds and two assists.
For LA, Johnny Juzang, a 6-7 junior forward from Harvard-Westlake-North Hollywood, hit three three-pointers and finished with 18 points. Mobley’s older brother, USC-committed 6-9 forward Isaiah Mobley, also shined and finished with 16 points, six rebounds and four assists, two on lobs to little big brother.
Also for LA Oregon State-committed 6-3 senior guard Jarod Lucas of Los Altos-Hacienda Heights had 14 points with two three-pointers, 6-3 senior guard Jarred Hyder of Damien-La Verne had 13 points with two three-pointers, USC-bound senior forward Max Agbonkpolo of Santa Margarita-Rancho Santa Margarita added 11 points with one three-pointer, Jaden Shackelford, a 6-3 senior guard from Hesperia, had 11 points and five rebounds with one trey, UCLA-committed 6-6 senior forward Jake Kyman of Santa Margarita had 10 points and eight rebounds, and Montana-bound 6-3 senior guard Josh Vazquez of CIF Open Division champion Bishop Montgomery-Torrance closed out the scoring with two points and but he had six assists.
The line for the rest of the Bay players:
Sacred Heart Cathedral-San Francisco junior guard Bryce Monroe had eight points, 6-9 junior center Jhaylon Martinez of Vanden-Fairfield had eight points and seven rebounds, 6-8 senior forward Isaiah Hawthorne of Tracy had four points and six rebounds, 6-7 senior guard Jonah Crumpton-Murray had five points, 6-1 junior point guard Xavion Brown of Sheldon-Sacramento added five points and three assists, and 6-5 junior forward Tyler Brinkman of Salesian-Richmond had two points, six rebounds and two assists.
2Hype with JesserTheLazer and Off Ballers live up to hype
Trick-shooting YouTube star Jesser from the Los Angeles area, who goes by Jezzar as part of his @JesserTheLazer Twitter handle, made a shot from over five feet beyond the three-point line as part of his array of tricks that included two other long three-pointers, and the 2Hype star finished with 18 points to lead his team to an 84-68 victory over Off Ballers .
The crowd, of which quite a few were pre-teens and their parents, went absolutely nuts when Jesser made the NBA-plus trey, and it wasn’t the first time they went wild.
It started when the players, almost all of whom have monikers, came down an aisle from a side parking lot entrance to Kezar with fans packed up against the aisle looking to get a glimpse of their YouTube heroes. The party-like atmosphere didn’t stop until long after the game was over when the crowd rushed the court immediately after the MVP’s were announced to get pictures and autographs.
Of course Jesser was the MVP for 2Hype, and after he made the long trey the crowd, who had a voice in the MVP vote, screamed MVP, MVP every time he touched the ball.
Another player that was impressive with his skills and shooting ability was DAX, the MVP for Off Ballers. Besides being a solid basketball trickster he is an accomplished rapper in the Los Angeles area. He finished with 21 points and three three-pointers. DAX also won the three-point shooting contest after making 17 of 25 shots.
“No other rapper in the world can shoot like me,” DAX posted on Twitter along with video of the three-point contest.
These players are entertainers but several exhibited some strong skills and shooting ability. Zack made two long three-pointers and showed basketball savvy and finished with 15 points for 2Hype, Cash Nasty of 2Hype showed some very nifty moves going to and around the basket with flip shots and finished with 13 points. Former high school college star and pro Cesar Guerrero, who coach LA, made a cameo appearance for 2Hype and hit two treys for nine points but could have gone for 40 it he wanted to.
The leading scorer in the game was Jeron Smith of Off Ballers. Most of his 25 points were around the basket. Another player that showed he can play and entertain was Oprah. He hit a long three-pointer and had 12 points.
Other players for 2Hype were Kris London with a three-pointer and nine points, Jiedel had seven points, Mal had a trey and five points, TD had three free throws, LOS, who is short and rotund but is usually a good shooter had an off night and a lone three-pointer. Rounding out the scoring for 2Hype was Mopi, a fan favorite who can’t play a lick of basketball, but when he came in the game after fans were screaming for him, they went even crazier when he made a free throw for his only point.
For Off Ballers Jay Jones hit a three-pointer and had five points, and DDG, Walker and KTO each had two points.
“It was surprisingly entertaining and nice for kids in the San Francisco area,” said Ballislife Grassroots Editor Ronnie Flores.
Kezar Pavilion has seen roller derby and the old wrestling heroes with their monikers, but it was a first with the kind of show 2Hype and their players put on.
