McDonald's Texas Invitational: Tournament Wrap Up

I don't believe the outcome of the McDonald's Invitational held this past week in Pasadena, TX was too much of a surprise to anyone.  It was all Flower Mound Marcus.  The defending 5A State Champions are loaded with their top players returning.  The combo of 2012 Marcus Smart and Phil Forte are both signed with Oklahoma State.  It doesn't stop there though because you can add 2012 F 6'8" Nick Banyard who has signed with New Mexico and 2012 G A.J. Luckey an athletic player who can score in bunches too. 

Marcus Smart (Oklahoma State) knows a little something about cutting down nets and winning championships.  He's got one State Title with Flower Mound Marcus HS and another with Texas Assault when he helped capture the adidas Super 64 in Las Vegas.  Add the McDonald's Texas Invitational to the ever growing list while you're at it.

FM Marcus swept the strong field, going a perfect 5-0.  They disposed of Langham Creek, San Antonio Warren and in the Championship beat Desoto 55-42. 

Overall the Austin/San Antonio teams did ok, with San Antonio Warren and San Antonio Clark both reaching the Gold Bracket.

Gold Bracket Play

San Antonio Warren  75     North Crowley 73
Flower Mound Marcus 74  San Antonio Warren  65
Fort Bend Bush  91              San Antonio Warren  73     2012 Taurean Waller-Prince had 32

2012 Taurean Waller-Prince battled Big Cameron Ridley and gave Bush 32 points in the loss. Warren is establishing itself as San Antonio's top team early in the season.  They've got a nice threesome in Waller-Prince, 2012 G Jerell Ellis and 2013 PG Marcus Keane.

Fort Bend Bush  68              San Antonio Clark  56  2012 G Adam Perez led with 22 points
San Antonio Clark  54         Richardson Berkner 50 Big 4th Q win, led by 2012 Niko Maxwell-15
North Crowley    66              San Antonio Clark  49   Adam Perez led the way for Clark with 15

Perez is clearly the glue for San Antonio Clark, a guard oriented team that will be tough to beat. Clark's achilles will be their lack of height and ability to board, but they are a tough matchup on the guard front.

Silver Bracket Play

Converse Judson  44            San Antonio Madison  30 2014 F 6'5" Tanner Leissner led with 15
Alief Elsik  64                       Converse Judson  52
Humble College Park 56     Converse Judson  49

2014 F 6'5" Tanner Leissner of Converse Judson is tough and effective as a sophomore.  When Judson controls the pace they win.  Nobody does it better at protecting a lead.  Scoring will be an issue though.

Pearland Dawson  49           San Antonio Madison  48
Austin Westlake    62           San Antonio Madison  46  2013 W Vince DeBlasio had 17 in the win.

Spring Dekaney 56               Austin Westlake 49
Mansfield Summit  71          Austin Westlake 62            2012 R.J. Rowan had 25 in the loss
Westlake has some nice pieces.  Any one of 5 guys can lead the team in scoring on any given night: R.J. Rowan, Will Morse, Chase Carlton, Drew Wikelius or Vince DeBlasio.

Bronze Bracket

Humble Kingwood 43          San Antonio Taft  40
San Antonio Taft    53          LaMarque 36
Houston Bellaire    59           San Antonio Taft  49