Ankd & FunctionAll take early leads in Week 1 of Hoopsfix Pro-Am
There were wins for Ankd, The Minimum Brand (TMB), FunctionAll and OT Boyz in Week 1 of the Men’s Hoopsfix Pro-Am on Sunday at Brixton Rec, South London.
In Pool A, FunctionAllregistered a 59-51 win over Hoopspace, while OT Boyz escaped Surrey by two, 58-56.
Ankd played spoiler to Solent Kestrels’ Pro-Am debut, registering a 64-52 win, while TMB had a strong debut with a 61-53 win over London United in Pool B play.
The day started with Gio Fraser putting his name on the map with a 19-point outing for Ankd. With the score tied at 43 with 3 minutes left in the third, Ankd reeled off a an 8-0 run to gain a cushion and never looked back. Shaquille Lewis added 10 points, while Brandon Tchouya, back from his second season at Junior College finished with 9 points and 8 rebounds.
Solent were led by 14 points and nine rebounds from Tyler Fairbairn in the loss.
The Minimum Brand – making their debut – made hard work of taking down a younger London United squad, led by former Leicester Rider Darien Nelson-Henry who was a force in the middle on his way to 10 points, three rebounds and five assists.
Hoopsfix Pro-Am debut for former @RidersBball & current @hemelstorm big man Darien Nelson-Henry pic.twitter.com/PHl4mFjtxv
— Hoopsfix (@Hoopsfix) June 16, 2024
A quick 8-0 burst in a little over 2 minutes in third with four points from Abi Adedo gave them the separation they needed, with Ilias Taiwo having 11 points and six rebounds, and Hemel Storm’s Matthew Disu adding 10.
Rinor Dragusha led London with 14 points, while Liam Campbell had 12 points and 4 assists, returning after his freshman year in the US.
Debutantes FunctionAll got past Hoopspace in the best game of the day, in a match-up packed with highlights and runs. FunctionAll jumped out to a 17-2 lead to open the game leaving Hoopspace looking dead in the water but last year’s runners up fought back, with a Damarni Velinor 3-pointer making it a 1 point game early in the fourth.
.@tachan_taiga dumps it off to Toto Fagbenle for the power finish and-1! pic.twitter.com/PlTVm52Hir
— Hoopsfix (@Hoopsfix) June 16, 2024
However, Jules Dang Akodo scored 7 points in a 9-0 run to allow FunctionAll to put Hoopspace to bed. Dang Akodo had 14 points to lead FunctionAll, with 2022 Pro-Am MVP Peter Turay having 12 points against his squad from last year.
Kenny Isnord had an impressive Pro-Am debut, dunking everything on his way to 19 points for Hoopspace, while Damarni Velinor had 20.
In the final game of the day, OT Boyz escaped Surrey by two, with a James Claar offensive rebound and putback with 20 seconds remaining sealing Surrey’s fate.
Luke Busumbru went 3/4 from deep on his way to 15 points to lead OT Boyz, with Ty Nsangu adding 12 to join him in double figures.
Hoopsfix All-Star Classic 2023 MVP Nedas Cholevinskas led Surrey with 16 points, DJ Parkinson had 14 points, while Jordan Williams had 11.
Standings
Pool A
FunctionAll 1-0 (+8)
OT Boyz 1-0 (+2)
Surrey Scorchers 0-1 (-2)
Hoopspace 0-1 (-8)
Pool B
Ankd 1-0 (+12)
TMB 1-0 (+8)
London United 0-1 (-8)
Solent Kestrels 0-1 (-12)
You can watch all the games back in full on the Hoopsfix YouTube channel.
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