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Totally Takeover

May 28, 2013 - The Team Takeover 17u Black team has been wracking up 'W's' in Nike's Elite Youth Basketball League, amassing a 13-0 record before this past weekend's Minneapolis event. Now Takeover, D.C.'s EYBL entry coached by Keith Stevens is 16-2 and tied for the lead of Division C and the EYBL overall with Houston Hoops, a talent packed team in its own right.
Robert Stephens and i95Ballerz.com have reported on Takeover and its EYBL action extensively this year. Much of that work is published below:
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EYBL Hampton
Team Takeover continued their journey to Hampton in the second round of the EYBL basketball league. Takeover remained undefeated in league play after completing their second round schedule.
In their opener Takeover defeated Alabama Challenge 72-52 as Dion Wiley led all scorers with 14 points. Phil Booth chipped in with 13 points.
Tre Campbell led the team with eight assists. Campbell also scored 11 points as Takeover went on a 43-28 run in the second half. Marcus Derrickson led the team in rebounds with eight.
Takeover defeated the Family out of Detroit 78-66 in their second contest. Greg Malinowski led the team with 12 points. Booth scored 11 points while James Palmer notched 10 points and four assists. Martin Geben led the team with 12 rebounds while scoring six points.
Takeover led 35-23 at the half to improve to 2-0 at the Boo Williams complex.
Indy Spiece, one of the dominant teams in this decade proved to be a tough test in the third Hampton contest, as Takeover led just 27-23 at the half. DC's team held on for a 76-75 win as Dion Wiley led it with 24 points. James Palmer chipped in with 18 points and Phil Booth added 16 points for the winners. Campbell led the team with nine assists while scoring six points.
The Oakland Soldiers from California gave Takeover another tough challenge taking the game into overtime. TTO outscored the Soldiers 12-9 in overtime to secure a 62-60 overtime win over the West Coast squad. Campbell led Takeover with 10 points and four assists. Quadree Smith grabbed nine rebounds and scored nine points. Dion Wiley eight points as did Palmer, who added six rebounds to a balanced attack.
Takeover concluded their second round with a 79-61 win over the St. Louis Eagles. Wiley led Takeover with 24 points and six rebounds. Booth chipped in with 15 points. Palmer scored 11 points and grabbed six rebounds.
Campbell paced TTO with five assists while also scoring nine points. Takeover held the Eagles to a 29.4% shooting in the second half.
EYBL Dallas
Team Takeover of Washington, D.C. remained unbeaten after the third round of play in the 2013 EYBL Nike summer league play. Takeover won four straight contests at the Frisco complex in a suburb of Dallas,Texas.
Game One - Featured Takeover against the Albany Rocks from upstate New York. TTO jumped out to a 45-26 first half lead and never looked back. The team shot 55% in the first half from the floor while holding the Rocks to a shooting percentage of 38.5%.
James Palmer led all scorers with 15 points. Dion Wiley chipped in with 14 points. Obi Enechionyia finished with 11 points and five rebounds. Greg Malinowski contributed 10 points and four assists, while Tre Campbell matched that helper output.
Game Two - Featured BABC out of Boston, which boasts Bonzie Colson Jr. one the top scorers in the EYBL league. Bonzie's father played at Dunbar High School in the District in the 80's.
In a tightly fought contest Takeover walked away with a 64-60 win over the Boston based team. Takeover led 34-28 at the half shooting 53.8% from the floor. BABC was held to 43.5% shooting by TTO's strong defensive play.
Wiley, the only Takeover player in double figures, finished with 10 points and four rebounds. Martin Geben and James Palmer contributed nine points a piece. Phil Booth chipped in with 8 points. Takeover out rebounded BABC 29-22.
For the record Bonzie Colson Jr. scored 23 points to lead BABC. "He is a player definitely." said Takeover head coach Keith Stevens.
Game Three - Team Takeover defeated MOKAN Elite from Kansas City, Missouri 55-43, breaking open a close contest in the second half by outscoring heir opponent 28-19 in the second. Booth led all scorers with 14 points. Wiley chipped in 12 points, while Geben scored 11 points and grabbed seven rebounds. Palmer also scored 11 points and dished out three assists. Takeover held their opponent to 33.3% shooting for the game.
Game Four - Takeover faced another tough challenge with Team Final from Philadelphia. Final was an especially tough challenge due to their guard play. TTO out-rebounded their opponent 31-26 and held them to 40.4% shooting. For the first time their were no scorers in double digits; this contest was a low scoring defensive struggle. Quadree Smith led the team with eight points.
Tre Campbell, Dion Wiley, Martin Geben, and James Palmer scored seven points each.
After Dallas, Takeover became 13-0 in league play, a game over Houston Hoops at 12-1. Expressions Elite out of Boston in their first year in the league was 11-2, as was North Carolina's CP3 All Stars. Indy Spice owned a 10-3, mark, followed by the quartet of BABC, Mean Streets (Chicago) and Team Scan (NY) and Hampton's Boo Williams.
Takeover has managed to win several close games in the competitive EYBL league and there's a reason for that according to assistant coach Jamil Jones.
"This group has been together for a while" said Jones, at practice this past week. "That's one of the things that makes them unique. On offense we share the basketball which makes it easy".
Jones sees a relationship between stopping people and scoring. "Everything starts with our defense, our offense included" said Jones, an assistant seemingly with a bright future, after running drills at the session.
Of their practice methodology, he revealed "Our first 40 minutes (in practice) we work on skill work" of which they break "down the wings and the bigs in separate workouts".
For more from Stephens on Takeover 17U Black, specifically coverage of the team's EYBL California experience - the league's first tourney, click here.
Be on the look out for more of Stephens' coverage, as well as a compendium of Takeover practice notes.
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