MEDFORD — It was an early-morning message that Leo Papile probably wasn’t expecting.
Papile found out around 6 a.m. from an early text that his guard Jalen Brantley would be on a morning bus and ready to be picked up at South Station to play in the final day of the Boston Shootout.
What Brantley did on the court could count as normal, as his team-high 22 points helped BABC U-17 (63-1) claim the Boston Shootout Championship with a 75-56 win over Albany City Rocks at Tufts University’s Cousens Gymnasium — the squad’s 11th Shootout title since 1999.
But Brantley’s week has been anything but normal.
The 16-year-old Springfield native lost his family home in last week’s debilitating storms out west. And Saturday, Brantley had to lay to rest his 37-year-old uncle after he died unexpectedly.
“It was tough coming,” said Brantley. “My mom really didn’t want me to come because of what is going on. I just tried to come and play like every other normal game. I knew I had to be here and (my teammates) wanted me to be here, so I just came.”
Brantley was pivotal for an undermanned BABC squad that only played seven players. He went 4-of-8 from behind the arc, and his good decisions on the pick-and-roll created good shots.
“He’s extremely efficient on both ends of the floor,” Papile said of Brantley. “In the pick-and-rolls, he is very, very clever.”
Brantley wasn’t the only player to come back in the final day of the tournament. Nerlens Noel, who Papile said was running a 100-plus degree fever over the weekend, returned to post eight points, six rebounds and two blocks in limited minutes. Most importantly, the 6-foot-9 forward dished out four assists, most of them to Georges Niang (21 points, 10 rebounds) in the post.
“He didn’t really have the normal energy that he has,” said Papile. “The fact that he’s here and he’s sick tells you something about him.”
BABC was getting all it could handle from Albany in early. BABC jumped out to a 8-0 start, but Albany was took a 15-14 lead with less than 13 minutes left in the first half. But Noel’s put-back dunk off a missed 3-pointer by Jake Layman (17 points), and another slam helped BABC go on a 7-3 run for a 40-31 lead at intermission.
Niang’s successful 3-point play after grabbing an offensive rebound gave BABC a 61-48 lead with over eight minutes to go, and Brantley scored seven of the final 10 points to close out the victory.
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/high_school/general/view.bg?articleid=1343320
