A stormy night in Auckland was the back drop to round three of the Mexicali Fresh Summer Jam at Youthtown on Tuesday night. One man who enjoyed the evening was Alonzo Burton who rained in 30 points as his Block City Brawlers made it three wins from three outings, putting The Birdmen to flight (sorry about the pun) 91-73. Burton converted three attempts from behind the arc in the first quarter to help the Brawlers to a 25-18 advantage. He closed the first half by executing a two handed chest pass, doubling as a three point attempt, from deep in his own half and thereafter he and the Brawlers could do little wrong. Jordan Mills, commuting from Wellington for his second outing, Johnny Fesolai and Javaan Mumtaz kept the scoreboard ticking over for The Birdmen who were still in touch, only 69-60 in arrears with seven minutes remaining. However, when Conner Kerlin rattled in a three and followed it up with a steal and assist for another Burton three the Brawlers were ahead 84-67 and the game over as a contest.
Final score;
The Block City Brawlers 91 ( Burton 26, Houston O’Riley 28)
The Birdmen 73 (Mumtaz 20, Fesolai 11, Theo Farrow 11, Mills 10)
Player-coach Hayden Allen got his Flava Flyers off to a quick start scoring nine early points including a trademark back door lay up off a Tyler Kerlin pass but Duane Bailey slotted in a late three to give Youthtown Clique a 22-16 first quarter lead. Jarrod Kenny, making his first appearance for the Flyers entered the fray at the start of the second period. He immediately demonstrated his international class connecting with a pair of jump shots but Shea Ili went coast to coast a couple of times to keep the Clique ahead 50-49 at half time. The Flyers could hardly miss from three point territory last week but shot miserably from the land of plenty in this game. Despite this they were still very much in the game, trailing by three points with 7:30 left but any chance they harboured of picking up a second consecutive win were thwarted by the outstanding Jonathan Southey who scored four triples in the final six minutes of the game. The Flyers chances were not helped when Peter Josephs incurred a ‘tech attack’ from referee Mike Condon, becoming the first player to be ejected in the 2013 Mexicali Fresh Summer Jam! Youthtown inspired by the presence of Sky Sport presenter and Owner/Assistant Coach/Cheerleader of the Clique, Dennis Katsanos took their record to 2-1.
Final score;
The Flava Flyers 99 (Kenny 26, Allen 20, Kerlin 11, Nick Barrow 11, Carew Elers 10
Youthtown Clique 109 (Bailey 28, Ili 25, Southey 16, Patrich Bolstad 15)
LACEY LOWDOWN 