Day 3 of the Best of the Summer Tournament started with four teams remaining from the Bay Area and 32 teams overall remaining in the Gold bracket. In the second round, a Bay Area Final Four had materialized with the Oakland Rebels facing Lakeshow while Drew Gooden Soldiers had a matchup with KWA Pride. The winners from each game would face each other later in the day.
The Oakland Rebels took an early double digit lead against Lakeshow into halftime and used that cushion to win the game 55-41. KWA Pride put up a good fight in the first half against Drew Gooden Soldiers and had a lead late into the first half. However, the Soldiers ended the first half on a run and took a 36-30 lead. In the second half, the Soldiers came out storming and won the game 81-54.
The third round had 16 teams remaining with the lone two Bay Area teams facing each other. The Soldiers had an early first half lead of 18-10, but the Rebels bounced back to tie the game at 20-20 and took a 28-26 lead on a TJ Taylor three pointer. The half ended on a breakaway dunk by Brandon Ashley with a 28-28 tie.
The second half went back and forth until the Rebels went on a run to take a 53-42 lead, which they held the rest of the way(with their largest lead being 11 points) until the Soldiers' Nick Johnson tipped in a missed shot with 54 seconds to go to give the Soldiers a 60-59 lead that they would not relinquish. The Soldiers went on to make 4 of 6 free throws in the last minute to wrap up the victory in a tense game played in front of a sizeable number of college coaches.
Soldiers head coach Damani Hendrix did not understate the meaning of the game between Nor Cal's elite AAU programs. When asked if there was added significance (because of who they were playing) Hendrix candidly stated: "Definitely. It was a rivalry game. We wanted to show we were the best."
Ashley concurred, "It was a pride game since so many of the Rebels are local friends. I expected the game to be close but knew we would pull through." When asked when he plans to make a college destination decision, Ashley said, "I would like to decide at the end of my junior year or the beginning of my senior year."
Johnson led all scorers with 22 points while Jabari Brown chipped in with 13 and Kiwi Gardner had 11 for the Soldiers. Juan Anderson led the Rebels with 17 points while Taylor and Hameed Ali each had 11.
The Soldiers advance to the final four of the Gold bracket on Friday. If they win their next two games to take the title, they will have gone 9-0 in the four day event. In the three games that they played on Thursday, NCAA coaches were out in force. Some of the notable head coaches include Paul Hewitt (Georgia Tech), Sean Miller (Arizona), Kevin O'Neill (USC), Mark Few (Gonzaga), Lorenzo Romar (Washington), Steve Lavin (St. John's), among others.
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