Old beats new

Old beats new: Felton helps P.J. Tucker's team outlast John Wall

By BRYAN STRICKLAND : The Herald-Sun
bstrickland@heraldsun.com
Aug 10, 2009

DURHAM -- John Wall made perhaps his final appearance in the Triangle for the foreseeable future a memorable one, but several players who still live in the memories of area basketball fans made quite an impression as well.

Wall, who soon will head to Kentucky for his freshman season, poured in a game-high 39 points with a spectacular second-half show, but former UNC star and current Charlotte Bobcats guard Raymond Felton nearly matched him point for point.

Felton finished with 29 points -- 20 over the final 11 minutes -- to lead Team P.J. Tucker over Wall and Team Navy 126-111 in the championship game of the S.J.G. Greater NC Pro-AM tournament Sunday at McLendon-McDougald Gym.

Former UNC standout Jawad Williams added 33 points for Team Navy.

Felton got help from former East Carolina player Derrick Wiley, who added 25 points, as well a pair of Raleigh Enloe High School products in P.J. Tucker (20 points) and MVP Mike Bell (18).

"I've known [Wall] since he was six years old; he grew up at the Boys' Club where I grew up," said Tucker, a former Texas standout now playing overseas. "He brought them back a little bit, but we knew we were going to take it."

Wall, who played at Raleigh Word of God, struggled in the first half. But in the third quarter, with his team trailing 76-56, Wall scored on an eye-popping spin and slam, starting a stretch in which he scored 16 points over the final seven minutes of the quarter to bring Team Navy within 88-84.

Felton, however, drilled a 3-pointer for Team P.J. Tucker to end the quarter. Wall answered with a 3 to open the fourth quarter, but then Hayward Fain of St. Augustine's -- who was honored with the Rodney Rogers sportsmanship award at halftime -- scored on a three-point play and Felton hit yet another 3 to put Team P.J. Tucker ahead 97-87.

Team Navy never got closer than seven points the rest of the way.

While only one team could come away with the trophy Sunday, everyone came away a winner in the second season of the summer league, which plans to return to N.C. Central next year.

"It's a family event that everybody can bring their kids out to see some of the best players from the area," Tucker said. "It's good for us too because we get to play against other pros and college players and high school players that are going to be pros. It's a good chance over the summer to get in game situations and to stay in shape.

"It's good competition. The fans might think it's showtime, but guys are really out here playing, trying to get better."

Any doubts that the players take it seriously were dispelled early in the second half when former UNC star Jerry Stackhouse of Team Navy, one of the league's founders, got a technical foul after an exchange with a referee going into a timeout early in the second half.

Neither team led by more than four points in the first quarter, but Team P.J. Tucker built a 43-35 lead when Fain (12 points) reeled off nine quick points off the bench early in the second quarter.

The lead stood at 62-54 at the half, and when Felton and Tucker built the edge to 68-54 in the first minute of the second half, Team Navy called timeout and Stackhouse got whistled for the technical. That further fueled Team P.J. Tucker, which scored 14 of the first 16 points to open up the second half before Wall made it interesting.

"This parallels the best competition I've played against overseas," said Bell, who played two years at N.C. State and was Atlantic Sun player of the year at Florida Atlantic in 2005. "I've been all around the U.S. for summer leagues, and this is one of the best ones."