The name of the basketball team was Take Over, which turned out to be an appropriate name as this group of talented players walked away with the championship of the River City Pro-Am Summer League on Tuesday night.
In its first year in the league, Take Over defeated Team Oden 70-55 in the championship game on Tuesday night at Cardinal Ritter College Prep. The team was made up of current and former Saint Louis University players, former metro east standouts as well as a weekend appearance from former East St. Louis All-American and National Basketball Association player Darius Miles.
The 6’9” Miles, who is trying to return to the NBA after suffering a career-threatening knee injury, participated in the first two rounds of the playoffs on Saturday and Sunday as Take Over advanced to the championship game. He was unavailable for the championship game on Tuesday as he travelled to Chicago to resume workouts to try to revive his NBA career.
Miles’ absence was hardly felt as Take Over used a balanced scoring attack to control the game from virtually the opening tip. The lead changed hands several times early in the game, but Take Over managed to take control midway through the first half, leading by as much as 10 points. They led at halftime 37-30.
The second half provided much of the same as Team Oden would cut the lead down to five or six points, only to see Take Over stretch the lead out to double digits to hold them at bay.
Former Belleville East and Southern Illinois standout Michael Dale and former Cahokia standout Demarius Bolds led the way with 18 points each.
Bolds did most of his damage in the first half as he scored on acrobatic drives to the basket, shot jumpers and flying slam dunks. The 6’5” Dale took over in the second half as he scored 14 of his 18 points to ward off any late rallies that Team Oden could muster.
Also scoring in double figures for Take Over were Saint Louis U. teammates Barry Eberhardt and Danny Brown. Eberhardt scored 11 points while Brown added 10 points. Current SLU standout guard Tommie Liddell chipped in with eight points, all coming in the first half.
Team Oden was led by former Normandy High and UMSL standout Johnathan Griffin with 18 points. He was followed by former Hazelwood Central star Demetrius Alexander with 14 points. The 6’8” Alexander has made a nice career for himself playing overseas for the past several years. Former Jennings standout Edward Glass added 11 points for Team Oden.
In Sunday afternoon’s semifinals, Team Oden defeated the defending champion BLY All-Stars 57-54 as Griffin converted a late-steal into a 3-point play in the closing seconds. It was a rematch of last year’s River-City Pro-Am championship game in which the BLY All-Stars won in a close game. Take Over defeated Team Holla in the other semifinals game as Miles dominated the action.