Last week began the first round of the Greater NC Pro-Am Tournament and Duke fans had their share of thrills and nail-biting moments. Team Dreamworks (Team Duke) featuring Quinn Cook, Rasheed Sulaimon and Amile Jefferson faced off against DTLR (Team NC Central) featuring Poobie Chapman, Ray Willis and Domonique Sutton. DTLR had Dreamworks down by double figures late in the fourth quarter when the Blue Devil team led by rising sophmore Quinn Cook put Dreamworks on his back, scoring point after point to lead them past DTLR on their own homecourt.
Wednesday night, Dreamworks with the addition of Rodney Hood, faced Hendrick of Durham featuring fellow Blue Devil Seth Curry in the semi-final round of the Pro-Am Tourney. From start to finish the game was action packed and it was interesting to watch Duke backcourt teammates Quinn Cook and Seth Curry go back and forth at eachother all night, both making great plays. Seth was impressive finishing with 17 points and he was aggressive all night at the point guard position. Everytime Dreamworks made a run on Hendricks, it was Seth who found a open teammate in transition, used screens to create space and hit a open three or put the ball on the floor and drive down the lane for a lay up. Quinn answered back with 21 points, he got in the lane with ease getting to the hole for a lay up or creating enough contact to get to the foul line. Quinn fueled Dreamworks runs when they were down, especially the last run when Dreamworks came back from being down by double figures late in the fourth quarter to tie the game at 73 with 1:21 left. Both teams missed go ahead three’s with under a minute to go in regulation. After a Hendricks missed opportunity to take the lead, Quinn dribbled the ball up the court with less than twenty seconds to go and he waited patiently until there was about ten seconds left on the clock to make his move. Driving to the hole, Quinn threw up a floater that looked good leaving his hand but it rimmed out only to get rebounded by Amile Jefferson who was fouled on the put back attempt with three seconds left in regulation. Amile missed the first free throw attempt and Rasheed Wallace (who was on the sideline getting ready to play in the next game) began making anti-Duke remarks. Amile gathered himself, focused on the task at hand and calmly sunk the free throw to give Dreamworks the lead. Hendricks quickly called a timeout to draw up the final play, but everyone knew who was going to take the final shot. Seth caught the inbounds pass, pumped faked a three and drove to the basket. All eyes were on the ball as he released it from his hand with one second left on the clock, it was if time stood still. Then out of nowhere the shot was blocked as the buzzer sounded sending Dreamworks to the championship game. Rodney Hood couldn’t be contained, he was in double figures by the end of the first quarter and finished with 20 points. Rod was a major force in the first half on offense scoring inside and outside of the paint and in the second half it was his defense and rebounding that deserves a lot of praise. Speaking of rebouding, Amile had key rebounds and was huge in the paint finishing with 12 points. Rasheed Sulaimon hit some BIG shots to keep Dreamworks in it, including a three to make it 73-68 with 1:51 left during Dreamworks sensational final run. Both Amile and Rasheed had brilliant moments all game long and made their presense known.
Thursday night, the Blue Devils incredible run came to an end in the championship game at the hands of NC Pro-Am co-founder Jerry Stackhouse’s Banks Law Firm team 91-84, in a game that was dubbed “Team UNC vs. Team Duke”. This star-studded, high intensity game featured NBA vet and UNC alum Jerry Stackhouse, UNC’s Reggie Bullock, Bo Ingram, Denver Nuggets second round draft pick Quincy Miller and Deuce Bello of Baylor for Banks Law Firm versus Duke’s Quinn Cook, Amile Jefferson, Rodney Hood, Rasheed Sulaimon, NC Central alum Domonique Sutton and USC’s JT Terrell for Dreamworks. Early on in front of the packed Duke/Unc crowd, the Blue Devils each took turns making plays and Dreamworks was in command jumping out to a 17-10 lead. Both Rodney Hood who finished with 16 points and Amile Jefferson who finished with 12 points fought hard in the paint, battling for rebounds and finishing shots well through a lot of contact. Soon after some questionable calls against Dreamworks, Banks Law Firm behind Jerry Stackhouse on defense and Reggie Bullock on offense cut Dreamworks lead to 19-17 at the end of the first quarter. In the second quarter Bullock hit back to back three’s to put Banks Law Firm up 28-27 and Dreamworks never regained the lead. Rasheed Sulaimon hit a big three during a Dreamworks second quarter run and drove to the basket, converting both free throws after getting fouled hard while establishing himself in the first half. The second quarter stayed close and Quinn Cook who finished with 21 points made a three at the buzzer to make it 36-34 at the half. In the third quarter Dreamworks watched in disbelief as a tight two point game quickly turned into a twelve point deficit. Quinn lead the team on a run to get to within four points after making back to back baskets, but it just wasn’t their night. Dreamworks missed a lot of open shots and great looks that would have changed the outcome of the game, unlike the first two nights of the tourney when they seemed to make every big shot on their comeback wins. Even though the young Blue Devil team lost in the championship game, they still had a great summer filled with a lot of captivating moments especially the two comebacks in the first and second round of the Pro-Am Tourney. The most impressive display of the night came with less than thirty seconds left in regulation because eventhough the lead was insurmountable, as they have shown in the previous two nights, the young Blue Devils kept knocking down shots, kept making plays and kept fighting until the final buzzer sounded. Coach K will be proud of the class, fight, dedication and did I say fight that Quinn, Seth, Amile, Rodney and Rasheed have all shown all summer long.
