The City Is Mine Basketball Classic
On September 8th, 2018 the latest installment of the City Is Mine Basketball Classic took place. Established by Bernard Bowen and NBA Star Carmelo Anthony, the City Is Mine was created to bring all of New York City’s top tier High School Basketball talent together under one roof for a basketball extravaganza. The city’s best announcer, Dave “Cha Ching” Teele MC’d the event while DJ Authorize and DJ Webstar entertained the crowd. Every year this event brings out a capacity crowd with entertainers and NBA basketball players scattered throughout, and this year was no different. Aside from Co-Founder Carmelo Anthony, a ton of Basketball A listers attended. NY Knick star Tim Hardaway Jr, Brooklyn Net D’Angelo Russell, Black Ops Basketball trainer to the stars Chris Brickley, rappers Dave East, Jim Jones and Casanova 2X were among those in attendance. This showcase had all the makings to be an instant classic and it didn’t fall short of those expectations.
The stars came out to support The City is Mine.
The days festivities consisted of four teams fighting for the City Is Mine title, Brooklyn United, The Milbank Flyers, Team Shine and Team Vsonary. Three games were on the menu as each team brought out the city’s best High School ballers to fight for bragging rights. The first game of the afternoon matched Brooklyn United against hosts, and defending champions Milbank. Milbank came out the gate strong and built a big cushion of over 20 points and never looked back. With LuHi’s dynamic forward Zed Key pouring in 23 points and Demarco Watson scoring 14, team Milbank cruised to the finish line for this game and waited for the winner of the Team Vsonary vs Team Shine game.
LuHI sensation Zed Key went to work and was a key reason Milbank won the City is Mine Basketball Classic for the 3rd time in 4 years. Photo ATH
On the surface it looked like Team Vsonary was going to run away with the trophy without much of a fight from anyone. They had a lot of the more well known players in the city including Posh Alexander of OSL, Dashawn Davis of OSL, Jaquan Carlos of Thomas Jefferson, and Zach Freemantle, The 6-foot-9 post player out of Bergen Catholic, N.J. who recently committed to the Xavier Musketeers. They went down to the wire against Team Shine and ended up forcing an overtime session on a three point heave from Dashawn Davis. In overtime they came out determined to get the win and did just that. The win put them in them in the finals against the defending champions, the Milbank Flyers.
Grudge match! Team Shine took on Team Vsonary and it went down to the wire! Sterling Jones (L) of Christ the King and Jaquan Carlos (R) of Thomas Jefferson went at it. Photo ATH
The tension mounted as Team Vsonary and Milbank warmed up and prepared for battle. Both coaches were poised and ready to go. Team Vsonary came out the gate fast and seized control early in the first half. On the surface it looked like Vsonary were simply too much for Milbank to handle. Milbank has always been the underdog. I couldn’t help but flash back to last years City Is Mine Basketball Classic where Milbank faced an opponent who had two McDonalds All Americans and a team full of division 1 prospects. Milbank dug in and fought and ended up winning the championship that year. Many people, including myself, counted them out against the better team on paper but once the ball is in play whoever wants it more will win.
The Milbank Flyers capture their 3rd City is Mine Championship in 4 Years. Photo ATH
Team Vsonary had built a double digit lead and things were looking bad. I noticed that Vsonary coach Ike grew frustrated at the refs for a few calls that didn’t go his way. Those possessions turned into buckets and the Vsonary lead started to slip. Down 12… Down 10…. then into single digits. On the sideline I asked City Is Mine co-founder Bernard Bowen for a prediction. He said “This game is going to come down to coaching. Coach Ike is a good coach but he’s young. If he can keep his frustration down and stay locked in Vsonary could pull this out. But… Coach Rose has been doing this a long time! He’s a champion! and one thing is for certain… you never underestimate the heart of a champion”. It seemed as if Coach Rose had tunnel vision. Coach Ike walked over to him frustrated at what had transpired in the last few moments but couldn’t break coach Rose’s shell. He remained stone faced until that Vsonary lead turned into a Milbank lead and the final buzzer sounded. At the end it was The Milbank Flyers who came out on top. This would be the third championship for Milbank in four years and was on the verge of creating a dynasty. The celebration began and the crowd stormed the court and celebrated with the players. David had beat Goliath once again. Carmelo Anthony presented the Milbank Flyers with a trophy that was taller than he was. Another 7 foot trophy for their collection and bragging rights. The summer of 2018 is officially done and what a summer it was.
Coach Rose of Milbank has created a dynasty winning his 3rd City is Mine Championship in 4 years. Photo ATH
Salute to everyone who made the City Is Mine Basketball Classic possible. My brother Bernard Bowen, Carmelo Anthony, the Dunlevy Milbank Center, Jordan Brand, JBL Audio, Famous Nobody’s, DaRucci Leather, and more…
Check out the Mix from the City Is Mine Basketball Classic by KDJ Perspective