The New York Gauchos have spent the summer in virtual anonymity. After losing their Nike sponsorship, players departed the once-proud program like it was battling a case of infestation.
Not all of its players — the 15U group stayed. And while it didn’t rack up titles, Maxwell (Bingo) Cole’s team had a productive summer, one that ended with a bang.
The Gauchos won the 15U crown on Sunday at The Hoop Group’s Buzzer Beater Classic at Basketball City in lower Manhattan. The Gauchos won all four of its games, including a 62-54 victory over Team Philly (Pa.) in the final.
“This was our last AAU tournament of the summer, they wanted this one bad,” said Cole, arguably the most respected streetball coach in the city who has spent a large chunk of the summer traveling with Team Nike. “I can’t take any credit. This was all them.”
Philadelphia native Jared Armstrong led the Gauchos with 13 points, Kai Mitchell of Spring Valley added 12 points, Don Bosco Prep’s Armanie Craddock had nine and Boys & Girls’ Armando Dunn chipped in six.
The Gauchos also defeated Sports University/Team IZOD (N.J.), N.J. Shoreshots and Team Philly-14U (Pa.) in the two-day tournament.
“At least we can we brought something back to The Bronx,” said Dunn, who had nine points in the semifinals victory over Sports U. “It makes everyone happy at the end of the day.”
Cole expects the entire group to return. He jokes he can’t get rid of this group if he wanted. Dunn said the entire team met late in the summer and agreed the best way for them to be successful is by staying together and trying to rebuild the Gauchos themselves.
“That’s the plan,” Dunn said.
Back home, The City continues to impress: Arjan Perovic entered The City in 16U tournaments over the final week of the July live recruiting period to see where his group stood against top competition. The coach got the answer he was looking for.
After winning the Bronze title at Live in AC on Friday, The City reached the semifinals of the Buzzer Beater Classic Gold bracket on Sunday, dropping a hard-fought 61-57 decision to the D.C. Warriors despite 26 points from Bishop Loughlin rising junior Michael Williams and 14 from Dobbs Ferry’s Eric Paschall.
NOTES: Team Underrated won the 16U Silver title, knocking off the Brooklyn Badgers, 65-59, in the finals and defeating the NYC Jayhawks, 57-46, in the semifinals. … In the 16U Bronze playoffs, the New York Lightning blew out Upstate Elite, 73-43, behind 21 points from Khadeen Carrington and 12 from Kahari Beaufort. Also, the Brooklyn Rens bested the B.C. Eagles (N.Y.), 68-51. … In the 17U Silver playoffs, the Brooklyn Rens fell to the N.J. Celtics, 68-52, and Sportsfest (Pa.) topped the Brooklyn Heat, 55-50. … In t he 15U Silver playoffs, Team Philly (Pa.) knocked off the New York Lightning, 57-55, and the South Jersey Blitz routed the Brooklyn Rens, 65-44.