Imhotep (Pa.) knocks off two-time Beach Ball champion Bishop Gorman (Nev.) in quarterfinals

Bishop Gorman of Las Vegas has won two of the past seven Beach Ball Classic championships and was 15-2 in its five tournament appearances since 2009 entering its quarterfinal game Wednesday night.

The Gaels won’t be capturing a third title this week.

Imhotep Charter School of Philadelphia emphatically defeated the talented Gaels 72-54 at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center to advance to the semifinals in its first Beach Ball appearance.

“We knew their name, obviously, and we knew they weren’t coming to play around,” Imhotep point guard Daron Russell said. “We game-planned for them and knew we had to come with our A game to take them down.”

The Panthers (6-1) will face Dillard (Fla.) in Friday’s semifinals.

Imhotep’s backcourt of Division I signees David Beatty, who has signed with South Carolina, and Russell, who has signed with Rhode Island, combined for 42 points and helped control an up-tempo game that was only slowed by 44 whistles for fouls, including 15 in the opening seven minutes.

Russell, a 5-foot-10 senior, had 25 points, five steals and four assists and Beatty, a 6-3 senior, added 17 points, six rebounds and two assists.

“Daron was Daron Russell. That’s who he is,” Imhotep coach Andre Noble said. “He’s a talented kid.”

Both teams played pressure defenses that extended beyond halfcourt, and Imhotep was able to break the pressure more consistently. A 46-18 edge in points in the paint was reflective of both the plethora of transition baskets and Imhotep’s 47-23 rebounding advantage.

“From their pressure we got a lot of easy baskets,” Noble said. “We believe the only way to stop a team from pressuring is scoring enough baskets. If you score enough baskets versus their pressure then they have a choice to make. So that’s why I think we got a lot of easies because once we broke it we did get to the rim and get layups.”

The Panthers were also able to convert 18 Gaels turnovers into 28 points, while Bishop Gorman (8-4) had 27 points off Imhotep’s 25 turnovers.

“When you’re playing against guards like that and wings like that you can’t turn the ball over,” Rice said.

Beatty got Imhotep off to a quick start, scoring 10 points in the opening 6:30 to help the Panthers take a 12-5 lead. The Gaels answered with a 9-2 run to tie the game, and 6-6 junior Jamal Bey, who has scholarship offers from Southern California and Utah, had the first six points in the run.

Imhotep reestablished its lead and held it for the remainder of the first half. The advantage reached eight points inside the final two minutes but was cut to 1 by halftime by a 7-0 Gaels run.

A 3-pointer by Bey to open the second half gave the Gaels a brief lead, but it was all Imhotep after that.

The Panthers broke the game open with a 15-1 run to take a 55-37 lead with 8 minutes to play. The run was highlighted by consecutive backboard-rattling dunks by 6-6 senior Koby Thomas, the first courtesy of a behind-the-back, no-look pass from Russell, and the second off his own steal. Thomas finished with 12 points and eight rebounds.

“Their guards are good players and we knew that,” Rice said. “The first half we kind of contained them a little bit. At halftime I felt good. I thought we were right there. We actually took the lead in the second half then everything kind of unraveled. . . . We just had some costly turnovers there and they went on an 8-0, 10-0 run there and we just couldn’t recover.”

Bey led Gorman with 18 points and was 6 of 11 from the floor, Chuck O’Bannon added 13 points and BYU commitment Christian Popoola was held to seven points along with reserve Noah Taitz.

This story was originally published December 29, 2016 at 12:07 AM with the headline "Imhotep (Pa.) knocks off two-time Beach Ball champion Bishop Gorman (Nev.) in quarterfinals."