Nevada’s Bishop Gorman takes 34th Beach Ball Classic title

Too big. Too talented. Too good.

Franklin (Ohio) was going to need one of its best shooting nights Wednesday and a little cooperation from Bishop Gorman (Nev.), and the Gaels weren’t about to let either happen with the 34th Beach Ball Classic title on the line.

Gorman and its triple towers stymied Franklin and Beach Ball record-breaking scorer Luke Kennard, and had its way on the offensive end to claim the championship with a 71-39 win at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center.

“They’re as good as anybody we’ve ever prepared for,” Franklin coach Brian Bales said. “They’re as big, as long as good. Heck, I felt like we were preparing for Kentucky out here with their length.”

Gorman features 7-foot senior center Stephen Zimmerman, who had Kentucky coach John Calipari watching him from press row, 6-11 Duke signee Chase Jeter and 6-11 junior Zach Collins along the front, with talented guards and swingmen complementing them.

The most telling statistic of the game was points in the paint, which Gorman owned with a ridiculous 42-2 advantage. Franklin couldn’t get inside and couldn’t keep Gorman out.

Kennard scored 17 points while hitting 10 of 11 free throws – his first game under 39 points in the tournament – and finished with a tournament-record 147 points in four games. Franklin’s other top shooters, Evan Crowe and Matt Thompson, hit 5-of-21 shots.

“Obviously their focus was shutting Luke down and making out other guys beat them, but they weren’t really helping off of anybody, they were just daring us to go in there and they’ve got the human erasers in there,” Bales said. “They’re just so big everywhere.”

In addition to Gorman’s dominance inside, the Gaels held Franklin to 25.6 percent shooting, outrebounded the Wildcats 37-23 and had 12 steals to Frankin’s six.

Bishop Gorman employed a halfcourt trapping defense to start the game, and Franklin had difficulty getting past its length to set up a half-court offense.

The Wildcats committed seven turnovers in the game’s opening eight minutes, leading to eight Bishop Gorman fast-break points in a 23-9 run to open the game. A 19-3 run to start the second half put the game out of reach, with dunks accounting for many of the points.

“Defensively we tried to make it a full-court game, but they’re so big they just passed over us,” Bales said.

In a halfcourt 2-3 zone, the Gaels kept a man tight against Kennard wherever he was around the zone and scrambled to shooters.

“It was a total defensive effort tonight, obviously trying to limit Luke,” Gorman coach Grant Rice said. “We knew Luke would score and get to the free throw line but we wanted to make it difficult on him. We wanted to have a guy on him at all times. … and they have two really good shooters as well, so we wanted to really make it difficult on those guys.”

Jeter had 18 points and 12 rebounds, Zimmerman added 12 points, four rebounds and three blocks – including two on 3-point attempts – and Collins had nine points and four rebounds. Guard Ugo Amadi contributed 17 points and four assists, and Zimmerman was named the Most Valuable Player. Bishop Gorman shot an efficient 56 percent from the field.

“We usually going to shoot a pretty high percentage because we work the ball inside out,” Rice said.

Bishop Gorman was making its fourth Beach Ball appearance in the past six years. It won in 2009, finished third in 2011 and lost in the fifth-place game in 2012.

“This is definitely good for our team going into the rest of our season, It’s definitely something to get us going and keep us highly motivated to keep on winning.”

Franklin was making its third consecutive Beach Ball appearance and reached the championship game for the first time.

“We beat three really good teams, we became closer, we became more unified,” Bales said. “We’ve got a special group of guys and we’re going to do some special things this year.”

This story was originally published December 31, 2014 at 10:23 PM with the headline "Nevada’s Bishop Gorman takes 34th Beach Ball Classic title."