The California contingent of AAU teams in Las Vegas this past week for the "Five Days of July" didn't fare as well as last year, with only one squad based out of San Jose making a 17U top division championships game in four major tournaments. That team competed at the Main Event, but fell to a team from Florida. Other titles were taken by teams from Oregon, Michigan and Tennessee. Read below for full recap of title games.

By Ronnie Flores, Senior Editor
Contributing: Harold Abend

Main Event 17U Platinum Division Championship:
Nike Team Florida 55, Bay Area Ballers Purple 46

The luster was taken off this year's Main Event when the defending champion, California Supreme, opted out to participate at the Reebok Summer Championships.

Still, two solid teams met in the 17U Platinum Championship, Nike Team Florida from North Florida and the Bay Area Ballers Purple from the San Jose (Calif.) area.

Several college prospects shined on a 112-degree and humid day, but none brighter than Nike Florida's 6-2 solidly built guard Keith McDougald.

The incoming senior at Bishop Kenny in Jacksonville, had a game-high 21 points, added seven rebounds and was unafraid to hit the glass on both ends while also proving to be an effective driver.

After the game, McDougald told ESPN RISE CalHiSports.com that several colleges are looking at him, including Butler, Florida Atlantic and North Florida, Santa Clara and Old Dominion.

Also, playing well was highly regarded 6-9 power forward Anthony Lee, who told CalHiSports.com he has many offers, but his preferences are Virginia Commonwealth, Tulane, George Mason and South Carolina. The incoming 6-10 senior post at West Oaks Academy (Eustis, Fla.) finished with a double double -- 12 points and 11 rebounds. He also blocked three shots.

Other major contributors for Nike Florida were Florida State-bound Okaro White (2010), a 6-9 lean forward from Clearwater High, and two players from 2011, 6-2 guard Scottie Wilbekin from The Rock School (Gainesville), and 6-7 forward Christopher Bryant from Rickards of Tallahassee.

White had eight points and five rebounds, Wilbekin chipped in 11 points, and Bryant pulled down eight rebounds.

The Ballers were seriously undersized against Florida, but some torrid three-point shooting and the hard work of a post-grad kept them in the game. Had their top player and best three-point shooter, 6-2 Tyler Johnson (2010 from St. Francis, Mountain View), not gone down midway through the first half and just after hitting an NBA-range trey, the outcome could have been different. After the game Johnson said the right knee "locked up" when he came down after going for a rebound.

"Its hard to win against a team like that when you best player gets hurt," said Ballers coach Nelson Wa.

Still, the Bay Area boys were in the game almost until the end, each time staying within striking range on the strength of three-straight NBA-range three-pointers by Spencer Britsghchi (2010), a 5-10 sharpshooter also from St. Francis, last season's Div. II Northern Regional runner-up to Rocklin. Britsghchi had a team-high 16 points and four treys total.

The other player who had a huge game in hopes of impressing college coaches in attendance was San Leandro graduate Demetrius Owens, a banger who did a lot of it against the big front line of Florida.

The 6-5 solidly-built Owens, told CalHiSports.com he has possibilities with CSU Northridge, Toledo and Utah State, finished with a double-double 10 points, 11 rebounds, made a trey, added three blocks and two assists.

Adidas Super 64 17U Championship:
Memphis Magic Elite 64, New England Playaz 62

It's not surprising the tournament with the deepest field of quality teams had many well-played games on its final day. Many of those games involved the Memphis Magic and in some of them, they trailed big, only to pull out close victories.

When his Memphis Magic team was trailing by 16 points to the New England Playaz with just about five minutes remaining in the championship game, six-foot national top 10 guard Joe Jackson (White Station, Memphis, Tenn.) wasn't worried. After all, his team had trailed the same New England Playaz team it was facing in the finals by 14 points during pool play and came out with a victory. What was there to worry about, right?

Well apparently, nothing, as the Memphis Magic went on a 14-1 run to pull to within three points at 53-50, fell behind again by seven points at 59-52 after a dunk by the NE Playas' Nate Lubick (St. Mark's, Southborough, Mass.) and eventually tied the game at 60 on a clutch three-pointer by Chris Crawford (Sheffield, Memphis, Tenn.) with 1:15 to play.

Jackson, the tournament MVP, then gave his team a 62-60 lead on a driving lay-up with one minute to go, only to see the New England Playaz work the clock down with one possession and tie the game on a tipped in put-back by Dartaye Ruffin (Stoughton, Mass.) with eight seconds remaining.

That set up the game's dramatic ending.

The Memphis Magic had played in grueling quarterfinal and semifinal contests and was looking at another overtime game. As the seconds ticked down, Jackson dribbled up the left side of the court, and his teammates knew what was coming next. Two players converged on Jackson as he dribbled near the three-point line. Before he picked up his dribble and pivoted, and before time ran out, he whipped a pass over to Crawford, who caught the ball in stride and hit a running 14-foot floater to win the championship game at the buzzer as the Memphis Magic bench jumped to its feet and mobbed their teammates.

"One of my teammates was screaming 'trap, trap,' so I skipped it over to Chris and he made a miraculous play," said Jackson, who scored a team-high 19 points. "It feels good to end July with a championship. That will boost your confidence for the high school season."

"I didn't know he was going to get trapped, but I knew he was going to give me the ball," added Crawford, who finished with 14 points. "I had to make the basket, that's really it."

The Memphis Magic had trouble matching up with the NE Playaz's Lubick and Ruffin inside. Running a patient offense and pounding the ball inside is how the club from New England built its lead. Down the stretch, however, they slowed down the pace even more than they usually do and got away from their strength, which is attacking inside.

"If you pester them up and down the floor, they don't like it," said Jackson, who told CalHiSports.com he's not ready to name a favorite but mentioned Syracuse, Tennessee, Memphis, Kentucky, Duke and Kansas as his schools of interest.

The 6-foot-7 Lubick, who recently committed to Georgetown and played like a serious McDonald's All-American candidate in Sin City, also scored a team high 19 points while displaying toughness and the ability to knock down the perimeter shot. The 6-foot-7 Ruffin was the NE Playaz's second-leading scorer with 13 points.

Six-foot-9 Tarik Black (Ridgeway, Memphis, Tenn.) also played well for the Memphis Magic and finished with 16 points.

In the championship semifinals, the Memphis Magic defeated the D.C. Assault Gold, 94-86, in overtime. D.C. Assault was coming off an 86-58 destruction of the Nashville Celtics in its quarterfinal game. In the other semifinal, the N.E. Playaz bombed Minnesota Pump N Run, 55-37. The New England Playaz advanced to the semis with a 72-64 quarterfinal victory over the Compton Magic Black, which probably was California's most talented team in the Super 64 championship bracket, in terms of its roster, but failed to lived up to expectations.

The defending 17 U champions, Grassroots Canada Elite, was upset early in the championship bracket, but the New Heights of New York City team that beat them lost its quarterfinal game in overtime, 77-74, to Minnesota Pump N Run.

In a great quarterfinal match up of point guards between the Atlanta Celtics J-Smoov's Ryan Harrow (Walton, Marietta, Ga.) and the Memphis Magic's Jackson, it was "Fearless Joe" and the boys from Memphis that emerged victorious in overtime, 89-78. Jackson tied the game at the end of regulation on a contested field goal, but missed the free throw that would have won the game in regulation. Still, Jackson finished with 32 points in a signature Vegas performance.

"If I would have kept the ball, no doubt I would have driven to the lane and hit the bucket," Jackson said about the final sequence in the championship game. "I just have confidence in my game like that."

Center Stage 17U Platinum Bracket Championship:
I-5 Elite Black 73, Dallas Heroes 65

The Center Stage tournament, presented by StarVision Sports, was one of attrition, as the eventual victor had to survive only 13 minutes of rest in between the semifinals and championship game. I-5 Elite Black (Portland, Ore.) survived the brutal bracket behind the play of Terrence Jones (Jefferson, Portland).

The 6-foot-9 southpaw produced in every aspect of the game and finished with 11 points and four blocked shots. He hit a few long-range shots, scored underneath and in transition, and even handled the ball effectively in the backcourt. He didn't score as much as he had in previous games, but his presence opened up opportunities for teammates.

"We just played as a team today, everyone made shots," said Jones, who told CalHiSports.com he'd like to set his official visits by the end of the summer and that distance from home will not be a big factor in his college decision. "I knew teams were watching the games before the final, so I wanted to get my teammates involved."

The teams traded buckets early until I-5 Elite took control and built a 25-17 lead with seven minutes remaining in the first half. Six-foot guard Antione Hosely, a teammate of Jones' at Jefferson, made some heady plays in the first half and helped his team take a 40-30 lead into halftime.

This game was going to be won by the team that didn't cave in to fatigue, and at the beginning of the second half it looked like the Dallas Heroes were the ones to give in. Just as that seemed to happen, they were sparked by forward Jackson Jeffcoat (Plano West). The 6-foot-5 strongman bulled his way to the basket and converted two quick spin move buckets to keep his team within range. The son of former Dallas Cowboy defensive lineman Jim Jeffcoat then came up with an alley-oop dunk that ignited a 9-1 run with 12 minutes remaining in the game.

At that point the score was 48-45, but I-5 Elite Black answered with a 10-0 run of its own to push its lead to 56-45. After a lay-up by Jones, I-5 Elite had a 62-48 advantage and at one point late in the second half the Dallas Heroes trialed by 18 points before making the final margin more respectable.

The leading scorer for the I-5 Elite Black was 6-foot-6 2010 wing Stephen Madison (Prairie, Vancouver, Ore.) with 17 points. Garrett Jackson (Westview, Portland), another 2010 wing, added 13 points for the victors.

Jeffcoat scored a game-high 18 points in a losing effort for the Dallas Heroes.

I-5 elite advanced to the finals with a 72-59 victory over the upstart Arizona Magic 17U. The Magic didn't seem to have their legs under them after the quarterfinal victory over the Moore Management Red out of Southern California. The Arizona Magic also defeated Team Odom, arguably the most talented California team in the Platinum Bracket, on Sunday morning.

The Dallas Heroes, who defeated highly-touted Mac Irvin Fire 17U in bracket play, advanced to the finals with a thrilling 54-53 victory over the LBA Seawolves, a team who also had a roster where the majority of the players hailed from the Dallas/Ft.Worth Metroplex.

The Seawolves' Perry Jones (Duncanville, Texas) gave his team a 53-51 lead on a turn around jumper with 1:08 remaining. The Dallas Heroes' Brandon Jefferson (Lewisville, Flower Mound, Texas) became the hero, literally, when he nailed a clutch three-pointer with just under ten seconds remaining. The game was sealed when the LBA Seawolves threw the ball out of bounds with one second remaining.

The 5-foot-9 Jefferson hit three triples and finished with 11 points while 6-foot-9 Nick Hinton (Frisco Wakeland) scored a team-high 20 points. Jones drew raves for his play this weekend in Sin City and finished with 18 points in a losing effort.

Reebok Summer Championships Open Division Title Game:
Team Detroit 56, D-One Sports 48

With a plethora of games all over Las Vegas the past five days, and with college coaches wearing out the GPS Systems in their rentals trying to evaluate as much of the action as possible, sometimes the fact that basketball is a team game gets lost in the shuffle. That point was exemplified by Team Detroit, which used a solid brand of smart team basketball to defeat D-One Sports out of North Carolina.

D-One Sports took an early 10-4 lead on a conventional three-point play by 6-foot-9 Quincy Miller (Quality of Education, Winston-Salem, N.C.), as both teams crashed the boards and contested shots early. Team Detroit bounced right back, however, and took its first lead at 17-16 on a field goal by 6-foot-5 Richaud Pack (Seaholm, Birmingham, Mich.), but an alley-oop dunk by 6-foot-4 2011 prospect Quddus Bello (Westchester Country Day, High Point, N.C.) gave D-One Sports the lead right back.

Miller hit a three-pointer that gave D-One Sports a 24-22 lead with 2:45 remaining in the first half, but Team Detroit showed its resiliency again, taking a 28-24 lead on a breakaway lay-up by 6-foot-5 Brandon Kearney (Southeastern, Detroit), his only field goal of the night.

Six-foot-3 J.T. Terrell (Cummings, Burlington, N.C.), a Wake Forest commit, came out firing for D-One Sports, but he wasn't hitting from the outside at all. When he's hot, like he was for a majority of the Pangos All-American Camp in early June, there are few players in the country that can put up points like Terrell. When he's off, he will still keep firing.

At the first half buzzer, Terrell hit a long three-pointer off the glass to cut Team Detroit's lead to one-point (28-27). It was Terrell's only field goal of the game, however, as he shot a dismal one for 13 from the field, including eight misfires from long range, and finished with four points.

Although D-One shot poorly from the outside, making only three of 18 three-point attempts, it stayed in the game by effectively working the ball into the high post in the second half. The club from North Carolina also got a standout championship game performance from 6-foot-2 point guard Stargell Love (Quality of Education, Winston-Salem, N.C.), who made some highlight plays in the second half driving to the bucket.

When D-One took a 39-33 lead on a field goal by Miller, Team Detroit weathered the storm again and tied the game at 39 with eight minutes remaining on a bucket by Walter Pitchford (Forest Hills Central, Grand Rapids, Mich.). The 6-foot-9 Pitchford finished with a workman like eight points and six rebounds. It was those types of performances that helped Team Detroit earn the victory.

The teams battled in the second half, but the boys from the Motor City never let up and they finally took control at the end by making the easier, and smarter, plays. The game was tied at 48-48, but Team Detroit took a 52-48 lead with two minutes to play. After Terrell was way off with a triple in an attempt to cut the lead to one, Pitchford's lay-up gave Team Detroit a 54-48 lead and D-One Sports was forced to foul on every possession thereafter.

"We started to play team basketball," Pitchford remarked. "It's (our team) unstoppable when we come together as a team. Even when they went inside more, we made smarter plays on defense. Communication was everything."

Six-foot-5 2010 prospect Trey Zeigler (Mt. Pleasant, Mich.) led the victors with 16 points, seven rebounds and three assists. Six-foot-2 Ray McCallum (Detroit Country Day) also played well for Team Detroit with 11 points, seven rebounds and five assists. Six-foot-8 Dominique Ferguson (Lawrence North, Indianapolis, Ind.) snagged 10 rebounds for Team Detroit, scored 11 points and did not miss a shot from the field.

For D-One Sports, Love finished with 14 points and six assists and had every scout on press row singing his praises. Miller closed out his week in fine fashion as well with 16 points, 13 rebounds, four assists and four blocked shots.

The California Supreme, the club that won the Create-N-Finish Cup on Friday, was bombed in the semifinals by Team Detroit, 71-54, as the Golden Staters shot only 31 percent from the field for the game. After shooting so well during pool play and the Create-N-Finish Cup, Gary Franklin Jr. (Mater Dei, Santa Ana) made only two of eight three-pointers and four of 13 field goals. Franklin Jr. still led his team with 13 points and five assists.

McCallum led four players in double figures for victorious Team Detroit with 19 points, including 13 of 13 from the free throw line.

D-One Sports won its semifinal contest, 83-74, over the Franchise All-Stars of Houston as Terrell, Love and Miller combined for 72 points. Miller led the way with an impressive stat line of 29 points, 10 rebounds and four assists. Miller made a huge impact around the basket in both the semifinal and final contests with his unique combination of athleticism, length and hustle.

It was the second consecutive year D-One Sports wore the glass slipper at the Summer Championships. In last year's final, Team Breakdown from Florida, featuring incoming University of Florida freshman Kenny Boynton and returning Gatorade National Player of the Year Brandon Knight, defeated D-One Sports, 81-64. John Wall, the incoming University of Kentucky freshman, led that particular D-One club.