Orlando marked the last stop on the whirlwind summer tour for the Mid-State Ballerz.
The Mid-State Ballerz South finished pool play at 2-1 and managed a win in the championship bracket before being matched up with All Ohio. Depth and size took its toll and the Ballerz moved to the second round of consolation play where they were simply out of gas.
Davell Lloyd (Westview) was the sparkplug for the Ballerz with his havoc creating defense and sparkplug like intensity. With the squad a little down, Lloyd was a huge bright spot from a leadership role. Fatigue played a huge role as the usually active Ballerz simply could not muster the energy and the lack of depth came into play.
Deonte Alexander (Glencliff) had some good moments and the standard bearers Skylar McBee (Grainger) and Nathan Parker (Bearden) played well but not consistent enough to overcome the level of competition in this event.
This squad ended up with a gaudy 42-13 record which is marvelous for a team without a high major recruit.
Bad scheduling came into play for the Ballerz North squad as they were unlucky enough to face two of the top teams in the nation, Finishing 2-1 in pool play the Ballerz were sky high till the championship bracket read Team Breakdown. The same Team Breakdown with top 10 recruits Kenny Boynton and Brandin Knight.
The North battled till the end behind excellent play from Josh Odom (Science Hill) and Derek Walker (Covington) before finally coming up short. For their effort the North moved over to the consolation bracket for a date with the Georgia Stars.
Another tough game but in the end the size and depth of the Stars reared its ugly head and the Ballerz, playing with only 7 players, came up slightly short. Jamarius Alderson (Clarksville Northeast) played well for the North as did Collin Crane (Karns) and Patrick Shaughnessy (Grace Baptist), who joined the North for the nationals only.
The Ballerz East found the going a bit tougher finishing the event 1-4 despite some great effort from Trey Carruthers (Harpeth), Aaron Wilson (Kentucky), Tyler Edwards (Oakland) and Ben Mixer (Farragut).
