Boys’ basketball: Reebok crowns a champion

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A champion crowned in two days? Really?

In Las Vegas, you bet.

North Carolina-based D-One Sports captured the Reebok Summer Championships Create-N-Finish Cup title on Wednesday night at Foothill High with an 86-81 victory over DC Triple Threat.

D-One point guard John Wall shook off a slow start to finish with a game-high 26 points, but he nearly cost his team with a technical foul for hanging on the rim after a dunk in the second half. DC Triple Threat, the defending Create-N-Finish Cup champion, rallied to force the overtime before falling short.

The Cup is a mini-tournament created last year in an attempt to ensure that the top eight seeded teams get a chance to meet before play in the Open championship bracket begins. All Cup teams advance to bracket play starting Thursday.

But a victory in the Cup does not guarantee success in the more prestigious Open division; after winning last year’s Cup, DC Triple Threat lost in the Round of 16 in the Open bracket.

Wall averaged 26.3 points and 10 assists in three games en route to the title, putting him in the early lead for most-outstanding-player honors.

The game attracted a strong contingent of college coaches, including North Carolina’s Roy Williams, Indiana’s Tom Crean, Stanford’s Johnny Dawkins, Virginia Tech’s Seth Greenberg, Oregon’s Ernie Kent, SMU’s Matt Doherty and Georgetown’s John Thompson III.

Not all of the familiar faces at Foothill High on Wednesday belonged to coaches. Seattle forward Kevin Durant and SuperSonics rookie Russell Westbrook popped into the gym to catch a couple of games, as did Cal guard Patrick Christopher, a friend of Durant and a former Pacific 10 Conference rival of Westbrook.

--Ben Bolch