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LeeHayes, Charlies Gold, YYC Canada, BAMM win elite titles at Hoopfest

In the men’s over-6-foot elite championship game, Kelly Golob of Roots Academy heads to the basket as Mike Hart of LeeHayes defends on Nike Court during Hoopfest Sunday, June 25, 2017. (Colin Mulvany / The Spokesman-Review)
In the men’s over-6-foot elite championship game, Kelly Golob of Roots Academy heads to the basket as Mike Hart of LeeHayes defends on Nike Court during Hoopfest Sunday, June 25, 2017. (Colin Mulvany / The Spokesman-Review)Buy a print of this photo
By Whitney Ogden whitneyo@spokesman.com(509) 481-1067

Parker Kelly can check off another notable accomplishment in his basketball career – a Hoopfest title.

Kelly scored 11 points, leading his team, LeeHayes, to a 20-15 win over Roots Academy in the 6-foot-and-over final on Sunday at Nike Center Court.

Kelly, a former Eastern Washington standout (2011-2015), helped the Eagles to the program’s second NCAA Tournament appearance in 2015. He also helped lead Gonzaga Prep to a State 4A Championship in 2011 after finishing the Greater Spokane League season with a 14-2 record.

“Winning a high school tournament and then going on to Eastern … (Hoopfest) kind of goes right there with it. It’s a lot of fun,” Kelly said.

Roots Academy gave LeeHayes a good run in the beginning, but struggled to keep up with LeeHayes’ long shots down the stretch.

Roots Academy’s Josh Wilson tied the score at 6 with a long 2-point shot, but LeeHayes never fell behind. The team went on a 7-1 run that was driven by Marc Axton’s pair of free throws and two 2-pointers.

Kelly hit a short jumper to stretch LeeHayes’ lead to 15-7.

Roots Academy nailed three more shots, including a pair of layups by Ryan McDade. Kelly added a score at the line, but McDade answered with another long layup that fell off the backboard to keep LeeHayes’ lead to four points, 15-11.

Axton worked the score to 19-13 with his third 2-pointer of the game. The former Eastern Washington forward attempted a jumper in the final minutes to win the game, but missed.

Casey Frandsen made a free throw and hit a layup to give Roots Academy 15 points. Kelly, who was named the tournament’s MVP of the 6-foot-and-over elite division, sealed the win with a long jumper.

6-foot-and-under elite

Craig Hanson scored seven points and Charlies Gold capitalized on a rules violation to beat ES Elite 20-17 in the 6-foot-and-under championship game.

With Charlies Gold leading 19-17 and one point away from a win, ES Elite called a timeout for a second time in the game. The team was called for a technical foul for violating a rule that allows each team only one one-minute timeout each game. The technical awarded Charlies Gold a point, ending the game.

ES Elite stayed within a point of Charlies Gold for the majority of the game and fell back by as many as three points near the end when Stephen Vargas stretched Charlies Gold’s lead to 19-16 with a make at the line.

Hanson, who won his first Hoopfest 6-foot-and-under elite title in 2011, had a chance to end the game with a pair of free throws. The 6-0 player from Spokane Valley had to make at least one to win the game, but he missed both attempts.

Women’s elite

Former Gonzaga standout Janelle Bekkering took home her second Hoopfest title, leading her team, YYC Canada, to a 20-15 victory over the Lady Monstars in the women’s elite championship game.

YYC Canada trailed by as many as four points in the first 10 minutes of the game when former Eastern Washington player Laura Hughes hit a free throw to put the Lady Monstars up 6-2.

YYC Canada rallied behind back-to-back 2-point shots by Bekkering, and then another pair of 2-point shots by Kimberly Lee to tie the score at 13.

YYC Canada finally took a one-point lead when Bekkering broke through the 6-2 Hughes for a one-point shot.

Lee hit another 2-point shot down the stretch to extend YYC Canada’s lead to 18-15. Bethanie Price grabbed the offensive rebound after Bekkering couldn’t make a shot fall in at the rim. She drove through for a layup to put the score at 19-15.

Bekkering ended the game with a backwards flip-shot over Hughes.

Bekkering was named the tournament’s MVP in the elite women division.

Coed elite

BAMM returned captured its second straight coed elite division title with a 20-9 win over FarmGirlFit.

FarmGirlFit led BAMM only twice in the beginning of the game, beginning with ex-Zag Heather Bowman’s jumper that gave her team a 2-1 lead. BAMM followed with three straight layups and a short jumper by Brianne Ryan to get the sibling-cousin quartet from Arizona and California back on top 11-7.

FarmGirlFit’s James Laurence hit the final two shots for his team, including a one-point jumper late in the game to narrow BAMM’s lead to 16-9.

Matt Door hit a 2-point shot from the top of the arc and his cousin Ryan knocked down another 2-pointer to end the game.

Ryan’s brother Andrew was named MVP in the coed elite division.