Spire have lost the Grind Session Championship to Bella Vista by a score of 96-94 in the last game of Lamelo Ball, Rocket Watts, and Myron Gardner’s high school careers. It was a game that came down to the very end where Lamelo Ball and Myron Gardner gave their all to lift the poor performances of Isaiah Jackson and Rocket Watts, but Spire just didn’t put in enough to earn the victory.
The final bracket update. Congrats again to the Bella Vista Prep Bears on their first championship. And congrats to Coach Kyle Weaver on his second Grind Session title! pic.twitter.com/Nwid24qXi2
— The Grind Session (@thegrindsession) March 10, 2019
For Bella Vista, Zion Harmon put on a show for all to see, playing the game well as a scorer, rebounder, and defender, putting Bella Vista on his back to get the win. Harmon’s draft stock will surely go up after a performance where he showed how much he can impact winning against one of the top teams in the country.
FINAL
— The Grind Session (@thegrindsession) March 10, 2019
Player of the Game: Zion Harmon pic.twitter.com/UTktrM73j0
For Spire, Isaiah Jackson was completely shut down by Bella Vista, scoring just 3 points on the day Jackson was unable to get himself involved in the game in any significant way, which caused Spire to lose momentum in the early part of the game. Rocket Watts also had an up and down game for Spire, he was caught trying to be the hero and forced many shots that he normally wouldn’t take. Some other viewers today noticed that Rocket Watts wasn’t playing his basketball as well.
After today’s loss, there may be people who say Lamelo Ball should lose draft stock, but that is just flat out wrong. Lamelo took this team all the way to the Grind Session finals to lose in the final game to a team with 5 division one commits on their team, he put his team on his back in the fourth quarter to end up losing by just 2 points, for just his ninth loss in the last 4 years. Lamelo has done more than enough to assert himself as one of the top players in his class, and at this point it is really hard to get away with poking fun at a future lottery pick.
Lamelo Ball Per 48 Minute Stats pic.twitter.com/7nqXUY0p1b
— UniquESports + (@UniqueSportplus) February 27, 2019
This game is one for the ages as the stars of two rival teams had one last shot at each other, with Bella Vista coming out on top, it is safe to say a game like this does not come around often and we were lucky to see it.
The World Championship Game was INSANE 😱 Zion Harmon with 23 points 9 rebounds 6 assists for Bella Vista and LaMelo Ball had 25 points 8 rebounds 6 assists for Spire 💰 @thegrindsession @zion_harmon @MELOD1P pic.twitter.com/CboMeZWqBl
— Overtime (@overtime) March 10, 2019
Whether or not we like it, this is the last time we will see this Spire team play together and the last time Lamelo Ball will play high school basketball, it’s now time for Spire Academy’s stars to move on to bigger and better things.
LaMelo Ball takes his high school jersey off for the FINAL TIME 😔 @thegrindsession pic.twitter.com/UMvE73CQ5T
— Overtime (@overtime) March 10, 2019