Good till the last dunk

Nick Christensen

Tuesday, July 27, 2004 | 9:16 a.m.

As five days of basketball overload wrapped up Monday night at Foothill High School, the two teams in the open division championship game at the Reebok Big Time tournament pretty much characterized the whole show.

There was a team that was there to be seen, and a team that was there to win.

Florida's Team Breakdown, the surprise finalist in the open division, spent about 10 minutes showing its stuff, then fell apart as Spiece Indy Heat steamrollered its way to an 86-68 win, claiming the championship.

Breakdown coach Kenny Gillon said there was no pressure on his team to win, but simply to show off their abilities to the few coaches and scouts present in the otherwise packed Foothill gym.

"I tell these guys, I have all the trophies I need at home, I don't need any more," Gillon said. "I want these guys to get a college scholarship. That's the main objective for our entire program, to get these guys exposure."

Stealing the show for Breakdown was Miami sophomore Edwin Rios, who had 24 points, including five 3-pointers, and led Breakdown's brief comeback attempt late in the second half.

But for Gillon and Rios' team, there was nothing that could be done to stop Indy's dominant inside man, 7-foot center Greg Oden, who was voted the tournament's outstanding player.

"There was too much Greg Oden," Gillon said. "The big fella dominated down the stretch."

Oden had 26 points, including 15 in the second half, on 11-for-11 shooting. The top prospect, who is humble about his offensive ability, also contributed seven rebounds and two blocks in 25 minutes of play.

The difference for Oden Monday night, and through bracket play in general, was the absence of Indy power forward Josh McRoberts, who at 6-foot-10 helps free up the middle and had handled most of Indy's offense. McRoberts went down with an ankle injury on Saturday, and was in a cast on the bench on Monday.

"I worked to pick it up offensively, and pick my rebounds up," Oden said. "It wasn't that big of an adjustment. I didn't look for the shots before. When he got out, I started to look."

McRoberts, committed to Duke, wasn't in the tournament to be scouted, he was there to win.

"It's still great," he said of sitting on the bench while his team won the championship. "It's still something I wanted to do."

Indy coach Mike Conley said the key to his team's championship run was being able to deal with losing McRoberts.

"We overcame adversity. We lost one of the leaders of the team when he was playing the best basketball of his career," he said. "These kids sucked it up and played tough."

And while Gillon was pleased that his kids got exposure, Conley said he wanted more.

"We started these guys in sixth grade, I mean, the last thing we're thinking about is exposure," he said. "Exposure is part of the reward of hard work. Their hard work through all the years is paying dividends."

Three Indy players, including Oden, were named to the 61-player all-tournament team.