All eight NBA Academy Games teams returned to the Emory Sports Medicine Complex for the second day of exhibition games.

The NBA Global Academy defeated The Skill Factory 99-89. The NBA Global Academy jumped out to a 28-15 first-quarter lead and never looked back. The NBA Global Academy took advantage of stellar shooting, converting nine-of-17 three-pointers in the first half. TSF battled back early in the second half behind Christian Wright’s team-high 23 points. 

The balanced attacked from The NBA Global Academy, which included 23 team assists, pushed the lead back to double digits before closing out the 11-point win. NBA Global guard Mojave King (Australia) scored a game-high 24 points and NBA Global Academy Center Aly Khalifa (Egypt) dropped 23 points and grabbed six rebounds. The NBA Global Academy improved to 2-0 with the win.  

On the second court, the World Select Red team made up of international prospects from 10 different countries around the world, defeated The NBA Academy China 102-60. The NBA Academy China jumped ahead early in the first quarter before World Select Red took a commanding 52-33 lead heading into halftime. The NBA Academy China was led by Honglin Qu who scored a team-high 22 points, while guard Liyongwei Xie chipped in 15 points on three-of-five shooting from beyond the arc.

World Select Red forward Max Besselink, the only player representing Finland in the NBA Academy Games, scored a team-high 23 points. The World Select Red had five players finish in double figures including Goodwin Ilumoka (Canada; 19 points), Ajay Mitchell (Belgium; 14 points), Dwayne Koroma (Germany; 12 points), and Yousef Khayat (Lebanon; 10 points). The World Select Red improved to 2-0.

The second slate of morning games tipped off with The NBA Academy Latin America defeating the NBA Academy India 84-49. After a competitive first quarter, The NBA Academy Latin America extended their eight-point lead to 19 by outscoring The NBA Academy India 22-11 in the second quarter. Despite being down by a sizeable margin heading into the fourth quarter, The NBA Academy India continued to battle and finished the game on a high, holding the NBA Academy Latin America to 16 points in the fourth quarter. 

The NBA Academy Latin America’s active defence paid off as they forced 27 turnovers and finished with 17 steals. Oliver-Maxence Prosper (Canada) finished with a game-high 17 points. NBA Academy Latin America players Rodolfo Bolis (Brazil) recorded a 12-point, 11-rebound double-double and Joao Camargo (Brazil) chipped in 12 points. NBA Academy centre Aamann Sandhu turned in 9 points and 9 rebounds while guard Pranav Prince scored a team-high 10 points. The NBA Academy Latin America improved to 2-0, while the NBA Academy India dropped their second consecutive game.

In the closest game of the tournament, The NBA Academy Africa defeated World Select Blue 79-74. After falling behind 24-18 after the first quarter, the NBA Academy Africa battled back to go into halftime down just five points. The NBA Academy Africa exploded for a 27-point third quarter to take a 63-56 lead heading into the final quarter.

Both teams finished with a strong fourth quarter, but the NBA Academy Africa was able to maintain their momentum to win the game by five points. NBA Academy Africa forwards Nelly Joseph (Nigeria) powered his way to an 18-point, 10-rebound double-double, while Oluwatobi Samuel Ariyibi poured in 18 points on 8-for-14 shooting. New Zealand native Samuel Mennenga led the World Select Blue with 16 points. Both the NBA Academy Africa and the World Select Blue team moved to 1-1. 

After a break in the action, the teams returned for the afternoon session of the exhibition.

The first game of the afternoon featured The Skill Factory defeating The NBA Academy China 94-58. TSF jumped to an early lead behind an offensively efficient first half, converting 21 of 33 field goals en route to a 55-point first half. The NBA Academy China came out of halftime with their best quarter of the game, outscoring The Skill Factory 25-18 before TSF took control of the game and finished with the win.

TSF had four players score in double figures led by forwarding Issa Muhammad who finished with 16 points and eight rebounds. Jordan Brown, Koby Jeffries and Jaylin Galloway scored 13, 10 and 10, respectively. Honglin Qu (China) once again led The NBA Academy China offence scoring a game-high 24 points.

In the second game of the afternoon, The NBA Global Academy defeated World Select Red 89-77 to remain undefeated. The highly competitive game featured several lead changes throughout the first half and the teams entered halftime tied 36-36. World Select Red took command of the game in the third quarter going up double digits before the NBA Global Academy rallied to within four points entering the final quarter.

Everything clicked for the NBA Global Academy in the fourth, as they scored 34 points in the final quarter while holding World Select Red to 18 points. The NBA Global Academy’s depth played a key role in the win as six players scored in double figures led by former NBA Academy Latin America player and now full-time NBA Global Academy prospect Santiago Vescovi (Uruguay). 

Mojave King (Australia) and June Seok Yeo (South Korea) scored 13 points and 12 points, respectively. Sharpshooting guard Taran Armstrong (Australia) connected on 3-of-6 three-pointers, finishing with 11 points in the game. World Select Red guard Jalen Celestine (Canada) scored a game-high 18 points, connecting on four three-pointers. Ezequiel Paz (Argentina) and Godwin Ilumoka (Canada) rounded out the rest of the World Select Red offence scoring 11 points and 10 points, respectively. The NBA Global Academy improved to 3-0 while World Select Red dropped its first game of the competition.

In the first matchup of the second slate of afternoon games, The NBA Academy Africa defeated The NBA Academy India 64-27. The NBA Academy Africa took a 17-9 lead in the first quarter but The NBA Academy India remained in the game by equaling The NBA Academy Africa’s second-quarter output. A 20-5 run in the third quarter gave The NBA Academy Africa control of the game en route to their second victory of the weekend. 

The NBA Academy Africa took advantage of their size on the glass, recording 24 offensive rebounds. Joshua Ojianwuna (Nigeria) recorded a 12-point, 10-rebound double-double and Mouhamad Lamine Mbaya scored 12 points. NBA Academy India centre Aamaan Sandhu recorded a team-high eight points and seven rebounds.

In the last game of the tournament, World Select Blue defeated The NBA Academy Latin America 87-52. After a competitive first quarter that ended 17-13, Word Select Blue extended their lead to 12 by halftime. World Blue Select was led by Samuel Mennenga (New Zealand) who scored 16 points and Fallou Diagne (Senegal) who chipped in 14 points and grabbed 7 rebounds. Gibran Enafael Avelino Alvarado (Mexico) scored a team-high 13 points for The NBA Academy Latin America. World Select Blue improved to 2-1 on the week.

The tournament component of The NBA Academy Games will begin tomorrow and all games will be live-streamed via games.nbaacademy.nba.com. We will also be beginning you to post-game analysis, right here on GiveMeSport.