DMV Ballers' teammates face off for the Gaithersburg Draft championship
Eric Nixon
Last summer, Eric Nixon, Shelby Jupiter and Martrez Marshall won the New York National Tournament with the DMV Ballers. They all played again in this year’s tournament, and instead of going 5-0 and winning back-to-back titles, they did the opposite, going 0-3 and being knocked out in the first play-in game.
It was clearly disappointing to see the defending champions perform like that, but a few of the players on that roster have a chance to still come away with a title in the summer season. Nixon and Jupiter play on Howard together, who take on Marshall’s Penn State tonight in the Gaithersburg Draft League championship. While they all have won a national title, this will be the first Gaithersburg championship for any of them.
Penn State comes in as the clear favorite, as they are 9-0 this season, winning those nine games by an average of 13.6 points. They’re the best team in the league, and the one time these teams faced off against each other, Penn State convincingly won 69-47. Marshall and Atalay Onoi both had 14 points and 10 rebounds apiece in the win, one of many impressive performances for both of them this season. They have combined to average 32.8 points, 26 rebounds, 8 assists, 3 steals and 2.2 blocks, shooting 59% from the field.
Nixon and Jupiter have been the focal point of the Howard offense, as they are the third and fourth-highest scorers in the league. Nixon has scored 26.1 points per game, just ahead of Jupiter’s 25.4, and they have combined for a shooting split of 54/37/77. They both struggled in the one game against Penn State this season, as they both had more shot attempts than points, combining for 26 points on 31 shot attempts. That doesn’t bode well for tonight’s matchup, but they are both coming off great performances in an 81-64 semifinal win against Claflin. They were both right on their averages, as Jupiter had 26 points and Nixon had 25 in the win.
The one thing we can expect from this game is not a lot of scoring. These are the two best defenses in the league, as Penn State allows 61.7 points per game and Howard allows 70.9. The total amount of points scored in their first matchup was 116, which would get me to set the over/under around 122.5.
It might not be the most entertaining game if you enjoy offense, but it should be a tightly contested game for the championship. Will Penn State finish the season a perfect 10-0, or will Howard get some revenge from the regular season loss and pull off the upset?