Charm City Challenge

Baltimore wins fourth straight; City takes series lead.

The Baltimore team exploded out of the gate and never looked back in winning it's fourth straight Charm City Challenge by the score of 107-82.  With the U.S. team looking to end Baltimore's streak and make the series, 5-3, the home squad ended the first quarter on a 16-2 run to establish a 29-17 lead.

After an even second quarter, the U.S. team cut the gap to four early in the third quarter, but the Baltimore squad answered with a 7-0 run and never looked back. The fourth quarter featured the Baltimore All-Stars throwing alley oop after alley oop in building a 25-point lead.

Kimmie English led all scorers with 18 points to earn all-tournament honors. He was joined all the all-tournament team by Baltimore's Sean Mosley (15 points, 5 rebounds, 6 assists), the U.S.'s Chris Turner (14 points), Dee Bost (17 points) and Xavier Gibson (11 points, 7 rebounds and 6 blocks).

Troy Franklin earned MVP honors after dazzling the crowd with an array of dribbling moves and finishing the game with 14 points, 4 assists and 4 steals.

In the first game, the County All-Stars took a 26-18 first quarter lead, but the City All-Stars answered back and entered the lockerroom with a 44-40 advantage.  The County would never get closer than being 1 point down as the City would mount a run each time. Paul Kouvaris scored 14 points and grabbed 8 rebounds to lead the City, while Jordan Lee had 15 points for the County.

Boxscores: City vs. County  - U.S. vs. Baltimore

Check out Digital Sports Coverage here.

The SportsGroove also reported on the event.