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RELATED: Loaded Team Harden adidas Nations Favorites | adidas Nations photo recap | Team Harden Highlights

With the sheer amount of talent on Team Harden 2017, it was going to take a monumental effort for Team Canada (or any other team for that matter) to knock off the star-studded team at adidas Nations. The two teams locked horns Monday evening at Cerritos College for the second time during the event to decide the championship.

Team Harden and Team Canada met on Sunday morning with Team Harden recording a 104-89 victory. In the championship rematch televised on ESPNU, it looked like the Canadians had a chance to pull off a major upset -- for one half at least. Behind the inspired play of 6-foot-4 guard Luguentz Dort and 6-foot-5 wing Nickel Dean-Walker, Team Canada held a 56-50 halftime lead, but Team Harden used a big third quarter to seize control of the game and walk away with a 123-96 victory and the expected tournament championship.

Team Harden, which went 5-0 and handed Team Canada its only two losses, used a 43-19 advantage in the third quarter to take control of the game. The team's starters -- point guard Trevon Duval, shooting guard Gary Trent Jr., small forward Hamidou Diallo, and post players Wendell Carter Jr. and DeAndre Ayton -- did most of the damage during the pivotal run. Ayton took control on the boards and clearly was the one player other teams simply had no answer for when he was locked in at this event. Last year's national junior of the year at Hillcrest Academy (Phoenix, Ariz.) finished the title game with 13 points and 14 rebounds after going for 26 and 11 in the team's first meeting on Sunday.

Team Canada hurt its chances for victory by missing free throws in the third period. The Canadians missed 7-of-14 shots from the line in the third quarter alone and made 17-of-31 in the title game. Team Harden made 27-of-37 and shot 56 percent from the field (45-of-81) while Team Canada shot 47 percent (35-of-75). Dean-Walker finished with a team-high 17 points, while Dort finished with 15.

Leading the way in the scoring department for victorious Team Harden was point guard Jaylen Hands, who has verbaled to UCLA and was named MVP despite coming off the bench. Hands was one of Team Harden's talented players who had to adjust to getting less-than-normal playing time on the loaded unit. Hands scored a game-high 18 points on a variety of lay-ups and pull-up jumpers and also contributed two rebounds and an assist. In the first meeting versus Team Canada, Hands scored eight points in 18 minutes, but made the most of his 16 minutes in the championship game.

Another top 25 type talent who thrived in his reserve role was multi-dimensional guard Troy Brown Jr. of Centennial (Las Vegas, Nev.), who recently narrowed down his college choices to Alabama, Arizona, CAL, Georgetown, Kansas, Ohio State, Oregon, and hometown UNLV. Brown, who is 6-foot-5 and normally plays on the ball for his high school and travel ball team (Las Vegas Prospects), spent plenty of time on the wing -- and thrived because of his ability to rebound and push in transition, set up cutting teammates or score around the basket. Brown finished the event top 10 in rebounding, top six in assists, and No. 2 in steals while remaining an on-ball scoring threat. He finished the title game with 14 points and six rebounds after recording 10 points, six rebounds and four assists in the Sunday victory over Team Canada.

"It was fun playing with this team because, besides USA Basketball, I've never had a team like this around me and I wanted to take full advantage of it," said Brown, who stated he would prefer to play on the ball in college. "Playing with great guards like Jaylen (Hands) and Trey (Travon Duval), I didn't mind playing off the ball and for me the experience helped expand my game."

Forward P.J. Washington of Findlay Prep (Henderson, Nev.) also had a big outing with 16 points and eight rebounds while Diallo aded 12 points.

"Hamidou Diallo surprised me the most with his ability, by far." Brown said.

The ability of Team Harden's players didn't catch anyone by surprise -- and neither did its unbeaten run through adidas Nations.

Ronnie Flores is the national Grassroots editor of www.ebooksnet.com. He can be reached at [email protected]. Don't forget to follow him on Twitter: @RonMFlores

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RELATED: DeAndre Ayton, Jaylen Hands lead Team Harden to adidas Nations Title | adidas Nations photo recap | Team Harden Highlights

There is a plethora of NBA scouts and national grassroots basketball media at the Next Level Sports Complex in Garden Grove, Calif. to watch elite high school and college players close out the summer on a high note at adidas Nations.

Team Harden, a group of 2017 prospects, is getting most of the attention from scouts among the high school teams -- and for good reason. As far as grassroots basketball and national all-star teams are concerned, it might be the most talented team we've seen the last 10 years. Just check out the names on this roster: Hamidou Diallo, Gary Trent Jr., Troy Brown Jr., D.J. Harvey, Trevon Duval, Kevin Knox, Wendell Carter, DeAndre Ayton, P.J. Washington, Jaylen Hands, and Makai Ashton-Langford. Seven or eight in that group will be selected for the 2017 McDonald's All-American Game.

It's ironic because Harden played on the last team we can vividly remember more talented than this one -- the 2007 McDonald's All-American West unit that played at Freedom Hall in Louisville and was coach by current Taft (Woodland Hills, Calif.) coach Derrick Taylor. That team was so loaded Harden, who would eventually develop into the No. 3 of the 2009 NBA Draft, really couldn't get much playing time in the scrimmage or the game. Current NBA all-star forward Blake Griffin, the No. 1 pick of that same draft, turned heads in the scrimmage with his play but he too couldn't crack Taylor's starting lineup. The starters for the game were 2011 NBA MVP Derrick Rose at the point, Eric Gordon at the two, Michael Beasley at the three, Kevin Love at the four and Cole Aldrich at the five.

Four of those starters were among the top seven picks of the 2008 NBA Draft and a few off Team Harden will likely go high in the 2018 NBA Draft. The team is 4-0 so far at adidas Nations, pulling out four competitive wins, including a 101-83 victory over Team Wiggins 2018. The game was close until the older unit pulled away in the fourth period. After leading by six points (75-69) entering the fourth, Team Harden was able to get gain an advantage on the break, as Diallo, Washington, Duval and Harvey scored on a variety of easy transition buckets , including some rim-rattling dunks. Doing a majority of the setup was Brown, Hands and Duval, who led Team Harden with eight assists.

Ayton, who is arguably the top overall prospect in the 2017 class, led six Team Harden players in double figures with 17 points on 8-of-9 shooting from the field. Ayton has stated Kansas, Arizona and Kentucky are his three finalists, but there are growing legions of scouts and NBA personnel that don't feel he'll play a minute in college. He's one of the early candidates to be taken as the No. 1 pick in the 2018 Draft, so it will be interesting to see where he ends up after his senior season of high school. Ayton had 12 points, eight rebounds and two steals in a 97-86 win over Team Asia Pacific on Saturday morning and opened play with a 19-point, 15-rebound performance in a 92-87 win over Team Rose 2017. On Sunday morning, he took over with his rebounding and passing in the fourth quarter of a 104-89 win over Team Canada and finished with 26 points and 11 rebounds.

Ayton and Zion Williamson, a 6-foot-7 2018 prospect out of Spartanburg Day School (Spartanburg, S.C.) who is playing for Team Wiggins, have been the two best players we've observed through pool play at this event.

Duval made 3-of-5 three-pointers and 7-of-9 field goals good for 24 points in the win over Team Asia Pacific continues to state his case as the best lead guard in the 2017 class, although he sat out Sunday morning's game. Trent (22 points) and Diallo (21 points) also played well in the victory over Team Rose 2017. In reality, however, any player on the roster has the ability to step up and dominate. It's just a matter of managing playing time (not to mention egos) and finding the right combination for this team to take home the team title once pool play is done on Sunday afternoon and championship play begins Sunday night. The championship game is slated for Monday at Cerritos College (9 pm ET, ESPNU).

Ronnie Flores is the national Grassroots editor of www.ebooksnet.com. He can be reached at [email protected]. Don't forget to follow him on Twitter: @RonMFlores

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