With four South Florida natives, Overtime Elite comes to Miami-Dade for weekend showcase
If Overtime Elite isn’t the most famous high school basketball team in the country, it’s certainly the most unorthodox — that is, if it even counts as a high school team.
Overtime, which features four stars from Broward County and made headlines last year by guaranteeing players a minimum $100,000 salary to come play for it, will have two teams play a series of games at Florida Memorial University this weekend as part of the KT Classic in Miami Gardens.
The tournament, which is organized by Cilk McSweeney, will also provide a nice tune-up for Calvary Christian as it prepares to chase a national championship next month when it plays at GEICO Nationals in Fort Myers.
“We have a month break and the kids are obviously thinking AAU and travel and all that, so we’re like, You know what? Let’s have Overtime come down,” the Calvary Christian coach said. “The Thompson twins, Bewleys and all them are there. NBA scouts will be there, too.”
Amen and Ausar Thompson, and Ryan and Matt Bewley will all play for Team OTE, and will kick off the event against Shahbaz Elite — a team run by Riviera Prep coach Anthony Shahbaz — at 6 p.m. on Friday at the Florida Memorial Wellness Center’s Multipurpose Arena.
McSweeney’s KT Kings, largely made up of his Eagles, will face Team Overtime at 8 p.m. on Friday. Team Overtime will also face Miami Prep on Saturday at 5 p.m. and Team OTE will wrap up the weekend against Kissimmee Central Pointe Christian Academy at 8 p.m.
The arena seats 3,000, “so it’s going to be a good crowd,” McSweeney said, and NBA evaluators will be watching a handful of potential 2023 NBA draft picks.
As part of their contracts with Overtime, players are ineligible to play in college, which means the Thompsons and Bewleys have shifted their full focus to reaching the NBA as soon as they’re old enough to be drafted. The Thompsons, who helped Pine Crest win the Class 4A boys’ basketball championship last year, are regarded as potential first-round picks in the 2023 NBA draft. The Bewleys, who played for one year at Northeast before transferring to Orlando West Oaks Academy for one season, won’t be eligible until the 2024 NBA draft. This weekend will be a homecoming for both sets of brothers.
In addition to the four twins, the event will also feature four blue-chip recruits from Calvary Christian with forwards Taylor Hendricks and Gregg Glenn from the Class of 2023, and guards Marvel Allen and Carl Cherenfant from the Class of 2024. KT Elite’s roster also includes power forward Brenen Lorient and shooting guard Tyler Hendricks, who have signed with Division I programs.
Pembroke Pines Charter point guard Kolby King, who has signed with the St. John’s Red Storm, will also play with KT.
“We can add a couple guys,” McSweeney said, “but keep our guys focused with each other, keep them going.”
This story was originally published March 17, 2022 at 7:09 PM.
