Duff's Run to the Final Makes the MVP Case

Jameston Duff carried the MVP nod out of this tournament, and the reasons were laid out across four games: two Player-of-the-Game honors, the third-best scoring average in the field, and a team he led all the way to the final.

The line tells the story. Duff averaged 12.8 points across four games, piled up 51 points in total, and knocked down 7 threes for Five Star. He led his own team in scoring every step of the way as they reached the championship game.

The signature work came against Chattanooga Elite. In their first meeting Duff scored 18 points with 3 threes and took Player of the Game. He matched that 18-point figure against Golden Select, adding 2 threes for his second Player-of-the-Game nod. A later game against Chattanooga Elite was quieter, 8 points and a single three, but it rounded out a run that rarely dipped.

The case for him sits in the numbers. Duff ranked third in the field in scoring. He led his team. He collected two Player-of-the-Game honors across the bracket, coach recognition earned on the floor against different opponents. The 7 threes and the 12.8 average gave Five Star a steady scorer in every game that mattered.

The title did not follow. Five Star reached the final and came up short of the championship. But the MVP award measures the individual, and on that count the argument is clean. Duff put together the best individual tournament in the field regardless of where his team finished, a 51-point run with two POG games and a top-three scoring mark. The trophy went elsewhere. The MVP went to the player who scored the most consistently and was singled out most often.