Committed to My Craft defends Kingdom title in dramatic fashion
Monday, August 14, 2023
By Jarrod Ulrey
julrey@cbussports.com
Morgan Safford of 4Deep (right) and Zavier Simpson of Committed To My Craft compete during the Kingdom League title game Aug. 13 at Ohio Dominican. Photo: John Hulkenberg
The culmination of the Kingdom Summer League’s eight-week men’s basketball season fittingly came down to a high-scoring, crowd-pleasing finish Sunday at Ohio Dominican.
With both sides of the gym filled for the championship game, Committed to My Craft edged 4Deep 124-122 to secure its second consecutive title.
Trey Burke, a 2010 Northland graduate who helped the Vikings win the Division I state championship as a junior and then went on to star for Michigan, nearly willed 4Deep to the title by finishing with 50 points and 11 rebounds.
In the end, though, Zavier Simpson’s bank shot that appeared behind the 3-point line but was ruled a two-pointer just before the buzzer sounded gave Committed to My Craft the victory.
“I saw the clock was at (one second) and I threw my best shot at it,” Simpson said. “It’s a crazy, wonderful, exciting event down in Columbus that I love coming to. I’m glad I was able to get the (win) and hit the buzzer beater.”
Simpson, who graduated from Lima Central Catholic, went on to play for Michigan, and was in the NBA G League last season, finished with 25 points.
D’Mitrik Trice, a Huber Heights Wayne graduate who went on to play for Wisconsin, scored to give Committed to My Craft a 120-118 lead with 58 seconds to go.
Vitto Brown of Committed To My Craft (9) tries to block the shot of 4Deep’s Lamine Komara during the Kingdom League title game Aug. 13 at Ohio Dominican. Photo: John Hulkenberg
Then with 54.3 remaining, Burke shot an off-balanced 3 and crashed to the floor as the ball bounced off the glass and into the net. He was fouled and hit a free throw for a four-point play that gave 4Deep a 122-120 lead.
“It’s always fun playing in front of my city,” Burke said. “It’s not something I get to do often.”
Trice, who played in Hungary and Qatar last year and is planning to again play overseas again during the coming season, finished with 39 points.
Trice also was a key player throughout last summer for Committed to My Craft but was unable to play in that championship game.
“Obviously there’s a lot of great offense (in this game),” Trice said. “We were trading baskets here and there and we just hit a couple timely shots. We were locked in on defense and times when we need stops and we just went down and got shots. We’re a cohesive group and we all grew up together.”
Committed to My Craft also got 20 points from 2009 Northland graduate and former Ohio State player J.D. Weatherspoon, 13 from 2015 Delaware Hayes graduate and former Wisconsin player Khalil Iverson and six points from Columbus East graduate Jeff Gibbs.
“It was real fun,” Weatherspoon said. “It was very exciting to play against (Burke), my high school teammate. (Everyone on my team) just got along so well. Even though some of the guys are from Dayton and some are from Columbus, we just put together a well-coached team.”
C.J. Penha, a Mr. Basketball finalist in 2018 for Harvest Prep who went on to play for Boston College, finished with 21 points for 4Deep.
Also scoring 21 for 4Deep was Morgan Safford, a 2019 Hartley graduate who played for Wofford and is now at Miami.
Trey Burke of 4Deep drives against Committed To My Craft during the Kingdom League title game Aug. 13 at Ohio Dominican. Photo: John Hulkenberg
The Kingdom League was started in 2014 by Tihon Johnson, who is now Northland’s boys coach.
Johnson also held an eight-week camp for middle school and high school players this summer.
“(Having big crowds at the Kingdom Summer League) is usually how it is every summer, but I never take it for granted,” Johnson said. “We also had a program where we did eight weeks and I’m overwhelmed with joy for the kids, for the adults and for the city. We recognized them at halftime, so this was the culmination of the whole summer.”
For Burke, the summer was about setting himself up for another professional opportunity.
Now 30 years old, Burke averaged 9.6 points during an NBA career that began in 2013-14. He averaged 5.1 points for the Dallas Mavericks in 2021-22 before spending time in the G League last winter.
He and Weatherspoon were teammates for three seasons at Northland.
“(It’s been) real productive (this summer),” Burke said. “All I’ve been doing is working – working on my body, just trying to stay prepared. I know something will open. I just came back from Golden State and played real well out there. I’m looking forward to what’s next.
“It’s always good playing against an old teammate, and (Weatherspoon) looked good out there, too. It was just the luck of the basket. (Simpson) hit a prayer shot at the end. Sometimes that’s just how the game goes.”