BROOKLYN, USA – It didn’t have the history of Harlem’s fabled Rucker Park , but the scene for the UA 10th annual Elite 24 game at Pier 2 near the water overlooking Manhattan and both the Statue of Liberty and near the Brooklyn Bridge Saturday night had majestic quality to it, with a sellout crowd surrounding the lighted outdoor court.

Under Armour, which is trying hard to make inroads on the Nike Empire, had planned to end the summer season with a splash, putting the best 24 prospects in the country regardless of shoe affiliation on display in this media center. And even though Nike, in an effort to protect its assets, stole some of their luster by luring at least 10 players who could have played in the game to a hastily arranged week long training and exhibition tour of the Bahamas, the new kid on the block left a big impression.

Nike has control of most of the better players– particularly rising seniors Harry Giles and Jason Tatum, the two best prospects in the Class of 2016 – and was able to stream its 60-point blowout of a Bahamas Select team on TV. The game itself attracted five NBA scouts. But the UA Elite 24 got royal, prime time treatment on ESPN and was able to showcase its talent in a much better way. This East Coast media capitol is still the best place to make a reputation in high school basketball.

And blue chip prospects like 6-9, 232 pound Edrice “Bam Bam” Adebayo, 6-10 forward T.J. Leaf, 6-7 guard Josh Jackson, point guards Trevon Duval and Frank Jackson, 6-5 guard Terrance Ferguson, a recent Alabama commit; 7-0 center Thon Maker and local star Rawle Alkins, a 6-5 big bodied guard from Christ the King who is known as “King of the City” and is currently looking for a prep school to play his final year of high school, all became bigger than life celebrities.

Adebayo had the biggest impact in the game, scoring 21 points grabbing 10 rebounds for Team Do Be Doo, which rallied from a 17 point first half deficit to defeat Team EZ Pass, 111-110. He shot 10 for 12, had some monster dunks and also had a Sports Center moment when he used his strength and power to bring down a hoop in the first half. Fortunately, the rim didn’t break or that might have been the end of the ESPNU telecast. But Adebayo, who is already ranked in the Top 10 nationally, will definitely see his stock soar.

Adebayo picked up his nickname when he was just one year old and his mother was watching “The Flintstone and saw the character Bam Bam. Then she watched her own baby pick up a coffee table and felt like it was a good fit. The nickname stuck for obvious reasons. Adebayo, who has been a star since ninth grade, averaged 32.2 points and 21 rebounds per game for Northside High in Pinetown, N.C. as a junior. He will play his senior year at High Point, N.C. Christian. He played along side Dennis Smith Jr. on the adidas sponsored Team Loaded North Carolina travel team that reached the championship game of the adidas Uprising Summer championships in Las Vegas, where he averaged 14.6 points and 10.6 rebounds. He then put up 16.2 points and 8 rebounds per game in the adidas National event in California.

Adebayo is currently being recruited by NC State, North Carolina, Kentucky, Louisville and Wake Forest.

The state of North Carolina is filled with blue chip talent in the Class of 2016 with Adebayo, Giles and Smith. There have already been rumors that Adebayo and Smith, who played for Fayetteville High as a junior and transferred to Trinity but suffered an ACL tear this summer and will be out for the next six to nine months, may sign as a package deal with NC State. And there is speculation that the 6-10 Giles, who recently transferred from Wesleyan Christian in Winston-Salem to Oak Hill, Va. Academy, will go to Duke with his roommate on USA Basketball’s U19 team and good friend Tatum, who is from Chaminade High in St. Louis.

Giles and Tatum each scored 16 points as Team Nike defeated a Bahamas Select team, 125-65. Ironically, the best high school prospect in the Bahamas did not play in the game. De’Andre Ayton, a 7-0 rising junior center from San Diego Balboa who played in the LeBron James Nike skills camp last year, is now associated with Under Armour, where he played with the Supreme Court team that

Ayton attended the Jeff Rogers basketball camp at the urging of his mother and then moved to San Diego, where he attends Balboa, a small private school of 120 located just across the street at the San Diego Zoo. He lives with his guardian and head coach Zach Jones and plays in a program that has no connection with the CIF, allowing him to practice and work out 12 months a year.

Ayton caught the attention of the college basketball world in ninth grade when he suited up for a summer league exhibition team called the Providence Storm in the nation’s capital of Nassau. The squad was mostly composed of college players and a couple of overseas pros. Ayton was the only high schooler on the team. Their opponent on August 15? The UNC Tar Heels. Behind 17 points and 18 rebounds from the teen wonder, the Storm pulled off a shocker by defeating North Carolina 84-83. And yes, UNC had their regular players on the court that night.

“The coach at UNC was pretty mad,” Ayton says with a smile. “He was yelling, ‘Somebody stop him!’ He was pretty mad and I loved it.”

He returned to BCS last fall as a sophomore for his high school season debut, where he averaged 21.1 points, 16 rebounds and 3.8 blocks. He shot 67 percent from the floor while finishing with a double-double in all but one of his 22 games against prep schools from all over the country. His first season was cut short after that kneecap fracture in February, which caused him to miss the last month and half of play but was still voted national Sophomore of the Year. Ayton had his moments this summer, especially on the third leg of the UA circuit at Ardsley, N.Y., but he is still rounding back into shape.

But his talent is undeniable.

The best talent in the game was Jackson, who will be a senior at Prolific Prep in Napa, Calif., and played up with Giles, Tatum and Ferguson on a USA team that won the FIBA U19 world championships in Crete. Jackson, one of the game’s MVP in 2014, scored 12 points, grabbed 7 rebounds and the best defensive player in the game. Jackson was one of the four-MVPs in the game along with Adebayo, guard Frank Jackson of Lone Peak Utah HS, who finished with 20 points, and forward Billy Preston of Prime Prep in Dallas, who had 16 points and 10 rebounds.