Kansas City Pump N Run's Denver Holmes (34) attempts a reverse layup against a pair of Howard Pulley defenders in the championship game of the AAU Jayhawk Invitational. Pump N Run successfully defending its tournament title with a 72-61 victory Sunday in Allen Fieldhouse.

No Travis Releford for Kansas City Pump N Run in its title defense at the AAU Jayhawk Invitational?

No problem.

Pump N Run received plenty of help from some small-time players to cap off a perfect run through the invitational with a 72-61 victory over Howard Pulley Panthers-Black on Sunday in Allen Fieldhouse.

“Well, Travis Releford wasn’t here, so somebody had to step up,” said Denver Holmes, a 6-foot-3, 165-pound junior shooting guard at Olathe South. “I’m basically his backup, so I thought it was me having to step up. : It’s basically our tournament, so it feels like we have to win it with a lot of pressure here.”

Holmes’ main scholarship offers so far have been from Missouri State and Murray State, though he has heard from Florida Atlantic, where former Kansas University basketball player Rex Walters is the current coach. Holmes scored a team-high 17 points in the finale, shooting 7-of-10 from the field and 2-for-2 from the line.

“With the depth on our team – and Denver is one of those guys we count on big, especially without Travis being here and John Coy – expectations are little higher for other guys, and Denver stepped up and did what he was supposed to do and showed what kind of player he is,” Pump N Run coach L.J. Goolsby said.

A very slow start by point guard Marcus Denmon made Holmes’ performance that more valuable.

Denmon, who was held scoreless in the first half, finally brought a spark to the 17U champs after Howard Pulley had tied the game at 43 with 10 minutes remaining.

The 6-1, 170-pound junior point guard from Kansas City (Mo.) Hogan Prep scored his first points on a pair of free throws with 8:03 remaining and scored 10 more points over the next five minutes to give Pump N Run a 12-point advantage.

“I was being more passive in the first half and sharing the ball with my teammates and only took, like, three shots,” said Denmon, who is getting looks from Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Texas, Clemson, UNLV and a couple of Missouri Valley Conference teams. “But I just knew if I kept looking to get open shots, it would eventually come. Shots just started falling, and we started playing as a team.”

Goolsby also got some help from Dominique Morrison, a 6-6, 200-pounder from Raytown (Mo.) High. The junior forward, who is getting looks from MVC schools such as Wichita State and Southern Illinois, had 14 points and five rebounds

Kansas City Pump N Run's Denver Holmes (34) attempts a reverse layup against a pair of Howard Pulley defenders in the championship game of the AAU Jayhawk Invitational. Pump N Run successfully defending its tournament title with a 72-61 victory Sunday in Allen Fieldhouse.

Howard Pulley’s Armond Battle, a 6-6, 185-pound junior forward from Benilde-St. Margaret in St. Louis Park, Minn., made things difficult for the three-time champs with a game-high 21 points – 16 of which came in the second half.

“I was in a pretty good rhythm, and when I’m in a good rhythm I play real well,” Battle said. “I was trying to get in that rhythm all game, and I came out and did that.”

Rodney Williams, a 6-6, 185-pound junior out of Robbinsdale Cooper in New Hope, Minn. who is hearing from Kansas, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa State and some smaller schools, was Pulley’s second leading scorer with 14 points on 6-of-16 shooting.

The two teams will see each other next weekend at the Sabes Foundation Invitational in Bloomington, Minn. – the tournament where Howard Pulley defeated Pump N Run in the final a year ago.

“Last year they beat us in the championship. We returned the favor this week, and now it’s going to be a grudge match going into next week,” Goolsby said.

Road to the final: Both Pump N Run and Howard Pulley received the first-round byes and didn’t play until 10:30 a.m.

Pump N Run escaped Wedmans Pumas in its first game, 64-55, and ran through the St. Louis Eagles, 62-48. Pulley defeated Minnesota Magic Elite, 68-47, and received a bit of a scare in a 65-59 win over the Las Vegas Prospects.

Pulley prospects struggle: Jared Berggren, a University of Wisconsin recruit who is the 16th-ranked center in the class of 2008 by Rivals.com, scored just eight points to go with five rebounds in the final against Pump N Run.

Jordan Taylor, another recruit committed to Wisconsin, also had eight points with four rebounds.

Taylor, a junior point guard, was 3-for-16, with his first basket coming nearly 10 minutes in. He scored just two points in the second half – with just a minute to go.

Kansas City Pump N Run's Dominique Newton, left, looks to dish to a teammate as Howard Pulley's Carrington Tankson defends. Pump N Run won the under-17 title at the AAU Jayhawk Invitational on Sunday in Allen Fieldhouse.

Moore all right: Pump N Run’s Steve Moore suffered an ankle injury after coming down with a defensive rebound with 4:23 remaining.

Moore, who sat out the remainder of the game, finished with three points – all from the free-throw line – and did not attempt a shot. Despite sitting the final four minutes, Moore still had a game-high 10 rebounds.

“He’s fine. He came over and wanted to get back into the game,” Goolsby said. “We’re just going to have to make sure he ices it and keeps it up for next weekend.”

OKC gets KO’d: The former AAU team of Kansas commit Cole Aldrich – Minnesota Magic Elite – eliminated one of the hottest teams at the Jayhawk Invitational – Oklahoma City Athletes First – during the first round of games Sunday morning.

The Magic Elite snuck past Athletes First in double-overtime, 50-48, before falling to the eventual runner-up, Howard Pulley Panthers-Black, 68-47, in the second round.

“It was a bad loss – it really was,” Athletes First coach Carl Henry said. “We really set our group back. We started and finish with our young kids – and we have five older kids that we were trying to see how we could get ahead by playing those older kids and get them scholarships. We thought we could get it done with the older kids, but it didn’t happen. We just seem to get nothing done with those older players. I don’t know why. We’re just more comfortable with the younger kids. They can hold the lead, but when we put in the older kids they lost the lead.

“But other than that, I wanted to get past the first game and get to the championship. I guess that’s going to have to wait until next year.”

Athletes First will return to the AAU circuit next weekend at the Memorial Tournament in Nashville, Tenn.

“Basically, we just have to start all over in practice on Thursday,” Henry said. “We’ve got to find a combination to go together so we feel good about the older kids and so they get looked at by recruits.”

Other invite champs: The 16-and-under Kansas City Pump N Run had the same result as the 17-and-under squad after defeating Midwest Mission in the 16U final, 56-45.

Mike Dixon, a sophomore guard from Lee’s Summit (Mo.) West who has received contact from multiple Big 12 Conference schools, including KU, scored nine points for Pump N Run in the championship.

The Compton Magic defeated the St. Louis Eagles, 68-49, to claim the championship in the 15-and-under bracket.