Youth Sports

Thursday, July 13, 2006

Lakers, Warriors win national crowns

Three years ago, the Maryland Lakers played recreation basketball in Seat Pleasant and later in Oak Crest. Now, they are national champions.

The Lakers captured the Youth Basketball of America (YBOA) 9-and-under boys’ National Championship July 1 in Orlando, defeating the Nashville Stallions, 27-25, in the tournament final.

‘‘We expected to win, at the very least to finish in the top three,” said Lakers’ assistant coach Darryl Allen, who shares the bench with head coach Kenny Atkinson. ‘‘When we played last year, we played up. We knew this year we could play at a higher level as a result of that against teams that were there at that level for the first time.”

Much of the Lakers’ roster has stayed intact from day one. As a 7 and 8 year-old squad at last year’s nationals, the Lakers faced teams with players ages 9 and 10, and placed seventh. Raquan Zimmerman, Dexter Turner and Derjuan Murphy of Seat Pleasant, along with Allen’s son, Devin, of Capitol Heights, have been the team’s mainstays.

Jevonne Ashley (Lanham), Wesley Campbell (Largo), Andres Christenson (Suitland), Christopher Stokley (Laurel), Deion Hayes (Capitol Heights) and Emmanuel Struthers round out the squad. The team is based in Seat Pleasant⁄Capitol Heights.

‘‘The kids were excited,” said Allen. ‘‘When we made that final basket, we had to quickly remind them that there was still time remaining on the clock.”

Seeing a second-half lead fade away with under a minute to play and with the scored tied at 25, the Lakers advanced the ball upcourt and called a timeout.

‘‘We just created a new play [three days earlier],” said Allen. ‘‘We set up the play for my son to either shoot, drive to the basket or pass to our center. He wound up shooting the ball, but missed the shot, but he got the rebound and put the ball in to give us the lead.”

With less than 10 seconds still remaining, Nashville had one last chance, but Turner stole the ball to seal the victory.

The Lakers went 5-1 during the tournament, only losing, 33-29, in pool play to the Georgia Blazers. The Lakers later defeated the Blazers in the championship bracket semifinals, 36-23, to advance to the title game. None of the Lakers’ three other contests were close. They twice beat the SPB Virginia Sonics, 33-24 and 36-15, and also beat the Georgia Knicks, 18-8.

Warriors win U-10 title

Nineteen years ago, the D.C. Warriors won the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) U-13 National Championship but did so under the Kingman Boys and Girls Club banner in the District. Saturday, the Warriors, a member of the Potomac Valley District, claimed their first national title under their current name after defeating the Baltimore Panthers, 26-23, in the U-10 championship game in Winston-Salem, N.C.

‘‘Everything is still sinking in, we’re still pinching ourselves,” said assistant coach LaBarry Williams on Sunday. ‘‘We can’t believe we did it. The kids were so excited. They were running around, real jubilant and holding on to each other. We felt confident we could place this year, but we had no idea we could’ve won the whole thing.”

Four county players are on the roster. Everrett Quick is from Lanham and was an early-season starter before an injury set him back. Devin Steele is a back-up point guard, while Marcus Derrickson starts at center and Dequan Abrom plays at guard and forward. Steele, Derrickson and Abrom all live in Bowie.

The Warriors arrived at Winston-Salem with a 33-2 record this season against U-10 competition. They also won 16 of 28 games against U-11 opponents. One of their U-10 losses came against the Bentalou Bombers, a Baltimore-based team that beat the Warriors by six points in an earlier-season contest. In Friday’s semifinals, the Warriors avenged that loss with a 52-47 victory against the Bombers, who placed seventh in the country last season. The Warriors also won bracket-play games against the Prince William Pacers and a 36-30 contest against the Arkansas Mustangs.

‘‘We applied good pressure defense throughout the tournament,” said Williams. ‘‘Defense is the best offense. We believe this and we teach the kids this.”

The Warriors were founded 24 years ago but waited until four years later to compete in AAU. Anthony Langley coaches the U-10 team with Williams and Ed Hill assisting, the three being the founding fathers of the organization. Hill also coaches the U-12 nationals squad that competes Saturday through next week in Newport News, Va.

‘‘This particular team, they’ve been developing since they were eight years old,” said Williams, referring to the U-10 team. ‘‘They went to the U-8 Nationals two years ago and the U-9 Nationals the same year. Last year, we went to the U-9 Nationals and placed 10th in the country.”

E-mail Adam Rubenstein at arubenstein@gazette.net.

Team Excel, Star Youth hoops programs shine at tourneys

Team Excel’s U-11 girls’ basketball team won six games en route to winning the United States basketball championship last weekend, capped with a 35-29 victory against Western Fairfax Mustangs in the title game.

Team Excel led, 25-15, at the half, and never trailed thereafter, Sharyce Warren led Team Excel with 12 points, Valerie Melson added seven points and Bryanna Robinson and Jazmine Missouri each scored six points. Allese Morrison and Aleah Epps chipped in two points apiece.

Team Excel had earlier victories against Maryland Lady Panthers (38-21), the Mustangs again (26-18), Northeast Pennsylvania Lady Lightning (52-18), U-10 Team Sol (48-23) and U-11 Team Sol (31-21).

Warren led the team with 10 points against the Panthers, Lindsay Allen, Melson and Robinson each scored six points, Morrison scored five points, Missouri and Epps scored two points and Breanna Savoy scored one point.

Warren again paced Team Excel in the first game against the Mustangs, scoring 12 points. Morrison scored five, Khadijah Gibson scored four, Melson scored three and Missouri scored two.

Gibson scored a game-high 18 points against the Lady Lightning. Warren added 14, Melson 12, and Morrison and Savoy four each.

Warren’s 23 points and heads-up passing sparked Team Excel against Team Sol’s U-10 squad. Savoy, Melson (14 points) and Gibson (nine points) contributed strongly on the boards. Missouri and Morrison each added two points.

Team Excel began the tournament by defeating Team Sol’s U-11 squad. Warren led the way with 11 points, Gibson added 10, Morrison had four, Savoy had three and Melson chipped in with one.

Calvin Missouri coaches Team Excel.

U-8 Star Youths take second

The Star Youth Athletics U-8 boys’ basketball team was runner-up at the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) Nationals July 2 in Memphis.

The Stars went 3-0 in pool play en route to playing in the championship game against the Cincinnati Knights, which they lost, 42-26. In pool play, the Stars defeated United Celtic Stars (38-22), Kansas Blue Valley Crunch (53-33) and Arkansas Hawks-Duckworth (43-25), then advanced with a quarterfinal win against Florida Team Belly (46-34) and a semifinal win against Indy Hoosiers (41-39).

Anthony Cowan Jr. led all Stars with 65 points, 29 rebounds and 21 steals during the tournament. Jamar Watson added 56 points, 26 rebounds and 11 steals. Jaylon Myles had 46 points, 18 rebounds, 10 steals and one blocked shot. Reginald Gardner Jr. had 33 points, 28 rebounds 7 steals and one block.

James White Jr. contributed 29 points, 11 steals, three rebounds and a block. Christopher Carter had 13 points, three rebounds and two steals, while Jayson Johnson added four points, seven rebounds and six steals. Saddiq Bey, Christian Jennings and Antione Banks Jr. also contributed for the Stars.

Anthony Cowan and assistants Jerry Watson, Mike White and Reginald Gardner coach the Stars.

Team Excel teams win bronze

Team Excel’s U-10 girls’ basketball teams had strong showings at the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) Nationals July in Orlando. Both the program’s A and B teams placed third in Division I and II, respectively.

Team Excel A swept through pool play, then defeated Illinois Raiders, Kentucky Shining Stars and South Bay Waves of California in bracket play to advance to the Sweet Sixteen. There, it lost to last year’s U-9 national champion Arizona Wildcats, before picking up two more wins to reach the semifinals against the Wildcats, who they lost to again.

Team Excel B went 19-0 in their inaugural season against local competition heading into the nationals. In pool play, it won two of three games to advance to the championship bracket. There, Team Excel B defeated the Florida Lady Broncos then lost to eventual champion Georgia Metros. Team Excel B rebounded with wins against Newport Lady Vikings, North Carolina Flames, York Unity, Carolina Comets, Southern Maryland Lady Steel and Carolina All-Stars before finally being stopped by Louisiana Kenner Angels.

Team A members include Lindsay Allen, Tasia Butler, Torri Chestnut, Nicole Derrickson, Aleah Epps, Alexis Lyers, Morgan Newbold, De’Erricka Richardson, Chelsea Scarborough, Jade Scaife and Tiara Wood. Terrell Allen coaches the team along with Marcus Lyers and Ricardo Durham. Wendy Derrickson is the team manager.

Team B members include Bianca Brown, Briana Flemmings, Jasmine Jackson, Renee Kydd, Raquel Lawyer, Malaika Lillard, Marjani Lillard, Jordan Maynard, Taylor McCarley and Ravyn Taylor. Stacey Bryant coaches the team along with Philip Dickerson and Brent Maynard.

U-9 Star Youths place third

The Star Youth Athletics U-9 boys’ basketball team placed third in the U-10 division in the Magic 32 Metro Sixers Tournament last weekend, highlighted with by a 28-24 victory against the Metro Steelers.

Jamar Watson led the stars with 22 points, nine rebounds, four assists and two steals. Anthony Cowan added a team-high 10 steals, along with 15 points and four assists. David Dasher had six points and six rebounds. Erique Foggs chipped in four points. Jamar Wright had 14 points and three steals. Michael Jackson had nine points, seven rebounds and six steals. Reginald Gardner Jr. had nine points and three rebounds and Michael White contributed with three steals.

Sharks win swim meet

The Fort Washington Sharks swim team posted a 289-251 decision against the West Arundel Aqua-Ducks in Prince-Mont Swim League Division C action on Saturday, winning 30 of the 47 events.

Prescott Stewart and Daniel Leighton dominated the older boys’ events, with Stewart capturing a triple in the butterfly, breaststroke and individual medley and Leighton claiming a double in the freestyle and backstroke.

Colleen McFadden was a triple winner in the older girls’ division, taking the fly, back and IM. Abby Downs and Ashley Bodine also shined in the division with wins in the free and breast.

In the 13-14 girls’ events, Meghan Bonomo was a triple winner in the fly, back and IM, while Cara Brennan seized the free and back. Arthur Walton won three races in the 13-14 boys’ races, winning the breast, back and IM, and Joey Patrizio won the freestyle.

Dakota Hinely remained unbeaten this summer, winning the 11-12 boys’ free, back and IM. Brandon Dennis (11-12 boys) won the breast and Chelsea Hemphill (11-12 girls) won the free.

Marcus Dennis won the 9-10 boys’ free and breast, and Don Brazelton was best in the 8-and-under boys’ free and back. Akeyla Holley was a winner in the 8-under girls’ back.

Fort Washington hosts Pointer Ridge Saturday in the regular-season finale.

Football, cheer members sought

The Southern Maryland Eagles, formerly the Clinton Eagles, are holding registration for tackle football players and cheerleaders. The program is part of the Capital Beltway Football League and based at Andrews Air Force Base. Children from all communities are eligible to participate, ages 6 to 13 for football and 4 to 14 for cheerleading. Call 240-353-9040 or log on to www.southernmdeagles.org.