Newport-Mesa Tar Heels Win All-Net National Championship!

Newport-Mesa Tar Heels Win the 7th Grade National All-Net Tournament!

The Newport-Mesa Tar Heels, a seventh-grade boys All-Net basketball team rallied to win the National Junior Basketball National Tournament held last weekend and ended the season 20-3.

In pool play Saturday, the Tar Heels defeated the Irvine Mavericks 51-20, Redlands Heat 54-35 and Bakersfield Hawks 56-27.

On Sunday, the Tar Heels rallied from a 5-point deficit with less than two minutes remaining in the game against the Irvine Bruins. Riley Gaddis stole the ball in the full-court press leading to an easy basket and another steal from Kevin Fults led to foul shots from Cole Norris who cut the lead to 1 with just seconds remaining. Norris and Gaddis created another turnover which led to an assist under the basket to Fults who finished off the game with a tough lay-in at the buzzer to win 40-39.

In the Championship Game, the Tar Heels faced a tough Coyote Creek team who had won their regular-season title and made their way to the tournament from San Jose. The game was a back and forth battle with the Heels leading by seven at halftime only to see the lead gone by the end of the third quarter. The Heels rallied in the final quarter with big shots from Riley Gaddis (16 points / 5 steals), Kevin Fults (8 points / 5 rebounds), Brett Greenlee (3 points / 6 rebounds) and Cole Norris (12 points / 7 rebounds). With just minutes remaining, the Heels stole the ball and converted a layup by Gaddis and a clutch shot from Logan Miller (4 points / 4 steals) in the corner to go up by three. Coyote Creek had to foul in the end and sent Norris and Miller to the line where they converted 4 of 6 to finish out the game 52-45 for the win.

The Tar Heels got key contributions throughout the tournament from Max Stanley, Grady Kimme, Charlie Evans, and Hagen Truninger. Max Kline was unavailable for the tournament. Scott Stucki and Eric Fults coached the team.