CAVS 13U WIN MONROVIA MOUNTAINEERS TOURNEY IN 14U DIVISION

Got a question: How can THREE REFS—all on one court--ALL make bad calls at once? Really? Were we being punked?

I’m just sayin’. 

Before we get to that, remember January 21^st-22nd, when CAVS 13U pulled a double championship—one as 13U and the other as 14U? Sorta like…one weekend ago? Well, this past weekend, they returned home as 1^st Place champions from the Monrovia Mountaineers Tourney, January 28^th-29^th, 2012…with a twist.

CAVS 13U ONLY played up vs. 14U Teams.

The championship they brought home was the 14U division win. GAME ON.

Here we go:

On Saturday at 1:00pm (thank the LORD it wasn’t 8am) CAVS 13U battled the 14U Long Beach Gold team. 

It wasn’t a breeze, as LBG had some athletes in the mix. However, the CAVS Boyz were NOT HAVING IT and defeated LBG, 51-37.

At 3:00pm, CAVS 13U would face off once again with the 14U Southeast Warriors. 

 Jeez. We’re starting to see them just about as much as CA Heat…with the identical love/hate-relationship-cloud hanging overhead. It was time to make it rain. CAVS 13U picked up the win, 54-15.

Nice day, right?

Sunday began at 9am with CAVS 13U on the court vs. 14U SGV. Cha-ching! The 47-32 CAVS 13U victory placed them in the Semi-Finals.

Unfortunately, the Semi-Final game wouldn’t go down until 2:00pm.

Huh?

No way, man!! I think somebody just skipped a few lines on the scheduling sheet, right? Yeah. That’s it. We’re gonna go with that.

So…most of us went to the movies, came back and still had time to sit inside what HAD to be one of the hottest, muggiest gyms this side of earth (at least it was this past weekend). If I were blind and disoriented, I would have fought to the death against somebody telling me I wasn’t in Mississippi somewhere. Overall: Monrovia High is a REALLY NICE school, with an AWESOME football field—much like a college campus. 


In Monrovia…football’s the deal. Basketball’s ours.

Moving on….

At 2:00, CAVS 13U battled the 14U Hawks and scored the victory, 49-37—which meant one thing: CHAMPIONSHIP!!!

THAT’S where things became "hairy".

You know…it’s a darned good thing our beloved Coach Darryl McDonald had a pressing engagement and couldn’t stay for the championship game. He would have had TRIPLE TECHS, followed by Security issuing him CLEAN OUT OF MONROVIA.

Here it is: 

CAVS 13U joined 14U Long Beach Gold, center court, once again. THREE REFS also graced the floor. 

????????

I don’t think I’VE ever yelled so much in my LIFETIME. Players were literally tackling ours like they were in the Super Bowl and a ref would call a foul on our player. Worse still…the other two refs were in compliance! Or (and this is even better) the ball would CLEARLY be dribbled out of bounds near the BLEACHERS, by an LBG baller---with our player FOUR FEET AWAY and one of the FANTASTIC THREE ref crew members would still call it as LBG’s ball. OMG. It was so bad, we all gave standing ovations when one of em’ finally made a good call.

Matter of fact, I should stand right now. They deserve an encore.

Nevertheless, CAVS 13U won the 14U championship, 49-40. GO CAVS 13U!!! BALLIN’!! Check out all the photos just uploaded on our Facebook site right HERE.

(From l to r: Terrence  McBride, Coach Sean Regans, Brian "B-Dev" Devereaux, Mike Irving III, Taj Regans, Coach Mike Irving, Colden Davis, D.J. McDonald, Chasen Pender, Myles Marchand, Pearson Parker (#6), Alazar Hailu (#22), Cameron "Big Cam" Townsend, Coach Kris Walker. Not pictured: Coach Darryl McDonald)

We’ll have you know now…the CAVS Ballers are currently only playing at “half-mast”. Coach Darryl STILL has not had the pleasure this year, to have EVERY 13U Baller in one practice simultaneously, as some are nursing injuries; some have had school obligations, etc. However, the time is near. The intensity is heating up. Injuries are almost healed….

…and there will be a few “surprises”.

Once CAVS 13U gets into that famous rhythm…that undeniable synchronization that they are notoriously known for….the GAME WILL BE OVER!!! LIGHTS OUT!!!!

Next stop….SGV Tourney in February. GAME ON!!!

CAVS 13U: Double Champions in AVAC Hoyas Tourney

Two days. Sub-zero temperatures. Tumbleweeds in the roads. Nine Games in two divisions (back-to-back, no breathing room).

DOUBLE Championship wins. 

Intrigued yet? 

We’ll start here: We told you that CAVS 13U only had ONE practice (with all teammates actually present simultaneously, that is) before season tourneys started up. Still….after last weekend’s loss in the semi-finals, vs. MVP Flight Elite (ACES MLK Tourney) we…kind-of…expected CAVS 13U to bounce back in this past weekend’s tourney. They always do. We also knew it would be a busy weekend. We just didn’t know how busy. Phew!! Grab a chair. I’ve got to break this down for you.

CAVS 13U brought home the 1^st Place Championship in the 13U division and finished as 2^nd Place Champions (playing up) in the 14U Division, at the 7^th Annual AVAC Hoyas New Year’s Kickoff Classic Tourney, January 21^st-22^nd, 2012, in the Palmdale/Lancaster area.

Notice, we said: Palmdale/Lancaster area. Now you know why we mentioned tumbleweeds.

Here we go.

On Saturday at 3:00pm, CAVS 13U kicked off the weekend vs. the 14U O3 Elite Team and won, 33-26.

At 5:00, CAVS 13U was running the floor with the 14U Gamepoint team and scored the win, 36-25.

At 6:00, they went head-to-head with the 13U West Valley Warriors, won, 58-24 and….

…at 7:00, CAVs won 67-27 against the 13U AV Champions, earning them a spot in the semi-finals.

Sounds manageable? Well…it probably would be, if there had been a break between games. Nope. When games don’t run on time, there are no breaks!

Nevertheless…..

When all of that was done, rumor had it that our Sunday games in both 13U and 14U divisions were to be played at 11:00am. Yeah, right. Like that was going to work! So, after some “rearranging”, we received word at 10:00pm that night that our first game was to be at 8:00am Sunday morning.

8:00am?

Well, it certainly beat the alternative of dividing ourselves in half to attend two games at the same time in different gyms. We arrived so early the ADMISSION table wasn't even set up yet, much less the scoreboard arrangements...and as for the refs? Fuggedaboutit!

Question:  If you were a ref and arrived blisteringly late to a game, would you take your time, plug in, then check your cell phone and still calmly stroll over to change your clothes, or would you hurry the heck up? I'm just sayin’.

So, YEP...on Sunday morning, bright and early at 8:00am, CAVS 13U faced off with the 14U Impact Team and garnered the victory, 46-32, earning them a 14U Semi-Final spot. 

Now…one would think we would have a break between this time and the next game at 11:00am, right? NOT! The 8am game didn’t begin until almost 9:00am (no refs or scoreboard set-up) so, no…there were no breaks. Luckily, most of us packed coolers with pop tarts, bananas and granola bars; otherwise we would’ve been in need of a miracle to get the boys to play non-stop games like that!

At 11:00am, for the Semi-Final game, CAVS 13U met up with the 13U Baseline 2 Baseline team and won, 37-22.

At 12:00, for the Semi-Final game, CAVS 13U squared up with the 14U NJB Stars team. THIS was an interesting game. 

NJB is a structured team, with a MASSIVE (tall and husky) kid towering over 6’3. However, the NJB structure didn’t quite dominate the CAVS 13U structure and CAVS 13U scored the win, 36-25.

You know what this all meant, don’t you?

All of these wins placed CAVS 13U in two championship games for both 13 & 14U. Score! Not to mention, there were hot dogs, links, ribs, potato salad and baked beans for sale in the lobby. OF COURSE these games would be played back-to-back, so the boys had to (quite happily, I might add) WOLF this kind of food down as fast as they could (after the 12:00 game) and get right back out to play. I suppose SEVERE INDIGESTION is not as common in smaller, athletic bodies used to inhaling food down as a common practice, as it would MOST DEFINITELY would be (in me) and the rest of their parents. 

Anyway….

At 2:00pm (the CAVS’ fourth consecutive game that day) CAVS 13U battled the 13U Gymrats for the championship. 

OMG. Before the game could begin, there was an argument over the usual Molten ball the CAVS use---so, we couldn’t use it. As if the BALL was going to make a serious difference in anything! Whatever. I have to give it to the Gymrats. Those boys were SERIOUSLY ready to play and launched the game with a sizeable lead against CAVS 13U. 

However (as always) CAVS 13U pulled a spare helping from their “strong stamina reserve” and quickly closed (and surpassed) the gap, winning the championship, 42-34. GO CAVS 13U!!!

The boys literally sat down for about two minutes flat before meeting the 14U Edge Basketball team in the center of the floor, where they had JUST taken their 13U Championship photo.

Talk about stamina!

The 14U Championship game was toe-to-toe, until CAVS 13U gained a NICE lead, placing them ahead for the first half. 

The second half was an entirely different story, as the 14U Edge boys closed the gap and the two teams battled it out until the very last minutes of the game. 

CAVS 13U was ahead and almost had the championship, when Edge scored a last-minute “and one”, placing them 1 point ahead, with 2.1 seconds left on the clock. Sucks, doesn’t it? 

Edge prevailed at 56-55. 

Lucky win for Edge, though. However, can you SEE the overall picture? Our boys were dog-tired and STILL almost had it! We had injured players and other players NOT AT ALL on top of their game this weekend.  CAVS 13U only lost by ONE unlucky point after all that. 

CAVS 13u still brought home two trophies in one day, after nine games during the weekend, back-to-back, still finished 1^st place in the 13U division and still earned the 2^nd place championship in the 14U division!! 

***We’ll say it again…..GO CAVS 13U!! Even though they all look someone just shot their dogs!! Maybe they're just tired after NINE STRAIGHT games in two days.....

No worries, though….CAVS 13U is just warming up. 

NEXT STOP….Santa Anita Mountaineers tourney next weekend, January 28th-29th! GAME ON!!!

***Check out this weekend's photos on our Facebook site HERE.

CAVS 13U -THE GOOD, THE BAD & THE UGLY

Gosh. To say that things sometimes don’t turn out the way you want them is an understatement—hence the title of this post. Let me give you The UGLY, first. CAVS 13U did not bring home the championship this weekend at the ACES MLK Tournament IN the Fullerton area gyms. I know, right? Sucks.

The BAD:  CAVS 13U battled the Amazon-tall team, MVP Flight Elite and had them. 

What do I mean? I mean, the game was THEIRS for the taking. They had the JUMP on MVP Flight Elite for the entire first half!! However, it would be the start of the second half where CAVS 13U let the game completely slip from their fingers (sometimes literally) giving MVP Flight Elite not only the victory of 60-48, but the golden Willy Wonka ticket to the championship game. Doggonnit!!

Now, for The GOOD…..because there’s always good somewhere….

CAVS 13U was not really entered into this tourney to win it. If they did, GLORY TO THE LORD, but if not, so be it. Ha! I know what you’re thinking (because I thought it, too, at first). Yeah, right—tell that to the players who ran up and down the courts all weekend!

Seriously, though, this tournament was somewhat of a “tune-up” for CAVS 13U. The mighty CAVS Boys haven’t yet begun their usual rhythm, so they're on their WAY to it. We’re talking about the USUAL flow that sets them on that undefeated winning track they’ve been traveling down since they all were ten. Oh, don’t get me wrong. CAVS 13U is gonna have to WORK like never before. The current competition is taller, faster, stronger and more knowledgeable than ever before about this b-ball game we love.

Not to mention many of them are double and triple hold-backs, with grown-men physiques and five-o’-clock shadows, who probably drove themselves to the games. 

Whatever.

The point is…the GOOD is….CAVS 13U did WIN all of their previous games in the ACES MLK Tourney and earned 1^st Place in their pool against Team Bibby....

Vs. Rising Stars Elite, 38-32......

and Surf City Swoosh, 72-60 (remember the giant kid in THIS team?). 

And...since you were asking yourself and thinking it.....YES.

The REF was Stoney Jackson.

Yep. Don't EVEN rack your brain trying to remember all of the gazillion things Stoney was in. Stoney was a bad mutha--shut yo' mouth! 

And before you start assuming, I'm not insinuating he was in SHAFT!! 

Jeez.

Here is his IMDB link: Check out Stoney

ANYHOO...it was NOT an easy ride for CAVS 13U, this weekend, period. It's not like we wanted one; just sayin'. Their efforts earned them a spot in the Semi-Finals, but their mistakes cost them a spot in the championship game. Period. However…nobody's gonna sit around and cry about it. We will keep it moving like soldiers, while we prepare for the battles yet to come. 

It’s what we do. 

It’s who we are.

And we're just getting started.

*****Check out photos from this weekend on our Facebook site HERE.

NEXT STOP…AVAC Hoyas tournament January 21st-22nd. GAME ON!!