CAVS 12U Win Sixers 19th Annual Basketball Bonanza For The 3rd Consecutive Year!!

In 2010….right before the holidays, CAVS 12U was operating with a just about unstoppable momentum. The long holiday break came and all that flew right out the window….right along with the ham, turkey, greens and macaroni and cheese. Poof. Gone.

Since the beginning of 2011…CAVS 12U has been weaving in and out of that momentum, like the pieces of a puzzle, trying to be the way they were before that break. Don’t worry. I will be the first to say it.

That momentum is baaaaack!!!

For the 3^rd year in a row, CAVS 12U swept the championship this past weekend at the Sixers 19^th Annual Basketball Bonanza in sunny, usually hot (although not all that warm this time) Palm Springs. Not only did they win the championship, but Coach Darryl McDonald was awarded a special plaque for the coach with the most wins for their series of tourneys!  That plaque (as our usual championship coach trophies do) was, in turn, awarded to a player who gave up that strong effort and CAVS defense. We’ll get back to that in a minute. Right now…let’s go.

CAVS 12U opened up the weekend against I-Cann Results, with a late-night game, at almost 11:00pm Friday night. 

Whose wise idea this was, I will never know, but it worked. Though it was past a few bedtimes (players and parents alike) CAVS 12U came to play. 

The energy was through the roof. 12U picked up the victory, defeating I-Cann, 43-10.

Saturday, would be no different (well, except for the late, Taco-Bell-third-meal hours) as 12U defeated M.O.C., 73-19.

The next game at 6:45 on Saturday was, indeed, a bit strange. 

CAVS 12U began to battle it out with SC Triple Threat and was well into the third, 10-Minute period, with the score idling at 35-8, when the SC Coach called it quits and ended the game early. 

The coach claimed to be sincerely disturbed by the ref calls, had his players shake our players’ hands and just like Elvis….left the building.

Okay. Yeah. I am going to leave that one alone.

So…..

That would bring CAVS 12U to the final round games on Sunday. Btw…for those who were in Palm Springs, was it just me, or was it rather windy and kinda too cold to be swimming? Yet, the pools were jam-packed, as if it were the middle of an afternoon in July. The wind was whipping so hard, I had to throw on my sweat jacket. Hmmm…..guess the world is full of thick skin. 

Anyways….CAVS 12U faced off with ELA Heat. 

I’ll tell you what. These guys were no pushovers and truly worked hard to fight back. However, CAVS 12U were all on something else this weekend and ELA was no match for the hungry, determined CAVS. 

CAVS 12U combined a unified defensive and offensive strut package to ultimately snatch the victory (as if it stole something) 38-23.

And then it was on.

It was the championship game between CAVS 12U and none other than our longtime friends and simultaneous rivals, The California Heat. 

Now, I don’t know about you, but it’s as I told you before (maybe last year or something) you gotta love the Heat. They are scrappy, aggressive and they wanna win. Period. In fact, they did get us by one point in 2010 at the ARC Tourney in Palm Springs at College of The Desert, when our boys made a few mistakes in the last quarter.  You would have thought someone had just won the lottery by all of the victorious screams in that gym afterwards. 

So, every time we battle (and have battled) it is (and has always been) an all-out war. You have to respect that drive. Plus, I just love Valerie – who radiates on the court.   

I hope she takes it all the way to the WNBA and becomes another Candace Parker. She plays hard, but keeps all things girlie. She is representing the females well, real talk. It is because of her cute, “delicate flower” appearance that our boys used to take it easy on her – and not apply that required “lock-it-down” CAVS defense like they should have.

Not this time.

CAVS 12U managed to keep up that energy and bulldog-like stamina all weekend. It was a three days (well, a night and two days) of no mercy, no matter what. CAVS 12U conquered California Heat and brought home the championship, 46-28. WAY 2 GO CAVS 12U!!!

(From L to R:  Brian Devereaux, Coach Darryl McDonald, Elijah Walker, Pearson Parker, Coach Mike Irving, Mike Irving III, D.J. McDonald, Chasen Pender, Coach Joe Pender, Taj Regans, Cameron Townsend, Isaiah Richardson, Coach Kris Walker. NOT PICTURED: Billy Preston, Jr., Kyle Smith and Alazar Hailu.

Congrats to all of the boys who played their hearts out!! Together, the CAVS brought down the heat. No pun intended. We see you Alazar and Kyle!! Pearson Parker’s memorable 5-second call on California Heat was priceless, know what I mean? However, it was Brian Devereaux who stepped it up this weekend to earn the special Coach’s Award plaque (in place of the usual championship trophy) for bringing forth extra effort in defense, baseline drives, sportsmanship and accountability. Congrats, Brian Devereaux!!!  

The OLD Brian is back!!

Oh yeah. There is a story behind that statement. Do we have time for it? Noooo!!!

Next stop….the mighty CAVS divisions battle it out in Reno, Nevada!!! Ooooooh!!! GAME ON!!!

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***Check out all this weekend’s tourney photos on our Facebook site HERE.

******Full game details for all divisions are always available on our main website: http://www.cavsyouthbasketball.org.  Check back often for updates, as they are posted at varied times by multiple staff members.