Local Teens Finish Third at Basketball National Championship

Local Teens Finish Third at Basketball National Championship

On July 12th, the Mass Premier ‘s Boys U16 basketball team took third place at the Division II AAU National Championships in Little Rock, Arkansas, defeating the Houston Flight 54-48. Team members traveling to the tournament included Franklin High’s Matthew Palazini, Matthew Dean, and Nicholas Colson; Bishop Feehan’s Michael Adams and Ryan Sheehan; Mansfield High’s Rodney Chance; Westborough High’s Nicholas Mastrogiacomo, and Mount St. Charles’s Colin Russell.

Mass Premier qualified for the championship bracket after a successful round of pool play over the first two days of the tournament. Each game in the championship bracket proved to be challenging and competitive, including an early 1-point victory over the heavily-favored Louisiana Roundballers. Mass Premier played tough defense against the much taller and larger Roundballers, allowing the normally high-scoring Shreveport, Louisiana team to score only 47 points.

In the “Elite 8” round, Mass Premier defeated a tenacious Arkansas Lions team in overtime, 44-42. The lead went back and forth for the entire 32 minutes of regulation and four minutes of overtime. With only seconds left, Mass Premier went up by 2 points, and made a defensive stop to close out the victory.

The semi-final game matched Mass Premier against the Chicago, Illinois Rising Stars. The Rising Stars were quick and aggressive, and pressured the ball on every part of the court. Nevertheless, Mass Premier played a strong “all-team” offensive game, with solid passing, rebounding, screening and backcuts, and led the game for the first three quarters. However, in the fourth quarter, Chicago increased their defensive pressure, anddefeated Mass Premier 56-51. Chicago then moved on to the championship game, where they defeated the Arkansas Wings by twelve to win the National Championship.

In their final game of the tournament, Mass Premier played well from the opening jump. The team scored the first two points of the game, and never relinquished the lead. Mass Premier demonstrated their hallmark patience and cohesiveness on offense, while playing relentless defense, holding Houston Flight to 48 points.

Head Coach Ryan Gordy, Mansfield, shared, "We play a true form of team basketball, allowing us to compete with some of the top players and teams in the country, and to advance as far as we did. Patience, ball movement, and back door cuts were our keys to success offensively, but it was our team help defense that won games for us. Coaching a true team always makes a coach proud." Coach Gordy was assisted on the bench byJay Donovan and Pat Jewitt.

As a result of its third place finish, Mass Premier was awarded an automatic bid to the 2009 National Championships in Orlando, FL. In addition to their National Championship success, Mass Premier also finished first in the New England Regional Championships, and completed the AAU season with an overall record of 33-9. Bobby Introini, Mansfield, and Jimmy Ney, Milford, were also members of the team but were unable to travel to Little Rock.