With high-school graduation looming this Memorial Day weekend, the 17U Coastal Crew Rebels made a quick change to their tournament schedule.
Instead of playing in the Memorial Day Classic in Suwanee, which starts today, the Rebels traveled to Jacksonville last weekend and placed second in the Jacksonville Super Regional.
17U basketball coach David Linderman said the Rebels went 4-1 in the tournament and opened play with a decisive 52-35 win over the Jacksonville Hawks.
The Rebels added another big win defeating the Jacksonville Heat, 72-44. That placed the Rebels in the quarterfinals, where they beat the Elite Warriors, 74-31.
Things got much closer in the semifinals against the Clay County Tar Heels. Linderman said fatigue was starting to become a factor, but the Rebels eked out a 54-53 victory.
“We played one game on Saturday and four on Sunday,” Linderman said. “We were happy we made it to the championship game, and we battled back and forth against the Jacksonville Warriors, but I think all the games started catching up with us. By the fourth quarter, we just didn’t have the legs to finish the game.”
The Jacksonville Warriors claimed a 48-46 win over the Rebels for the trophy.
Linderman said Herbert Roberts, Jamorris Hill, Miguel Pineda, Ahman Muhammad and Freddie McSwain were his starters, and Tevin Womack and Domonique Kirkley contributed off the bench.
He said each player made the right contributions on offense and every player was on point on defense.
“The team’s defense was the key to the run this weekend,” he said. “We played man-to-man very well and were able to switch to zones when we needed to. We had a team goal to limit the other teams to just 45 points. We did that in a few games.”
The Rebels 16U team also went 4-1 in the tournament, falling in the final four.
Both Rebels squads already had earned bids to the AAU Super Showcase and AAU National Tournament, which will be held in July in Orlando.