8th Grade Blue-Reno Jam-On-It Memorial Day Tournament 2011

Congratulations on

3^rd Place

GAME 1 – Win 43-31 - YBA Xtreme Blue vs. Redding Wolf Pack 

First game on the big stage in Reno and YBA played a solid game.  The first half saw YBA applying good ball pressure on defense and orchestrating well on the offensive end with Ish able to penetrate and lead the offense and the team making good overall decisions and passing the ball effectively.  Redding rallied after a somewhat sluggish start understandably likely nerves and their quickness on defense became at times problematic translating into easy scores for them.  The second half YBA was able to withstand a tough stretch which saw them making poor decisions but they were able to pull out of this lull and attain a 10 point lead.  Seeing the writing on the wall Redding went to a full court press to try to climb back into this one but it proved ineffective and YBA was able to exploit it for easy transition baskets and put this one in the W column, great start to a big event.

GAME 2 – Win 68-38 - YBA Xtreme Blue vs. NBBA

Game 1’s finishing effort proved contagious as YBA took hold of this game early and never let go.  Offensive execution was solid in this one effectively able to exploit the opponent with the pick and roll.  But as all good teams do NBBA made a run and cut a 15 point YBA lead down to 9.  But Ish lead the team back to what got the team the 15 point lead and transition baskets allowed YBA to put this one away for a 2-0 start on the grand stage of Reno.  Lots of smiles and the team seemed to savor this one and rightly so…Excellent team effort and excellent start to the event.    

GAME 3 – Loss 46-24 - YBA Xtreme Blue vs.  – NCYS Cobras

Funny thing with Cobras like everyone they can have a bad day but these Cobras came to fight in this one.  This game pitted YBA against a very athletic and poised team that was able to create a lot of turnovers and convert them into easy transition baskets.  The pace of this game was a little too quick for YBA and they were never quite able to get their bearings and control the tempo and flow of this game which kept YBA on its heals and eventually this caught up and this one slipped away.  Excellent effort and YBA competed until the last whistle and that is all you can ask.  But this is what playing big events is all about matching your skills against excellent competition and given a second match-up with this team YBA gives them a better game and the YBA players got better for having played this team and can take this memory into the summer for their workouts and off season training to get to that next level for freshman try outs next year.

GAME 4 – Win 46 – 43 - YBA Xtreme Blue  vs.  – NBBA

Coming off what of course was a disappointing loss for the players in Game 3 there is a choice a team can make…fold the tent or go out with some class and 3^rd place.   This was a hard fought game and went right down to the wire…no one wanted that long trip home with 4^th place to stew on.  YBA played as a team and everyone contributed to this win.  In the end, effort and execution proved to be the difference in this one and YBA was able to end the season and the big Reno event on a positive and capture 3^rd place under the white hot spotlights of Reno.  An excellent showing and effort in this tournament and 3^rd place is something to be proud of as it was hard earned and well deserved.  Winning is nice but it’s the lessons learned in losing that make us all better human beings and better basketball players.  Take this experience with you as you take your young careers into high school next year and as the late great Jimmy Valvano of the N.C. State Wolf Pack used to say, “Never Give Up, Never Ever Give Up.”