SAAS Junior Wildcats score upset, Adaptive Sports Ohio aims for first program title
Despite only having six players, the No. 4 seed Southern Arizona Adaptive Sports (SAAS) Junior Wildcats took down the National Wheelchair Basketball Association (NWBA) Junior NIT Division Tournament’s top seed.
Thanks to some senior leadership, a new player and a 13-point run to close the final 6 minutes of the second quarter, SAAS defeated the top-seeded Fairfax Falcons, 46-38, in Saturday afternoon’s first Junior NIT Division semifinal at the West Monroe Sports and Events complex in West Monroe, La. Now, they’ll play on Sunday and take on No. 2 seed Adaptive Sports Ohio, which knocked off the No. 3-seeded Junior Road Warriors, 58-46, in Saturday’s second semifinal.
Trailing 13-12 with 6 minutes and 20 seconds left in the second period, SAAS outscored Fairfax 15-2 to close the quarter and take a 27-15 halftime lead. Ismalia Jarjue capped the run with a layup with .9 seconds left in the period, just before the buzzer. SAAS’ Ari Hernandez also scored on a buzzer-beating lay-in to end the third quarter.
SAAS coach Karl Yares acknowledged his two seniors — Adrina Castro (the 2020 Sports N Spokes Junior Athlete of the Year award winner) and Vincent Wilson — along with rookie Jacob Dyer, who played in his first wheelchair basketball tournament ever this weekend, helped provide a boost. That run, though, with strong defense, kept Fairfax in check.
“That run was spurred by great defense, just playing together as a team and mutual trust. There was no hesitation in making the correct play, the correct pass,” Yares says. “And these guys have played together for years, and they’ve developed a pretty high level of trust in each other. They’re really raising their level in terms of talk.”
Adaptive Sports Ohio, meanwhile, will be playing for its first wheelchair basketball championship in program history in coach Brett Followay’s first year.
A long run also helped Adaptive Sports Ohio net its semifinal win. Tied at 32-32 with 5:03 left against the Junior Road Warriors in the third quarter, Adaptive Sports Ohio went on a 17-4 run to go up 49-36 with 6:16 left in the fourth quarter. Holloway is excited the team now has a chance to play for the program’s first title.
“So, it means everything. I told the kids, you know, I mean, they’re kids — ‘Have fun,’ you know, ‘be together, but we are here to bring home the gold,’” he says.
Top Two Seeds To Clash In Junior Varsity Title Game
The Kansas City Kings Gold’s speed, depth and quick hands helped propel them to their first NWBA Junior Varsity Division championship game in three years.
Trailing by one point at halftime, No. 2 Kansas City blitzed the No. 6-seeded WASA Marquette Eagles and outscored them by double-digits in the third quarter en route to a 59-46 NWBA Junior Varsity Division semifinal game win Saturday afternoon.
WASA had a 19-12 lead early in the second quarter before Kansas City rallied ahead. The Kings Gold team cut the deficit to 27-26 at halftime and outscored the Eagles by 10 points in the third to gain a 46-37 lead after three periods to pull away.
“I think it’s a combo of both speed and chair skills — and that equals good defense. You have to have speed. You have to have skills. You have to have discipline. And those things are all good defense,” says ninth year Kansas City coach Matt Bollig.
Kansas City will take on the top seed, the Dallas Junior Wheelchair Mavericks Blue team, in Sunday’s Junior Varsity Division final.
Dallas held off the pesky No. 5 seed Charlotte Rollin’ Hornets, 45-39, in the other semifinal. Dallas led 40-31 with 3:52 left but couldn’t put Charlotte fully away.
The Rollin’ Hornets cut the lead down to 6 twice, and then down to 44-39 after a Cameron Ruis 3-pointer with 32.9 seconds to go. But Dallas’ Ethen Hansen hit 2-of-6 free-throw attempts, and the Junior Wheelchair Mavericks Blue defense held off any more of a late rally.
It was a sloppy first half for both teams, as Dallas led 5-4 after the first quarter and 20-14 at halftime.
Dallas and Kansas City have played each other twice this season, with the Junior Wheelchair Mavericks Blue team winning both times. But Bollig says they played each other in their first tournament this season and didn’t shoot well against them.
“I really do like our chances,” he says. “We’ve practiced a lot this season, grew as a team.”
Texas, Blaze Meet in Prep Final
No. 1 seed ATX (Austin) dominated its Saturday semifinal game, while the No. 3 seed BlazeSports Junior Hawks rallied in the second half and then hit foul shots to secure their NWBA Junior Prep Division finals berths on Sunday.
No. 1 ATX (Austin) defeated the No. 4-seeded Courage Kenny Rollin’ Rowdies, 39-20, to advance to the Prep Division championship game for the second time in three years. ATX (Austin) won the Prep Division title in 2024, finishing with a 30-0 record.
ATX (Austin) has won all three of its Prep Division tournament games by at least 19 points. It led 10-0 after the first quarter, 24-4 at halftime and 38-10 after three quarters against Courage Kenny.
ATX (Austin) coach Tim Allen says his team just needs to keep relying on its defense.
“We play really good defense. We back-pick really well. Then, that leads to good offensive opportunities, high-percentage shots. If our bigs can get to good spots, it’s hard to stop both of them. But we also have guards that can knock down shots, too,” Allen says. “But our game starts with defense, and then it turns into our transition game, getting down the court fast and getting high-percentage shots.”
Meanwhile, BlazeSports rallied from a 6-point first-quarter deficit for its victory. BlazeSports held a 24-19 lead with 6:40 remaining before coach Mark LaRotonda was called for a technical foul and Music City Thunder’s Elijah Fromiller hit two technical free throws to cut the deficit to 24-21. But the Junior Hawks didn’t fold. They hit enough foul shots, going 11-of-18 from the free-throw line the rest of the game. Paul Sturtz hit 5-of-8 free throws during the period, while Jordan Bates went 3-of-4 to lead them.
ATX (Austin) and BlazeSports met in October, with ATX (Austin) winning by 9 points, Allen says. LaRotonda says guarding their bigs and defense will be key to sparking them to a win.
“It’s going to be difficult, but we’re going to have to try to keep their big boys out. They’ve got a very large team. I have a very quick team, so it must be keep them away from the basket, you know,” LaRontonda says. “Hopefully we can, you know, stay in the game. If we allow them inside, you know it’ll be over.”
Final Scores for March 21, 2026
Varsity Division
Semifinals
No. 1 Dallas Junior Wheelchair Mavericks Blue 48, No. 5 Charlotte Rollin’ Hornets 39
No. 2 Kansas City Kings Gold 59, No. 6 WASA Marquette Eagles 46
Consolation
No. 9 LWSRA/Synergy Hawks 47, No. 13 Courage Kenny Junior Rolling Timberwolves 43
No. 11 Brooks Bullsharks 63, No. 10 BlazeSports Junior Hawks Red 49
No. 12 Nebraska Red Dawgs 62, No. 16 Ryan Martin Foundation Trojans 32
No. 15 Mary Free Bed Junior Pacers 45, No. 14 Katie’s Komets 25
No. 4 ATX (Austin) 60, No. 8 Cincinnati Dragons 56
No. 7 Rancho Halos 60, No. 3 RHI Turnstone Racers 43
Junior NIT Division
Semifinals
No. 4 SAAS Junior Wildcats 46, No. 1 Fairfax Falcons 38
No. 2 Adaptive Sports Ohio ASOC 58, No. 3 BORP Junior Road Warriors 46
Consolation
No 9 ParaSport Spokane 35, No. 13 Dallas Junior Wheelchair Mavericks White 28
No. 7 Louisville Lightning 43, No. 14 Seattle Sonics 41
No. 12 Orlando Dreamers 33, No. 16 Ability360 Phoenix 8
No. 11 Music City Thunder 27, No. 15 Fresno Wheelers 25
No. 8 Lakeshore Lakers 56, No. 5 New York Rolling Fury 52
No. 6 TIRR Memorial Hermann Hotwheels 44, No. 10 Mad City Badgers 39
15th-Place Game
No. 15 Fresno Wheelers 36, No. 16 Ability360 Phoenix 30
13th-Place Game
No. 11 Music City Thunde 28r, No. 12 Orlando Dreamers 26
11th-Place Game
No. 13 Dallas Junior Wheelchair Mavericks White 36, No. 14 Seattle Sonics 30
Ninth-Place Game
No. 9 ParaSport Spokane 36, No. 7 Louisville Lightning 34
Seventh-Place Game
No. 10 Mad City Badgers 44, No. 5 New York Rolling Fury 35
Fifth-Place Game
No. 6 TIRR Memorial Hermann Hotwheels 49, No. 8 Lakeshore Lakers 40
Prep Division
Semifinals
No. 1 ATX (Austin) 39, No. 4 Courage Kenny Rollin’ Rowdies 20
No. 3 BlazeSports Junior Hawks 35, No. 2 Music City Thunder 24
Consolation
No. 9 RHI Junior Racers 32, No. 12 New York Rolling Fury 23
No. 11 Louisville Lightning Green 37, No. 10 Katie’s Komets 33
No. 13 Dallas Junior Wheelchair Mavericks Blue 27, No. 16 Bridge City Blazers 19
No. 14 Cincinnati Dragons 33, No. 15 Fairfax Falcons 21
15th-Place Game
No. 15 Fairfax Falcons 32, No. 16 Bridge City Blazers 20
13th-Place Game
No. 14 Cincinnati Dragons 19, No. 13 Dallas Junior Wheelchair Mavericks Blue 15
11th-Place Game
No. 10 Katie’s Komets 44, No. 12 New York Rolling Fury 31
Ninth-Place Game
No. 11 Louisville Lightning Green 25, No. 9 RHI Junior Racers 23