New York Fury Aim For First Prep Division Title, While Lakeshore Shoots For Third Straight Varsity Division Championship
New York Rolling Fury Prep Division coach Christopher Noel was in tears.
Amidst receiving handshakes and hugs, he dried them with a folded-up black T-shirt he was carrying around in his hands.
For the first time in his four-year Prep Division coaching career and the Fury’s history, the team had reached the National Wheelchair Basketball Association (NWBA) Prep Division national wheelchair basketball tournament’s title game.
The No. 4 seed Fury slowed down the tempo, then rallied in the fourth quarter and hung on for a 27-25 Saturday afternoon semifinal victory over the No. 1 seed Dallas Junior Wheelchair Mavericks Blue team at the Henrico Sports & Events Center in Glen Allen, Va.
They’ll meet the upset-minded No. 6 seed WASA Marquette Eagles in Sunday’s final. WASA defeated the No. 7-seeded Lakeshore Sharks, 40-32, in Saturday’s first Prep Division semifinal.
Noel started the Fury wheelchair basketball team from scratch. Last year, the Fury finished in third place in the Prep Division. This year, Noel is shooting for more.
“We won third in the consolation game [last year]. So, we knew that this year we couldn’t do any worse,” Noel says. “And only to be in the national final championship game in four years with kids that had never played — and from scratch, I can’t think of a better situation for this organization.”
Tied at 22 with 3 minutes and 40 seconds remaining, Emelia D’Antonio scored on an inside cut and a nice pass to give the Rolling Fury a 24-22 lead. Dallas’ Kellen Davis hit 1-of-2 free throws to trim the deficit to 24-23 with 58.3 seconds to go before D’Antonio and Moustafa Eldeeb provided the key insurance points. D’Antonio got fouled with 49.3 seconds remaining, hit the first of two free throws, but missed the second. Eldeeb grabbed the offensive rebound, scored on a putback and was fouled with 44.3 seconds left. He missed the free throw, but it turned out to be enough of a cushion. The slower tempo and ball-control game kept Dallas from breaking the game out.
While the Fury and Mavericks Blue team game stayed close, WASA led wire-to-wire. The Eagles led 10-4 after the first quarter and 20-9 at halftime. Lakeshore cut the lead to eight in the fourth quarter, but that’s as close as it got.
As for Saturday, Noel says the Rolling Fury just need to continue playing their game.
“Taking smart shots, hitting our shots, playing defense and letting them know that we want this more than they do,” Noel says.
Bullsharks Drop Varsity Division’s Top Seed, Lakeshore Survives To Reach Title Game
The Brooks Bullsharks cruised past the NWBA Varsity Division’s top seed on Saturday. They dominated from the second quarter on, taking a double-digit lead, and didn’t let off the gas. No. 4 seed Brooks rolled to a 70-38 victory over the No. 1-seeded LWSRA Synergy Hawks in the Varsity Division’s opening semifinal.
First-year Bullsharks coach Luke Davidson, a physical therapist, says LWSRA tried to press Brooks, but the team handled it well, and it led to plenty of wide open looks.
“And then on defense, I think we did a great job of putting pressure on them, forcing them to take a lot of outside shots,” Davidson says. “And unfortunately for them, they didn’t make those shots that I know they are capable of making.”
Brooks will take on the No. 3 seed and the two-time defending Varsity Division champion Lakeshore Lakers.
The Lakers are still alive — after a wild rally in the final 2 minutes to earn a 54-51 victory over the No. 2 seed RHI Racers in the second semifinal.
Trailing 51-49 with 1 minute remaining, Lakeshore’s Jackson Horne provided the scoring and rebounding boost to save the team’s season. Horne made a basket to tie the game and was fouled on the play — hitting the free throw to give Lakeshore a 52-51 lead.
Then, after RHI missed a couple of shots, Lakeshore got the ball back to try and increase its lead. After a missed short inside shot, the Lakers recorded six straight misses and offensive rebounds, including four by Horne, until his final one — went back in with 20.1 seconds left to give them a 54-51 lead.
“I always read where the ball goes off the rim,” Horne says. “You can kind of tell if it’s going to go left, right or long. Our coach [Savannah Gardner] taught us about boxing out all year.”
RHI’s Kaiden Schaf, who had been hitting 3-pointers and long baseline shots throughout, missed a long 3-pointer with 3 seconds remaining, and Lakeshore survived the frenetic finish.
Brooks lost four games all year — with all four coming against Lakeshore and RHI. Lakeshore defeated the Bullsharks three times, with the last coming in the Southeastern Conference tournament last month, while RHI defeated the Bullsharks in January.
Gardner expects the matchup to be tough because Brooks knows what they’ve pulled out.
“They’ve seen what we can do. I think we’ve worked every practice on some new plays, new techniques, new variations that we’re ready to pull out and run tomorrow if we have to. But I’m a big fan of doing what works and not reinventing the wheel,” Gardner says. “And so, I’ve got some things up my sleeve if we need it. But at the end of the day, I’m going to let these guys go out and play tomorrow. We’ll adjust as we need to. But I think that game right there in the semifinal shows that we can do anything we put our mind to.”
ATX (Austin), Mary Free Bed Pacers Reach Junior NIT Title Game
Communication was a big key for ATX (Austin), and the players’ constant chatter on the court lifted them to a NWBA Junior NIT Division semifinal win and into the championship game.
No. 8 seed ATX (Austin) took down the No. 4-seeded SAAS Junior Wildcats, 63-40, in Saturday’s first Junior NIT semifinal.
Ninth-year ATX (Austin) coach Lee Brown says the team followed its plan on talking on the court and of guarding the Wildcats’ top two players, both females.
“If they communicated with each other, I told them that everything would be fine, we would win this game. And that’s what the team did today. They communicated,” Brown says. “It was just a lot of talking, you know — on who was jumping those two girls, I mean, and I just want, like I said, I’m giving all the props in the world to them because there’s very seldom you see any team here with two girls that good. That’s really special.”
ATX (Austin) will take on the No. 2 seed Mary Free Bed Junior Pacers. Mary Free Bed defeated No. 11-seeded Kansas City Kings B Team, 49-21, in Saturday’s second semifinal. The Pacers’ press defense wreaked all sorts of havoc on the Kings B Team, causing plenty of turnovers and missed shots. Kansas City had already upset the No. 3 seed Adaptive Sports Ohio ASOC Cavaliers and No. 6 seed Chicago Skyhawks.
“It beat them down. They came in. I noticed that they beat the number three team, and they beat the number six team, and they came in ranked number 11. So, I thought this could be a sleeper team,” longtime Mary Free Bed coach Lee Montgomery says. “So, ideally I’m going to press them. And that was what paid off for us.”
This will be the first meeting between Mary Free Bed and ATX (Austin) this year.
“They’ve got us in size. I think we have speed. So, might be doing the same thing again, getting the press on them. Or if we can’t press them, we’ll see,” Montgomery says. “And if we can’t, then we’ll play the cup, because I don’t think they have an outside threat.”
National Wheelchair Basketball Association Junior Division Championships Day 2 April 5
At Henrico Sports & Events Center in Glen Allen, Va.
Varsity Division
Consolation Bracket
No. 9 Dallas Junior Wheelchair Mavericks Blue 46, No. 13 Courage Kenny Rolling Timberwolves 38
No. 15 Cincinnati Dragons 43, No. 14 Ryan Martin Foundation Trojans 36
No. 16 New York Rolling Fury 51, No. 12 Golden State Junior Road Warriors 43
No. 10 BlazeSports Junior Hawks Red 72, No. 6 Utah Rush 39
No. 5 Kansas City Kings A 57, No. 8 Charlotte Rollin’ Hornets Purple 33
No. 7 Rancho Halos 47, No. 11 WASA Marquette Eagles 32
Semifinals
No. 4 Brooks Bullsharks 70, No. 1 LWSRA Synergy Hawks 38
No. 3 Lakeshore Lakers 54, No. 2 RHI Racers 51
Varsity Invitational Division
Consolation Bracket
No. 9 Fairfax Falcons 47, No. 12 Memphis Rollin’ Grizzlies 27
No. 6 Chicago Skyhawks 55, No. 10 Roger C. Peace Rollin’ Tigers 34
No. 13 Mad City Badgers 46, No. 16 ParaSport Spokane 19
No. 14 Dallas Junior Wheelchair Mavericks White 53, No. 18 TIRR Memorial Hermann
Hotwheels 26
No. 5 Bennett Blazers 63, No. 1 Nebraska Red Dawgs 53
No. 3 Adaptive Sports OHIO ASOC Cavaliers 36, No. 7 Katie’s Komets 20
15th-Place Game
No. 18 TIRR Memorial Hermann Hotwheels 34, No. 16 ParaSport Spokane 21
13th-Place Game
No. 13 Mad City Badgers 35, No. 14 Dallas Junior Wheelchair Mavericks White 16
11th-Place Game
No. 12 Memphis Rollin’ Grizzlies 52, No. 10 Roger C. Peace Rollin’ Tigers 40
Ninth-Place Game
No. 9 Fairfax Falcons 53, No. 6 Chicago Skyhawks 30
Semifinals
No. 8 ATX (Austin) 63, No. 4 SAAS Junior Wildcats 40
No. 2 Mary Free Bed Junior Pacers 49, No. 11 Kansas City Kings B Team 21
Prep Division
Consolation Bracket
No, 12 Courage Kenny Rolling Rowdies 28, No. 8 ATX (Austin) 20
No. 11 LWSRA Hawks 25, No. 18 Katie’s Komets 18
No. 13 Music City Thunder 36, No. 16 Charlotte Rollin’ Hornets 13
No. 10 Kansas City Kings 26, No. 14 Cincinnati Dragons 19
No. 5 Mary Free Bed Junior Pacers 31, No. 9 RHI 21
No. 3 Fairfax Falcons 26, No. 2 BlazeSports Junior Hawks 25
15th-Place Game
No. 14 Cincinnati Dragons 33, No. 16 Charlotte Rollin’ Hornets 21
Semifinals
No. 4 New York Rolling Fury 27, No. 1 Dallas Junior Wheelchair Mavericks Blue 25
No. 6 WASA Marquette Eagles 40, No. 7 Lakeshore Sharks 32