The Immanuel Lutheran School eighth grade basketball team and cheerleaders pose with the LUHi Lutheran Championship earlier this season. The Warriors will be competing at nationals this weekend.
Submitted photo
The Immanuel Lutheran eighth grade boys basketball team is committed to the opportunity that presents itself this weekend in Fort Wayne.
It’s spring break for the Warriors, but that’s not going to stand in their way. Head coach Jim Hoffman is currently in Puerto Rico, but he’s flying back tonight to be in Fort Wayne by Friday.
Multiple players also elected to leave their spring break trip early to get back for the games, and some players decided not to go anywhere for break just to be around for 75th annual Lutheran Basketball Association of America National Tournament.
For Hoffman, this will be his 12th time in 22 years taking the eighth grade boys basketball team from Immanuel to the national tournament.
“This is not new for us. We go if we feel like we have a chance to do something,” he said. “We’re fired up. We are really excited. They are committed to it, and that’s the big thing for us.”
Immanuel has had a stellar season up to this point. With an overall record of 26-7, the Warriors have won two tournaments so far this season — the LUHi Lutheran Tournament and the Seymour Middle School Invitational.
Overall, the Warriors have competed in six tournaments and have made it to the championship game in every single one of them.
“They’ve been a really solid team fundamentally wise,” Hoffman said. “We only turn it over nine times per game, and we average about 49 points per game. We play really good defense. We hold teams to like 35, 34 points.”
It’s an up-tempo offense for Immanuel, led by Reed Mellencamp, who is averaging 13 points, eight rebounds and three assists per game. Carter Stein is averaging 12 points and three assists and has made 62 3-pointers this season on 33% shooting.
Braxton Sinclair is averaging nine points and six rebounds, and Jude Michael has marks of seven points and three assists.
“When we’re on, we’re pretty hard to beat,” Hoffman said. “I’ve got a really solid first five. I’ve got a couple role players that do their job. It’s just a really fun team to watch. We’re not real big, but we get up and down the floor, and it’s fun.”
Immanuel takes and makes a lot of 3-point shots, shooting around 34% from deep on the season.
“They play really good together. Our transition offense is really, really good. They move the ball well,” Hoffman said. “Reed Mellencamp has kind of been our leader all year. Braxton has come on. Carter Stein can just stroke the 3s. We’ve had multiple games where we’ve hit over 10 3s.”
Hoffman has good memories of his teams playing well in the LBAA national tournament. He remembers winning the fourth place bracket one year and having multiple top 10 finishes.
In 22 years coaching eighth-graders at Immanuel, Hoffman has 488 career wins.
The 2023 LBAA National Tournament will be held at the Turnstone (Plassman Athletic Center) in Fort Wayne today through Sunday.
The opening ceremony is at 5 p.m. today with doors opening at 4 p.m. The games begin Friday at 8 a.m.
Immanuel’s first game will be against St. John’s Wauwatosa of Wisconsin at 1 p.m. Friday. They were the state runners-up in Wisconsin, just like Immanuel was the state runner-up in Indiana.
Hoffman said Wauwatosa plays a lot of 2-3 zone, and with the way the Warriors shoot the ball, he thinks they have the advantage.
“We’re going to play even more up-tempo, so we’ve had a couple more tweaks,” he said.
The winner of Immanuel Lutheran and St. John’s Wauwatosa will take on the winner of Trinity Klein (Spring, Texas) and Immanuel (East Dundee, Illinois) later Friday night.
All games and the opening ceremony are streamed live on the Internet. Go to lbaa.org to find out more information on this weekend’s event.