The St. John’s Sauers girls and Immanuel Lutheran boys basketball teams competed at the Lutheran Basketball Association of America’s National Tournament of Champions this past weekend.
The tournament, which was hosted in Valparaiso, boasted some of the top Lutheran middle school basketball talent in the country.
Raising the bar
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Placing seventh among the field of 32, Immanuel managed its best finish in school history at the tournament.On their first day at the national stage, the Warriors came out with a pair of big wins.
In their first game March 18, the Warriors blew out the reigning Florida state champions Advent Lutheran, of Boca Raton, 52-33.
The Warriors then defeated Salem Lutheran (Tomball, Texas) 53-35 in the late game Friday.
“It was pretty awesome to see all the fellow Christians,” Immanuel Lutheran’s Charlie Caudill said. “We played well as a team and executed our offense. We usually play teams that had just a couple good kids, everyone was good on the opposing teams.
“It’s pretty special for us (to finish seventh). It shows that everything paid off.”
Salem recently finished as runners-up in the Texas state tourney.
“We came out and played aggressively to get big leads, and it all stemmed from the defensive end,” Warriors coach Jim Hoffman said. “We put a lot of pressure on them to get to the final eight. We came out mentally ready to play, and played unselfishly.”
Immanuel Lutheran eighth grader Braden Christopher said the team executed well the first day.
“I think we worked as a team,” Christopher said. “We ran through our plays much better. We worked together and got good rebounds and good shots off.”
Day 2, the Warriors fell to Our Shepherd Lutheran 52-46.
On the final day, March 20, the Warriors lost to the Texas state champions Trinity Klein (Spring, Texas) 54-45.
“The competition level, there were three or four teams a step above from everybody,” Hoffman said. “We were right there with them. I think we could play with those teams, and we proved that in our (close) game against Klein. I’m really happy with our performance. It was a tremendous season.”
During the course of the three days in four games, the Warriors’ Keaton Stout amassed 78 points.
“It’s by far the best individual performance we’ve ever had,” Hoffman said of Stout. “It wasn’t selfish play, he distributed the ball and played as a team-player.”
The Warriors, with a roster filled with eighth-graders, finished 26-10 for the season.
Sauers caps solid season
The St. John’s Sauers girls team placed fifth at the LBAA, with their sole loss was to the eventual national champions.In game one, the Raiders played through nerves to pull a 28-25 win against St. John’s, of Norwood, Minnesota.“We wanted to just make sure we got that one (opening) win,” Sauers coach Mary Ellen Jaynes said. “No matter how much you prepare, you will have first game jitters.”
With a win under their belt, the Raiders found their composure later that night by downing St. Paul’s (Oconomowoc, Wisconsin) 39-21.
“I think everyone on the team played outstanding games,” seventh grader Sydney Jaynes said. “We did all the little things.
“Whenever we went into the tournament, nobody knew us. You see people you’ve never played against. You don’t know how good they are. I think it was a level up from the competition we saw in the season.”
On day two, the Raiders fell to St. Michael Lutheran (Fort Myers, Florida) 36-21.
St. Michael would win their next two games to finish in the top spot at the tournament.
“We had high hopes, but ran into a team that was athletically outstanding,” Mary Ellen Jaynes said of St. Michael. “They had really good ball-handling and a lot of size. It was hard to combat. I think we were right there with the best of them, especially for a school of our size.”
Despite the loss, the Raiders had their sights on winning their remaining contests.
Sunday, the Raiders started with a 28-27 win against Trinity Lutheran (Utica, Michigan) and finished by trouncing Immanuel Lutheran (Lewiston, Minnesota) 38-18 in the fifth place game.
For eighth grader Ashley Schroer, it was the last time she laced up for the Raiders.
“It was very nerve-racking,” Schroer said. “I knew it was my last year playing up there. I just wanted us to do our best.”
While her team didn’t win the championship, Schroer said that her career at Sauers ended on a high.
“I wanted to be a leader to these girls and the younger kids,” Schroer said. “We finished off on a good note. We showed that the little town of Brownstown is really good.”
Mary Ellen Jaynes said that her team has already returned to the hardwood.
The Raiders, who finished 34-3, return all their players except Schroer for 2016-17.
“We’re very fortunate — we came out and played a pickup game last night,” Mary Ellen Jaynes said. “They’re already excited about playing basketball again — and that’s one of the fun parts of working with these girls.”