Local Youth Basketball Teams Serve Notice As Up-and-Coming Powers at National Tournament

National Junior Basketball, a youth hoops program based in Anaheim, CA with chapters throughout the country, this past weekend hosted its annual “All Net” national invitational tournament at high school gyms throughout Orange County.  “All Net” teams are comprised of boys and girls from NJB chapters in grades 5th through 8th; local teams compete against squads during the regular season located in San Diego, Orange, and Riverside counties.  North
San Diego County’s only “All Net” chapter is based in Encinitas and maintains
boys 5th, 6th, and 7th grade cagers, all of whom competed in this year’s national tournament.  The rosters of these teams are primarily players from Carlsbad, and their collective performances certainly turned heads!

The 7thgrade Encinitas Thunder, the core of the team having been coached since 5thgrade by Bob Gallagher, went 4-1 in their respective bracket, culminating in a
52-50 victory in the championship game over a stubborn Brea squad.  Encinitas nearly squandered a late 10-point lead, but the boys tenaciously held their ground defensively to earn the title and prized, high-rise, first place trophy! 
It was an especially sweet championship for the Thunder, who started
their regular season at 1-4 before reeling off seven consecutive wins.  The Thunder are Chris Gallagher, Aidan Navarro, Mikey Crowley, Ted Rohner, Andrew Hogan, John “JJ” Steccato, Alex Sonck, Stephen Sedlock, and Nick Alvarado. 
Absent from the tournament due to injury were Xavier Allison and Grady
Beck.  Well done, champs!

Coaches Brian Lucewicz and Jim O’Hara took their 6th grade Encinitas
Panthers into the toughest-rated bracket for their grade level and brought home
5th place honors, going 2-2.  The Panthers finished their regular season ranked 6th out of thirty teams. Their season was highlighted by a Christmas NJB tournament championship.
The Panther players are Matt Stevenson, Tyler Jung, Kyle Wada, Jason O’Hara,
Liam Lucewicz, Kyle O’Hara, Tyler Elsom, James Burt, John Giovannoni, Carter
Hall, and Sam Crespi.  This group took a significant step forward this season in both play and level of competition and greater success is expected next season.

Finally, in what spectators, game officials, and statisticians described (and this writer can attest) as one of the most exciting basketball games ever witnessed, inclusive of high school, college, and the NBA, the first year, 5th grade
Encinitas Ballers fought through four periods of regulation play as well as
THREE overtime periods before finally succumbing to Yorba Linda in the
championship game, 91-88; their only loss of the tournament.  The Ballers fell behind early and often but always battled back throughout the five games played in their bracket, earning the nickname, “The Comeback Kids.”  The championship finale was no different, as the Ballers dug themselves an early 23-9 deficit after the first period of play, only to rally and actually take a 17-point advantage in the third quarter!  However, Yorba Linda had an equal level of fight and re-took the lead in the final period of regulation.  The Ballers reached deep into their collective pool of resolve and refused to go away, managing to tie the game and send it to extra sessions on three occasions by means of clutch free throws and a three-point shot, all in the final seconds of play.  In fact, the Ballers nearly pushed the game into a fourth overtime, firing three trifecta attempts in the final ten seconds of the third overtime, only to see each fall ever-so short.  As one parent stated after the exhausting finish….”it doesn’t feel like a loss. Our kids just ran out of time!” 
The Ballers, coached by John Durant and Evan Jones, took solace in their
gallant second place finish and corresponding hardware.  The 5th graders are Caelen “CJ” Jones, Andrew Durant, Dylan Williams, Matthew Pelletier, Alex Bright, Brogan Pietrocini, Landon Navarro, Nick Sonck, Matthew Reynolds, and Joe “The Straw” Kagan.

Based uponthese performances and the ever-increasing enrollment in and popularity of theNJB Encinitas chapter in both Divisional and All Net play, the future of high school basketball in Carlsbad looks promising indeed!

For furtherinformation regarding National Junior Basketball, visit their website at
njbl.org