After three straight second-place tournament finishes the U-14 Red boys from Northern Bounce Basketball Academy finally got the sweet taste of a final-game victory they craved all season long.
They capped off an undefeated 6-0 run at the four-day Canadian Club Basketball Championships in Langley on Sunday, Aug. 4 with a 54-34 win over Raincity Boys Purple of Vancouver in the 14U Gold Division final.
“It was just an unbelievable job all season by our U14 Red team,” said Northern Bounce Academy owner/founder Jordan Yu.
“Their record was 26-2 and they made three tournament finals and they got it done at this nationals. They were in the finals of every single one and lost some close battles in championship games. I think just the lessons learned from those tight games that they’ve been in, they were forced to deal with in this last tournament and they went 6-0 in the Gold Division, which is the best we’ve ever done in that division in that age group.”
Coached by Reid Roberts and Joel Mueller, the U14 Red roster includes Brody Black, Carter Simpson, Zeke Ferguson, Lucas Murrin, Tyce Mueller, Christian Lucarelli, Ali Kora, Isaac Mogus, Liam Low, Nathan Del Rosario, Memphis Chesworth and Sawyer Roberts.
In other medal results, the Northern Bounce U16 boys coached by Nick Novak competed in the highest-level Platinum Division and came home with bronze. They went 4-2 in the tournament, defeating Fraser Valley Prep U16s 75-49 to guarantee a podium finish Sunday.
That team includes Dayne Mueller, Teagan Vanegmond, M.J. Kim, Kabir Bhathal, Tolu Bankole, Jack Sales, Jake Samis, Colby Van Camp, Urijah Zurowski, Wyatt Hill, Hunter Anderson and Markus Sale.
“We normally don’t enter the Platinum Division because it can get pretty ugly some of the games, it’s really high level,” said Yu, who started the academy in 2017.
“But the U16 boys went 4-2 and got a bronze medal, the highest we’ve ever finished in the Platinum Division. Everyone’s been putting in so much time from April to this last tournament in August and I’m just so proud of the players and coaching staff and parents who got behind us. We’re starting to see the fruits of a lot of our labour, it’s just so great to see us competing at these high-levels now at these tournaments.”
The previous week at nationals in Langley, four Northern Bounce girls' teams finished with medal wins.
Based at the Roll-A-Dome, the Northern Bounce elite team program has about 130 players, while the elementary academies (kindergarten-Grade 7) involve about 200 players.
