SPONSORED BY ARIZONA SPINAL CORD INJURY ASSOCIATION & COX COMMUNICATION

The host Phoenix Banner Wheelchair Suns JV won two of their four games at their second annual home tournament but were only able to record a fifth place finish overall.  The Phoenix team hosted five teams from California, Colorado, Texas and Washington this year in the tournament which took place at Skyline High School in Mesa on November 8 and 9. The field of six teams was divided into two flights of three teams each, competing in two gyms on Saturday and playing off for final positions in the main gym on Sunday. 

In the opening games Saturday morning, the TIRR Hotwheels from Houston led off with a 37/27 win over last year’s tournament champs, the Denver Jr Rolling Nuggets, while in the main gym the BORP (Berkley) Bay Cruisers rolled past the Spokane St. Lukes Tornados 49 to 30.  Spokane competed this year with about half their usual team as their girls were competing in the state cross country meet back home in Washington. The Suns took to the main court for their first game against Spokane at 10:30am Saturday but couldn’t get their shots to drop, finishing on the short end of a 38/24 score before a partisan home crowd.  In the other gym, the Hotwheels continued their roll, crushing the San Diego Hammer 50 to 8.

 

After a lunch of subs and a special visit from the Phoenix Suns Gorilla, students, parents and volunteers were able to enjoy an educational seminar presented by the University of Arizona. Wheelchair athletes from the University shared information about their college experiences. They provided packets and offered thoughts and insights into higher education opportunities for student athletes. They answered specific questions about academic preparation, scholarships, work-out schedules and the disability resources available at college. Individual questions were also fielded after the lunch hour for those wanting more in-depth answers. The 40-minute symposium proved to be one of the highlights of the weekend, as determined by the end-of-event evaluations.

In the afternoon on Saturday, the Suns took on BORP and again went down 58 to 37 with starter, Joe Underwood, in foul trouble for a majority of the second half and center, Robert Reed, bottled up in the back court for most of the game.  In gym C, Denver rolled over San Diego 33 to 10. 

At 3:00pm, Phoenix took on San Diego in an exhibition game while BORP played Denver and won 50 to 19 to earn a spot in the championship game on Sunday.  The Hotwheels squeaked past Spokane 32 to 30 after one of Spokane’s five players fouled out in the second half of the last game on Saturday. 

Sunday morning found Phoenix playing off for fifth place against San Diego and winning 23 to 19.  In the second game of the morning, Spokane easily defeated Denver 38 to 22 to take third place in the tournament.  In the championship game, despite three of their starters fouling out, the TIRR Hotwheels made it to the championship unbeaten with a 40 to 32 win over BORP.

In addition to their second and third place team trophies, the BORP and Spokane teams took home some extra hardware.  BORP’s Jorge Salazar was named tournament MVP while Kasey Ziggler of the Tornadoes was awarded the Sportsmanship award. 

“Of course we are disappointed we didn’t finish better, but the experience was good for all the players, most of whom were not able to travel with the team last season,” said Coach Craig Kokron of the Suns.  “Now we know what we need to work on to prepare for our upcoming tournaments and earn our spot in the national tournament.”

The Junior Suns have added a second weekly practice to prepare for upcoming tournaments in San Diego in January and Spokane in February of 2009.  They hope to be one of sixteen teams that will be invited to compete in the national JV tournament taking place in Denver in March.