Newport Lightning 10U Black Team captures tourney title

The Newport Lightning Basketball Club captured another championship this summer, winning “the World Championships” tournament at the Next Level Sports Complex in Garden Grove July 27-28 in the fourth-grade division.

The Lightning 10-and-under/fourth-grade boys’ team played all four games with only six players all weekend.

The “Iron Six” beat Triple Threat and lost to North County Select on Saturday, putting them in a must-win against a much bigger YHWH team from Texas, that had won the first two pool-play games by 17.

The game was an intense battle with the Lightning down all of the first half and most of the second before mounting a huge comeback and winning, 45-43. That win set up the championship game against North County Select from San Diego, which had beaten the Lightning in pool play the day before.

The Lightning played their best game of the season against North County, scoring a 39-33 win for the championship.

The “Iron Six” consisted of Mikey Wein, Vanis Buckholz, Adam Garza, Hunter Schimmelpfennig, Levi Darrow and Tyler Li and was coached by Joe Schimmelpfennig.

— Reader submission