Youth Scene: Lightning finishes among elite

The Newport Lightning Basketball Club’s 12U/Sixth-Grade Black team continued its strong 2014 campaign after winning the consolation championship in the Gold Division at the SGV Aloha Classic at the ASC in Anaheim beating ranked teams on the West Coast SPK, Rockfish and OG Premier.

One week later, the team (with only five players available) played in the top division of the prestigious Jr. Hoops Fall Classic Oct. 18-19 at the MAP in Garden Grove.

The NLBC beat ranked teams en route to the championship game where it looked to pull off the major upset, facing the No. 7-ranked team on the West Coast Vegas Elite.

Four minutes into a tough game, starting point guard Luke Barnes went down with an ankle injury and was unable to return.

Vegas Elite pressed the entire game and came out with a seven-point victory over the NLBC who played nearly 30 minutes with just four players.

Coach Jeff Hamilton was proud of how hard his team competed all weekend and was amazed at the effort his players gave being so short in the finale.

Luke Barnes, Tyler Li, Hunter Schimmelpfennig, Austin Clark and Adam Garza were the “Iron 5” who competed during the weekend.

— Reader submission