Steelton Ponies had a great week going undefeated 5 - 0 vs every team there.... and wrapping the championships up against Camp Curtin YMCA..... The Camp Curtin YMCA did a good job fighting their way through the brackets to get the prime time game vs Steelton Ponies.... Camp Curtin has a nice young nucleus of players with Little Pete, Chance, Jon Jon and Big E.... These kids have a lot of fight in them and will be very good in the future....
Steelton Ponies won the final game 33 - 19 led by 5th grade sensation Jordan McCraw's 16 points, 9 rebs and 7 blocks... This kid is on another level and if he keeps it up, he can be one of the best players in the area one day..... Keyian Bullock and Donovin Medina did a great job handling the press and getting the ball to the right people while Javion Grant and Tyreese Smith owned the glass all tournament... Great contribution from young guys like Deuce Erb who was tough to handle... This kid is by far one of the best 4th graders around... He's quick with great length and basketball IQ for one so young....
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| Steelton Pony Champs back left to right Deuce, Coach Joe, Jordan, Scooby, Eric (hidden), Jeff, Coach Doc, John, Tyreese front left to right Keyian, Ty Ty, Donovin, Lex |
The Midget championship was very intense but the final outcome was in Steelton's favor.... Steelton and Don's Smith (Middletown) met the first two times with each team splitting a victory.... The first game, though intense, was competitive, friendly, and enjoyable to watch....
The second game was played good but the officiating was a little poor as they allowed the game to get a little out of control... There was lots of pushing, shoving, and talking throughout the first three quarters.... It was never put to a cease as the officials looked as if they were in over their heads in a 13U game....
The play that erupted the gym was when Tyrece Little bumped Tre Leach out of bounds on a fastbreak layup that resulted in a flagrant foul... The foul call was correct as Little should have made a better play on the ball, the sad part of the play was Don Smith's coach Chris Hughes ran onto the court and told the officials to kick Little out the game and out of the gym.... By him showing his negative energy towards Little, it caused all of the Middletown fans to erupt which blew the situation out of control..... Parents ran onto the court yelling at each other as the game was paused for at least 15 minutes to calm the crowd....
Hard fouls happen and sometimes kids don't know how to make a clean foul when they're told to foul.... But is it ok for coaches/dads to run onto a court and yell at 12 and 13 year old kids about what they did? Good thing that Tre is a tough kid as he bounced right back up after the foul, never stayed down!
Times are changing and it's changing for the worse.... When you have opposing coaches heckling players during a game, something has to be done....
Something we need to remember is every adverse situation is a teaching moment for our kids and if you're a real coach, you care about all the kids and not just yours.... It was good to see Little go over and shake Leaches hand to make sure he was ok and Ryan Hughes also shook Ty Little's hand thanking him for good sportsmanship.... To see that happen was much more gratifying because parents have the tendency to make matters more serious than what the kids do.... It's the kids playing the game, not the parents!!!!
To finish the game out, Casey Caruso was on fire leading Steelton with 22 points including 4 trey balls, Jaqui Jenkins chipped in 17 points and Dion Patterson scored 11 as Steelton won 58 - 52.... Don's Smith was lead by Alex Marsico with 22 points and Ryan Hughes chipped in 12 pts....
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| Championship team back left to right Coach Marc, Ty, Malikai, John, Willie, Jaylen, Pac Man, Coach Tom, Amiq front left to right Rell, Yahmir, Casey, Jaqui, Tiara |
Good luck to all of the kids as they move forward in their basketball career and thanks to MOST of the Middletown people for your wonderful hospitality all week....
Some of the top players for the weekend were...
Casey Caruso - Steelton
Ryan Hughes - Don Smith
Tyrece Little - Steelton
Jaqui Jenkins - Steelton
Alex Marsico - Don Smith
Tim Kater - Camp Curtin YMCA
Dion Patterson - Steelton
Tre Leach - Don Smith
Tresjon Ruiz - Camp Curtin YMCA
Cranberry - Camp Curtin YMCA
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