CBA: National AAU Champs ~ 7/13/2007
2007 AAU Boys Basketball National Tournament
(the 2007 Team was under CBA's former name, Connecticut Future Stars)
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Little Rock, Arkansas
July 7 ~ 13, 2007
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Pool Play
CTFS 65 - Donaldsonville (LA) Tiger 45
CTFS 63 - Memphis (TN) Hotshots 59
CTFS 71 - Arkansas Hawks 48
First Round
July 10 ~ CTFS 71 - Illinois Blazers 57
Second Round
July 10 ~ CTFS 52 - Arizona Wings 50
Quarterfinals
July 11 ~ CTFS 68 - TCAA Monroe (LA) Bulldogs 61
Semi Finals
July 12 ~ CTFS 82 - San Antonio (TX) Jets 77
Championship
July 13 ~ CTFS 71 - Louisiana LT Rockets 68
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This article was published on page 21 of the Friday, July 13, 2007 edition in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette Sports section.
Late rally is a winner for Future
Another year in Division II didn’t hurt the Connecticut Future Stars.
The CT Future Stars rallied in the fourth quarter for a 71-68 victory over the Louisiana LT Rockets to win the AAU Division II 15-under national championship on Friday at Pulaski Academy.
CT Future Stars Coach Carl Bethea had considered moving his team to AAU Division I at the beginning of the season. His players persuaded him to remain in Division II for another chance to win the national championship after the CT Future Stars finished third in last year’s national Division II under-14 tournament.
“We’ve worked hard for this all year long,” Bethea said. “This has been our goal since we finished third last year. I’m so excited, I don’t even know where I’m at right now.”
The Rockets scored the first eight points of the game, but the CT Future Stars came back in the second quarter to take a 35-33 lead at halftime.
The CT Future Stars eventually led 49-39 midway through the third quarter, but the Rockets reeled off an 11-0 run to take a 50-49 lead and led through most of the fourth quarter.
Trovon Reed scored a fastbreak basket to give the LT Rockets a 68-65 lead with two minutes left. The CT Future Stars got back within a point when Mark James scored with 1:32 remaining.
On their next possession, Max Coleman scored in the lane with 47 seconds left to give the CT Future Stars a 69-68 lead, their first lead since the beginning of the fourth quarter.
“I was afraid he was going to draw an offensive foul on the play and I didn’t want him to take the shot, but he made it and we were able to take that lead,” Bethea said.
The Rockets were unable to answer on their final possessions, committing two turnovers and missing a three-pointer.
“It was a hard-fought game by both teams,” Douglas said. “I told our guys it would come down to who had the ball at the end, and I was right. We’ll be back next year, though.”
LaQuan Mendenhall led the CT Future Stars with 23 points, and Jerome Parkins added 18.
Douglas knew Mendenhall and Jerome Parkins would contribute to a majority of the CT Future Stars’ offense but wasn’t as prepared for a high-scoring performance from Coleman, who scored 10 points in the second half and finished with 16 points.
Trovon Reed did everything he could to secure a victory for the LT Rockets. Reed scored 14 of his team’s final 18 points. He finished with a game-high 33 points and 6 steals that resulted in 12 fast-break points.
This article was published on page 19 and 23 of the Saturday, July 14, 2007 edition in the Sports section.
2007 National AAU Tournament Results
15-under CHAMPIONSHIP BRACKET Semifinals Connecticut Future Stars 82, South Texas Jets 77 Louisiana LT Rockets 65, New Jersey Panthers 58 Quarterfinals Connecticut Future Stars 68, Louisiana Bulldogs 61 South Texas Jets 76, Louisiana Roundballers 73 New Jersey Panthers 69, Staten Island Stingrays 67 Louisiana LT Rockets 56, S.C. TOPPS 52 CLASSIC BRACKET Semifinals Georgia Lightning 57, Virginia Golden Eagles 50 Middle Atlantic Knights 70, Arkansas Stars 64 Quarterfinals Georgia Lightning 67, Maryland Team Rudy 50 Virginia Golden Eagles 58, Arkansas Bucks-Houge 45 Middle Atlantic Knights 48, Arkansas Camp Unity 45 Arkansas Stars 62, New Hampshire Knicks 56 TODAY’S GAMES CHAMPIONSHIP Connecticut Future Stars vs. Louisiana LT Rockets, 3 p.m. (1) Third-place game South Texas Jets vs.
New Jersey Panthers, noon, (1) Fifth-place game Louisiana Bulldogs vs.Staten Island Stingrays, 9 a.m. (1) Sixth-place game Arkansas Wings vs. N.C. Prospects, noon, (3) Seventh-place game Louisiana Lightning vs. Mississippi Panthers, 10:30 a.m. (3) 11th-place game Louisiana Roundballers vs. S.C. TOPPS, 9 a.m. (3) Classic championship Georgia Lightning vs. Middle Atlantic Knights, 3 p.m, (3) Classic third-place game Virginia Golden Eagles vs. Arkansas Stars, 1:30 p.m. (3) 16-under CHAMPIONSHIP BRACKET Semifinals Arkansas Wings 59, Louisiana Dream Team 54 Virginia C-Pep 60, Minnesota High Impact 53 Quarterfinals Arkansas Wings 50, Team Louisana 37 Louisiana Dream Team 68, Maryland Breakers 61 Virginia C-Pep 69, Louisiana Roundballers 52 Minnesota High Impact 56, Virginia Hopewell Golden Eagles 41 Quarterfinal consolation games Maryland Breakers 64, Team Louisiana 61 Louisiana Roundballers 53, Virginia Golden Eagles 45 First-round Consolation results Memphis Wildcats 67, Louisiana Red Storm 61 Arkansas Rockets 68, Georgia Grasshoppers 58 CLASSIC BRACKET Semifinals Georgia Express 69, Maryland Mustangs 66 Ohio Team Dayton 56, Maryland Ballerz 38 Quarterfinals Georgia Express 62, N.C. Ballers 59 Maryland Mustangs 64, Arkansas Spirits 54 Maryland Ballerz 62, Georgia Stars 58 Ohio Team Dayton 65, Georgia Fastbreak 56 TODAY’S GAMES Championship Arkansas Wings vs. Virginia C-Pep, 4:30 p.m. (1) Third-place game Louisiana Dream Team vs. Minnesota High Impact, 1:30 p.m. (1) Fifth-place game Maryland Breakers vs. Louisiana Roundballers, 10:30 a.m. (1) Sixth-place game Memphis Wildcats vs. Arkansas Rockets, 1:30 p.m. (2) Ninth-place game Team Louisiana vs. Virginia Golden Eagles, noon, (2) Classic Championship Georgia Express vs. Ohio Team Dayton, 10:30 a.m. (2) Classic third-place game Maryland Mustangs vs. Maryland Ballerz, 9 a.m. (2) 1 - denotes Pulaski Academy 2 - denotes Little Rock Christian 5 - denotes Shorter College
Tuesday, July 17
July 18, 2007 - Connecticut Post
Connecticut Future Stars clinch National AAU title
Article Last Updated: 07/18/2007 12:34:25 AM EDT
The Connecticut Future Stars 15-under basketball team won the AAU Division II national championship last week in Little Rock, Ark. The team swept nine games, including five in a single-elimination bracket. The Future Stars defeated the Louisiana LT Rockets 71-68 to win the title. "We came together as a team that can win," said guard Laquan Mendenhall, whose father, Darryl, is the team's assistant coach.
Head coach Carl Bethea had considered putting the team in the Division I draw. Most of the group finished third in the nation last year in Division II.
"I thought we really had a shot at the Final 4 in Division I," Bethea said. "The kids, Coach D (Darryl Mendenhall) wanted to give Division II a shot. ... We'd take a shot at Division II, then move on."
The decision paid off with a trophy for the team, whose players are drawn from the three Bridgeport public schools, Fairfield Prep, St. Luke's, Trumbull and Notre Dame-Fairfield. Maybe most memorable was a game in the second round against the Arkansas Wings, when "they tried to give us a home job," Mendenhall said. Neither team had more than a five-point lead before Jermaine Campbell hit a floater in the lane to win it, 52-50, in the last couple of seconds. "We took a bunch of jump shots, and we only made two. Two jump shots the whole game. Everything else was in the paint," Bethea said. Except for the first round, every game finished within seven points. "A couple of games, I thought we were going to lose, but the kids pulled them out," Bethea said. "They were determined to win games. Every single game, a different kid stepped up."
Mendenhall — Bethea calls him one of the best freshman guards in the country, and he stresses that last word — drew the focus of a lot of teams. When they stopped the Harding sophomore-to-be, other players stepped up. Max Coleman, for instance, scored 16 points in the championship game, including two key layups in the closing minutes, as the Rockets keyed on Mendenhall and Campbell.
"Jerome Parkins was a beast on the boards," said Bethea, who had his team play a press that disrupted other teams' offenses. "The kids just played excellent defense. Our offense feeds off our defense."
And it was a good group of kids, too, Bethea said, that won. They put in their work without complaint. Connecticut Future Stars administrators John Migliaro and Rich Grosso gave them all kinds of support, too. "I'll remember that we all used to pat each other on the back," Mendenhall said. "If you made a mistake, we'd just say, 'suck it up.'"
They kept those mistakes to a minimum and came home National Champions.
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