Fifth-grade Tigers take title at youth hoops tourney

Tuesday, December 15, 2015
The Nevada Tigers fifth-grade boys basketball team won three consecutive single-elimination games, culminating with a 29-28 overtime victory against the Southern Missouri Storm to win the Fast Break Youth Basketball Tournament. Featuring 52 teams from the Tri-state region, including 10 in the fifth-grade division, the tournament was held in Frontenac, Kan., Dec. 12-13. The Tigers opened pool-play Saturday as they fell 28-15 to Grove (Okla.) Nevada then rebounded with a 23-4 defeat of Cherokee (Kan.) to emerge from pool-play into the winners bracket. The Tigers opened play Sunday in the winners bracket ---- prevailing 26-23 against Columbus (Kan). In the semifinals Nevada survived a 37-36 thriller against host Frontenac as Cade Sanderson drove the length of the floor with 7 seconds remaining for the game-winning layup. Prior to Sanderson's dramatic basket, the Tigers had trailed Frontenac by six points with less than two minutes remaining in regulation. The Tigers then advanced to face the Southern Missouri Storm, who had previously defeated Grove. Against Southern Missouri, the Tigers engineered another comeback as they trailed by eight points in the second half before forcing overtime. Nevada's Trent Otter opened overtime with a three-pointer helping to propel the Tigers to the one point victory ---- as the finished the tournament 4-1 with first-place medals in tow. Pictured above, the champion fifth-grade Nevada Tigers, from left to right: Cade Beshore, Case Sanderson, Gavin Morgan, Gage Miller, Trent Otter, AJ Bash, Hunter Lundine, Brandon Herren, and head coach Myles Miller. (Submitted photo)

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