Mavericks Capture Basketball Tournament Title

The Connecticut Mavericks fourth grade boys’ basketball team captured the 25th Annual Yorktown AC Hoops Tournament Championship held during the weekend of January 29-30 at the Brewster Sports Center in New York.

The Mavs were victorious in all three games of pool play and used an absolutely dominating performance in the championship game to defeat Madison for the title.

In the first round of pool play, the Mavs faced host Yorktown and jumped out to an early 10-4 lead behind strong offensive play from Luke Barrett, Robert DiSibio, and Griffin Cross. The Mavs never trailed in the game and won 35-28. Solid contributions were also received from Luke Melillo, Dan Mason, Shane Demers, Bryan Vander Have, Michael Cotton, Aidan Moulder, and Eric Moore.

The second round of pool play brought on a physical team from Madison and the Mavs again jumped out to an early lead as the result of intense full-court pressure and smooth transition offense. The Mavs controlled the game and withstood a late run by Madison in the fourth quarter to hold on for a 37-30 victory. DiSibio, Barrett, Cross, Vander Have and Demers led the offense, while Melillo, Mason, Moulder, Moore, Cotton, and James Doyle were solid on defense.

In the third and final round of pool play, the Mavs faced an overmatched squad from St. Patrick’s Yorktown and cruised to an easy 57-21 victory. The Mavs raced out to an early 14-2 lead minutes into the game behind an offensive explosion from Luke Melillo, who scored six points during the run. Solid offensive contributions were also received from Dan Mason, Aidan Moulder, Michael Cotton, Eric Moore, and James Doyle. Luke Barrett, Griffin Cross, Shane Demers, and Robert DiSibio also played solid all-around games in the win.

The Championship Game was a rematch with Madison and the Mavs used an utterly dominating performance from the opening tip-off to the final buzzer to take the title game 51-19. In the win, the Mavs were sparked by the intense play of James Doyle, Michael Cotton, Shane Demers, and Aidan Moulder. Solid offensive and defensive efforts were also put forth by Luke Barrett, Griffin Cross, Robert DiSibio, Dan Mason, Luke Melillo, and Eric Moore.