Tough Competition In 1st ‘Black Shirt’ Basketball Tourney

By MAGGIE MCMURRAY

Moapa Valley Progress

Instead of sitting at home and quietly digesting the remains of their Christmas dinners, many athletes in the valley chose to spend the day after Christmas putting their athletic prowess to the test while supporting a great cause.

The first ever Blackshirt Basketball tournament took place in the new Moapa Valley High School gym on December 26. The tournament was organized by Mack Lyon Middle School basketball coach Brent Thompson as a fundraiser for the middle school girls’ and boys’ basketball teams. The tournament used a 3-on-3 format and also included a 3-point shootout and a free throw contest.

The name “Blackshirt” has special meaning to Thompson and every player that registered received a black shirt.
“In Nebraska there is a football team whose defense is called the blackshirt defense,” Thompson said. “It is called that because when a player does really well and distinguishes himself out on the court, he is awarded a black shirt. It is something special that shows that player went above and beyond regular play and proved his worth.”
Thompson has instituted the same program with his teams this year. “My players have a chance to earn a black shirt, too,” he said. “But they have to do something really spectacular on the court. It is something that has to be earned.”

Pre-tournament signups were slow, but game day turnout was great. There were a total of sixteen teams of about 5 players each who registered, in addition to the 3-point and free throw contest registrants. The gym was packed and all six courts were in constant use for several hours.

The tournament started with round robin play for each team to determine their seeding in the tournament. Games were played with each basket counting for one point, unless it was shot from outside the 3 point line, in which case it counted for two. The first team to 20 points, or whichever team was ahead after 20 minutes, won. Once the seeds were determined, the tournament began in earnest.

The teams were divided into two brackets. They could choose if they wanted to play in the competitive bracket or the non-competitive bracket. Each bracket ended up with 8 teams. The tournament was double elimination and teams frequently played back to back games.
Many teams were formed by families or neighborhood groups and some were mixed gender teams.

The only completely female team was composed of middle school girls, who played hard and persevered against teams that almost doubled them in height at times.
“I came because I am on the middle school team and this is our fundraiser and I wanted to support it,” said team member Annabel Lounsbury said. “There are a lot of people here today and I am having a lot of fun, but I also want to win!”

Another Mack Lyon player, Aubrey Aikele, chose to come help. “This is a really great thing,” she said. “I couldn’t picture how it would work when we first learned about it so I came to help instead of play and I’ve been doing that. But now I see what a great time everyone is having and I kind of wish I had signed up to play!”

A team called “Cinderella Story” was composed of Ryan and Jed Wheeler, Eric Nelson, and Cody Wyatt.
“We came to play today because we wanted to dominate and humble Brent Thompson,” Ryan Wheeler said. “Really, though, we came to have a great time after Christmas with friends and to support a great cause. The middle school players are our future Pirate basketball teams. ”

A team called Walker Dream Team was a team of brothers (and one of their sons) that were former MVHS basketball players. It consisted of Kevin, Kyle, Quincy and Dantley Walker and Stuart Humes.
“We’re all over 40,” said Kevin Walker. “But we came today to give it one last run. Greg says he’s too old, so he’s just watching, but we’ve got his boy playing in his place. I’m having a lot of fun, but mostly they tell me to just go stand in the corner and stay out of their way.”

As it turned out, though, the Walkers were the team to beat. They finished the tournament undefeated and ended up first place in the competitive division, beating out the second place Thompson team of Josh, Nathaniel, and Brent Thompson, Brad Weiss, and Daniel Smedley.

The winner of the non-competitive division was Country Lane Kings consisting of John and Jerrick Stastny, Elijah Whitmore, and Josh and Nate Cox.
The free throw contest was won by Cameron Reese, who narrowly beat out his brother Conner.
Quincy Walker beat Dalton Jones by only 1 shot in the 3 point shootout.

All winners received a prize which included overnight stays at the Casablanca, Smashburger gift certificates, movie tickets, manicures and pedicures, dinner buffets, and many other great prizes donated by supporters of local basketball.
“This has been a great experience,” said Brent Thompson. “I really appreciate and want to thank all of people from the valley that came out to watch, play, and support Mustang basketball.”

Thompson gave special appreciation to Russ Jones, Pledger Solomon, John Stastny, Lins Marketplace, the middle school basketball players, Erica Whitmore, Michelle Anderson and Kay Barlow for their assistance in planning and putting on the tournamnet.
“I hope we can grow this tournament and make it a yearly tradition,” Thompson said. “We had a great turnout and it really has been a lot of fun.”