The crowd roared from both sides of the basketball court as parents shouted suggestions to their kids and told them to tighten up their game. Not giving up, the boys ran up and down the court with defense putting their opponents on lockdown. Offense attacked the rim and put up a nice floater over the center splashing the shot or hitting that open three from the corner.

To improve his game, Destin Clark, 8th, worked on his driving and finishing skills.

“I wanted to stop walking too much,” Destin said.

Ky’Rell Black, 7th, went to the gym often and worked on his game.

“I always played up with older boys to get strong mentally and physically,” Ky’Rell said. “The coaches pushed us hard to where we didn’t want to let them down because of the bond we had.”

Josh Dotson, 8th, could also be found in the gym.

“I worked to improve what I did badly until I got it right,” Josh said.

King Roberston, 8th, practiced at home and let his dad teach him new moves.

“My mom kept me motivated by going to all my games,” King said.

Joseph Naranjo, 8th, practiced outside of school.

“I kept grinding and didn’t give up,” Joseph said.

Gabriel Alfaro worked on his layups and free throws.

“I just wanted to win more games than last year,” Gabriel said.

Malakai Willis, 7th, kept himself motivated by having the passion to be better.

“Everyone thought I sucked, so I knew it was time to prove them wrong,” Malakai said.

The team talked about how the coaches motivated them to be good athletes.

James Henriquez, 8th, described Coach Cash and Coach Arnold as “amazing.”

“They motivated me even when I was trying to quit,” James said.

“The coaches helped me with my jump shot and to get comfortable in the game,” King said.

Gabriel appreciated the coaches’ efforts to motivate the team.

“Coach Cash made us not compare ourselves to others, and Arnold made us think we were soft until we did something right,” Gabriel said.

Nicky Chompranouvong, 8th, practiced daily to get his shots up, which led to his favorite moment of making a three.

“It was my first point in the game,” Nicky said.

Max Young, 8th, liked the Butterfield game best.

“I beat Coach Cash in a one vs. one,” Max said.

Ky’Rell’s favorite moment was beating their rivals, NorthRidge, twice.

“We beat them in the regular season and in the semi-final game,” Ky’Rell said.

Taron Kursh, 8th, also liked winning against NorthRide.

“They were beating us by 20 to 3, but then we came back and won 40 to 28,” Taron said.

Playing with his brothers in the city championship game stood out to Jaseir Posey, 7th.

“I’d never gotten to play with them in a championship before,” Jaseir said.

James’s favorite moment was the Chaffin game.

“I stole the ball, caused fast breaks, made the layups, and dropped over 20 points,” James said.

Coach Cash is most proud of the 8th graders’ growth.

“They came to practice ready to work every day, and they worked really hard to improve as the season went on,” Coach Cash said.