Green Hornet Boys Wrap Up Hoops Title Series

By Amy Russell
Nearly 200 spectators came out to watch as the Green Hornets Boys Club Basketball program wrapped up its season with championship games in the 8-9, 10-11 and 12-13 year old age groups. The six competing teams battled all season for a spot in the final game, and both the hard work and passion clearly showed on Monday, February 28 as Severna Park Middle School’s gymnasium heated up and the best of the club teams fought for a title.

Grizzlies, Thunder Dominate 8-9 League
In a well-matched contest the Grizzlies walked away with the crown on Monday night, defeating the Thunder 22-13.
“Defense, defense, defense…” said head coach Chuck Hall afterward, “that was the theme of our season.”
When the Grizzlies first took the court three months ago, they saw their closest game of the season, a disappointing 10-9 loss to the Nicks, but Hall says the team immediately knew what they needed to do to improve, and quickly got to work.
“At that point, you know the jury was still out on what kind of team we’d be,” said Hall. “I believe great defense creates many offensive opportunities… and we believed that the opponent should get only one shot while we should get three every time down the court. The kids bought into that concept, so we decided to focus on building a great defense and we trusted that eventually everything else would fall into place.”
It did. After the initial one-point loss, the Grizzlies went on to win every game. During the 11-game winning streak, the Park team averaged 22 points while allowing no more than eight until the playoffs.
With kind of a two-team system (one for the first and third quarters and one for the second and fourth), point guards Matt Widmer, Grayson Rizzo and Brock Bozeman ran the offense successfully for the Grizzlies. On the sub-team, defense was the key and Hayden Breen was the stopper. On Rizzo and Bozeman’s sub-team, Dominic Hall was pit against the opponent’s best player and he was able to consistently shut them down. Matt Alton picked up big rebounds for the Grizzlies, while Warren Louie, Zack Russell and Andrew Calvert executed pics, tallied rebounds, and anchored a solid defense. Hall said Gage Bangert earned the hypothetical unsung hero award.
“Bangert probably had more steals and loose balls than anyone. Those things don’t show up in box scores but they are the things that help you win.” An aggressive player, Hall says of Bangert, “He’d probably be proud to tell you he had more fouls than anyone.”

Celtics, Bobcats Fight For 10-11 Crown
After an all-out showdown in which the Celtics clinched a spot in the championship game via a triple-overtime win just 24 hours before the big game, the Green team withstood another nail-biter to clinch the title with a 21-19 win over the Bobcats.
The Celtics took an early 7-3 lead, but the score was close for most of the final game. As the contest progressed, the determined Bobcats stayed right on the Celtics heels; the margin never seemed to be more than two points throughout the entire second half. With just 41 seconds left on the clock, the Bobcats’ ***#1** hit a short jumper to tie it at 19, as the crowd erupted in both excitement and nerves.
As the clock continued to tick another overtime game appeared on the horizon, but the Celtics Connor Lawler put an end to the drama, tipping in a follow shot with 20 seconds left to play. Despite a couple good looks in the closing seconds, the Bobcats weren’t able to bridge the gap and the Celtics took home the championship trophies.
For the Celtics (14-0) the win was the perfect ending to the perfect season. “Our number one rule on offense was ‘shoot the ball’,” said coaches Chris Rott and Glenn Lentz. “We wanted to make sure they knew we would never be disappointed in them for taking the shot,” said Lentz. “A lot of coaches tell players at this age to wait for the right time, the right situation, but we’re here to have a good time and play some basketball,” added Rott. “We are here to have fun. Life is too short to not have fun playing rec basketball.”
Apparently, for the Celtics the tactic worked. Both coaches said their loose philosophy on offense was enabled by the team’s dynamic and smothering defense. “All year long the key to our game has been defense, and seriously, defensively this team has been a machine,” said Lentz. “To go undefeated, especially in this age group, is unbelievable… we are so proud.”
As the team progressed during the regular season, both coaches reported that for a string of games, the Celtics’ defense held opponents to single digits, but in the final run to the crown, it was a combination of both offense and defense that got the job done. In addition to Lawler, Grady Kershaw, Michael Reynolds, Tim Karns, Scott Lukas, Alex Rott, Dalton Bathras, Chase Lentz, Bill Linthicum and Josh Mandleblatt were all instrumental in the Celtics perfect season.
Bobcats, Heat Battle It Out In 12-13
In the 12-13 year old Club League, it was the Bobcats who walked away with the crown after pulling off a hard-fought 27-21 win over the Thunder. After going 7-2 in the regular season, the Bobcats not only won the title, they got some vindication in the process with playoffs wins over the only two teams that dampened their record - the Warriors and later the undefeated Celtics.
“We had a good season, but we really peaked at the right time,” said head coach Ken Johnson. “We got beat by pretty big scores at the beginning, but as the season progressed the guys got smart basketball wise and when it came tournament time they were well prepared.”
In the championship game, the Bobcats pulled ahead early, 5-0, and never relinquished the lead. “I knew if we could get a couple of fast breaks and easy baskets to take the lead the team would feel more comfortable and do the right things.”
The confidence that came with getting an early lead was familiar to the Bobcats during their playoff run. “We had good leads in all the tournament games,” recalled Johnson. “We moved the ball around a lot, protected it very well, put in a good defense, ran some good offensive sets, took good shots, and tried to limit our mistakes.”
Johnson said the post-season success was the product of a consistently improving team that had a lot of character and supportive parents. “I had 10 very nice young men who always came to practice and came early to every game,” said Johnson. “They are a very coachable group and everyone kept learning and getting better.”
The team grew with such cohesion that by playoff time, Johnson said each of the players “knew where their teammates would be on the court and what they could do.”
One of the leading scorers was Louis Brown III, who Johnson said “could be one of the most talented players on the team on both ends of the floor.” Point guard Brett Pohlmeyer was another big scorer, who, according to Johnson, “does a great job running the offense and scores a lot of points on the fast break.”
In addition, the Bobcats relied on Cole West, who “plays with tremendous heart” to score in transition. Offensively, point guard Stephen Johnson controlled the game and defensively he was “overall the best player from the guard position.” The Bobcats relied on the “relentless” Johnson to shut down the opponent’s strongest player.
Devon Joyce and Thomas Pere were among the younger players on the team, but that didn’t seem to stop them. According to Johnson, Joyce showed great improvement on offense and defense, and was a big fourth-quarter contributor in the championship win. Pere made strides all season displaying a clear passion for the game.
Shooting guards Justin Reeves and Nick Savani were also critical to the Bobcats’ success. The Park team looked to Reeves to score from the outside and on fast breaks, and Savani came out strong from the beginning to the end, including a big score in the championship game.
Center Garret Newbill proved to be a force on defense and was a big distributor on offense, consistently making good passes. Finally, the Bobcats looked to Jake Newbill, the team’s strongest rebounder and a stabilizing force in the middle.
Also contributing to a great season and the title contention for the Bobcats were Owen Jaccard, Luke Jaccard, Griffin Wild, Colin Wolfe, Parker Bass, Ben Cockroft, Brett Weinstein, Brooks Watson, Alex Ploof and Liam Ulbricht.