Rising Stars win national basketball championship
The Porterville Rising Stars 10u basketball team defeated the Vegas Elite White 37-34 to win the Swoosh National Championship in Las Vegas on Sunday, July 8.
Coming off a 36-18 win and with their starting point guard Landen Haynes back, the Rising Stars made adjustments on defense and brought back their press to slow down the game and the Vegas Elite’s scoring. But while the Vegas Elite’s scoring was slowed down, Porterville’s Nykolas Ruiz came out hot and scored the team’s first 10 points.
Porterville held a comfortable 10-point lead for most of the game but in the final minutes, the Vegas Elite’s started forcing turnovers and making some big shots that cut the Rising Stars’ lead to one with only a few seconds left to play.
On an inbound play, Porterville’s Isaiah Colunga was fouled and earned a trip to the free throw line where he swished both shots to raise the Rising Stars’ lead back to three with three seconds left in the game. In those last seconds the Vegas Elite’s attempted to cross half court and get up a shot but it was blocked by Haynes, clinching the team’s three-point victory.
When the Rising Stars recieved their trophies and took their pictures, they chanted “MV-P” for Ruiz, who was brought to tears by the chant, according to Porterville head coach Andrew Cardenas.
“Kids played hard all weekend long and really earned this championship,” Cardenas added.
Porterville lost only one out of four games in the two-day tournament to secure the win. During Saturday’s games the Rising Stars came back from a 16-point deficit on the shoulders of Seth Ismael — who had a big game rebounding and scoring — for a 36-28 win over the Burbank Raptors. But after the emotional win, the Rising Stars lost 38-23 to the Vegas Elite White and were without Haynes, who was out due to injuries.
On Sunday, Porterville’s 38-18 win over the Vegas Elite Blue’s came from their determination to put themeselves in the best place to make it to the champi-
onship game. They came out hot and stayed that way through the whole game while working together as a team.
Their 2-1 record was tied with the Burbank Raptors but since Porterville beat them on Saturday, they advanced to the championship game.
Playing for the Porterville Rising Stars are Fabian Cardenas, Isaiah Colunga, Nykolas Ruiz, Pablo Ruiz, Dion Ambriz, Armando Martinez, Seth Ismael, Aeris Acoba, Landen Haynes and Jhabie Casabay. The team was coached by Andrew Cardenas and Sean Ruiz.