Monsters Elite Hoops a new club team in its inaugural season has recently opened the eyes of very prominent basketball people.
Monsters Elite 14u team made the trek to Las Vegas last weekend to compete in the Highly Competitive FAB48 tournament that featured some of the top 14u teams in the country.
ME14's started off the tournament in pool play and promptly got the attention of NBA All Star Point Guard Andre Miller as they proceeded to blow his Miller Elite squad right out of the gym...starting off with a 26-2 run before relaxing and finishing with a 52-30 score. The ME14's blew thru pool play going 3-0 with an average win margin off 30.
ME14's taking a #1 seed into the Championship Bracket got the draw of So Cal Powerhouse National #18 AVAC Hoyas in the 1st round. AVAC has a long history of success in club basketball and this year was no different with tremendous size in their front court that averaged 6'4. However the Hoyas back court couldn't handle the pressure put on by the back court of Monsters Elite guards Adrian Antunez (CW), Dario Aluisi (Clovis) & Walter Graves III (CW). With the pressure and tenacity displayed by the back court resulting in 20+ turnovers per game it allowed the Monsters front court of Montrel Garner (Central) & Chris Lee (Central) to finish strong in the paint as even being 2" shorter on average the Monsters front court was too much physically, and was too aggressive and strong for the Hoyas to handle. With all that said the ME14's jumped out to a quick 15pt lead and proceeded to cruise to another 21pt victory over a national power.
Advancing to the 2nd round the Monsters faced another national power #13 ranked AZ Magic. The Magic although a smaller team could fill it up from any where. The Monsters again jumped out to an early double digit lead then proceeded to get sloppy but eventually held on to another double digit win over a nationally ranked power, with the final score being 48-38.
Now advancing to the Elite 8 the nations #4 team UFC Vegas stood in the way of the Monsters chances of winning this national tournament. UFC is a team that had an average height of 6'3 with 4 players being at least 6'5. This would be the biggest challenge to date for the Monsters Elite 14u team. But just like every other game so far they jumped out to a 10-0 to start with the backcourt of Antunez and Aluisi leading the way with numerous steals, assists and layups. Though the game would settle down and UFC Vegas would close the gap to within 5 pts thru out the game, the ME14's continued to push and maintain control. With the Monsters Elite team missing 4 key contributors during the weekend that weren't able to make the trip, meant that they were light on the bench resulting in a 6 man rotation. However the biggest threat to the Monsters moving forward was their free throw shooting...normally a very good free throw shooting team, the ME14's proceeded to go 3-15 from the stripe and ultimately missing the tying FT with :07 to go in the game. Although the ME14's were finally eliminated being undone by the lack of success at the stripe they managed to get the attention of many prominent basketball minds that were in the gym that weekend.
UFC Vegas went on to win the FAB48 in grand fashion and is currently the #4 14u team in the country...Monsters Elite so close yet so far from being a top 5 team in the nation...not bad for a 1st year program from Fresno, Ca.
The success and the attention garnered from last weekend resulted in the Monsters Elite 14u team being ranked #19 in the final National rankings by indihoops.wpengine.com the premier authority in club hoops.
Bright future ahead for Monsters Elite Hoops and ME14's squad...
Attending Roster:
Adrian Antunez - 2017 5'11 PG Clovis West
Dario Aluisi - 2017 5'11 SG Clovis
Walter Graves III - 2017 6'4 SF Clovis West
Christopher Lee - 2017 6'2 PF Central
Montrel Garner - 2017 6'2 C Central
Luciano Santeufemia - 2017 5'6 SG San Joaquin Memorial
Nate Kendricks - 2018 5'10 SG Clovis North
Isaiah Maxwell - 2017 5'6 PG Central
Non Attending Roster:
Darrin Person Jr - 2017 6'6 PF Clovis North
Chad Fugman - 2017 6'0 SG Clovis North
Travis Turney - 2017 5'10 SG Buchanan
Semetrius Riley - 2017 5'10 PG Fresno
