[SPRINGFIELD, MO] The Muddy River Counselors headed into their first ever NCHBC National Tournament with a historic season already in the books. The Counselors swept all boys divisions of the MSAHA, winning their first ever 18U Title.
Though the Counselors had found success in the MSAHA, their performances in NCHC competition left much to be desired. In the district tournament, the Counselors lost in their first round matchup against the Faulkner Falcons in devastating fashion after leading the game by as much as 15 points. This foiled their district championship aspirations.
In the regional tournament in Dallas, Muddy River defeated the CHEF Patriots again but lost to the THESA Riders in a 60-45 dogfight, sticking them in the loser’s bracket there, finishing sixth in that tournament.
Heading into the national tournament, the Counselors sat at a 22-8 record, leaving them with the goal of keeping their losses in the single digits.
In the NCHC National Tournament, there are three divisions. Division 1 has 24 teams, Division 2 has 32 teams, and Division 3 has 60+. the Counselors were placed in Division 2. In Division 2, there is a play-in to separate the division into two sections, which leads to a Division 2A and Division 2B championship.
In the play-in game, the Counselors were slated to take on the Northwest Warriors out of Indianapolis, IN. The Counselors commenced to having one of their worst games of the season, trailing 27-8 at halftime and losing the game 60-35.
The Counselors had to regroup as they still had a chance at a 2B National Championship. The next day, the Counselors took on the Tulsa CHEF Arrows. Adversity struck for Muddy River as Sun Michael Williams was having a bout with food poisoning, showing symptoms during the game. Through that, he finished with 22 points and 8 assists and Luke Sanders finished with 27, pushing the Counselors to a huge win over a much bigger Arrows team.
Muddy River was then matched up against the Conquerors of Lake Houston, a run-and-gun team much like the Counselors. This track meet finished in a 86-74 win for the Counselors after pouring in 18 3-pointers on the game, including 6 from Rydell Breakfield as he finished with 21 points.
This put the Counselors in position to compete for a Gold Ball. The Gold Ball game is the semi-final game and the Counselors were matched up with the Wichita Warriors out of Kansas. The Warriors were geared around their 6’7″ center. They had lost their play-in game by 2 and had dominated the two rounds to get into this game.
The Counselors ran hard from the start. The first quarter remained close, with the Warriors leading by 1. The second quarter belonged to the Counselors as they outscored the Warriors 22-6 in that period.
In the second half, Wichita began to eat into the lead and cut it down to as close as 2 but with brilliant ball handling of the Counselors, they were able to preserve the victory, winning 60-51 and capturing the gold ball.
Finally, for the D2B National Championship, the Counselors got a rematch against the San Marcos Panthers. The Panthers defeated the Counselors in the 5th Place game in Dallas in a 77-63 thriller.
In this game, the scoring pace was much slower and the Panthers controlled the game. It seemed the Counselors had run out of magic of the last three games. Trailing by 14 near the end of the third, the Counselors dug deep. Behind their pressure defense, the Counselors crawled back into the game and took over the lead. Upon taking the lead, the Counselors just kept extending it behind great play from seniors Matthew Veverka and Rydell Breakfield in their last game. Caleb Sanders really took over the game with 25 points in the championship ball game, capping off a breakout year for the Sophomore.
The Counselors defeated the Panthers 62-48 to win the D2B National Championship to bring home a banner to hang at Bee Hall. Coach Willis Williams was proud of his team in what became one of his best accomplishments of his long coaching career.
