Lynchburg AAU squad fares well

By Ted Allen

Published: July 30, 2008

If playing eight games in seven days at two tournaments in Las Vegas and Phoenix didn’t exhaust the Lynchburg Hoops AAU basketball team, flying back into Dulles Airport at 5 a.m. on Wednesday before getting lost in Washington, D.C., looking for the Lithuanian Embassy, did.

“Everybody is wiped,” coach Buddy Mason said. “(But) it was a great trip and we played some pretty good ball.”

The team, composed of players primarily from Carlisle, Roanoke Catholic and Covenant, won three out of five games at The Main Event, a 348-team national tournament in Las Vegas, before driving to Phoenix for the 32-team Duel in the Desert, where it lost two out of three.

Last Tuesday, it opened play in The Main Event with a 60-47 victory over the Oakland (Calif.) Bay Warriors, ranked 11th in the nation with three Big 10 recruits.

Brian Clarry (15 points) from Covenant sank three 3-pointers while Lithuanians Domas Rinksalis (Roanoke Catholic) added 12 points and 11 rebounds and Tautuydas Kairys, (Cape Fear, N.C.) netted 17 points.

Lynchburg then edged the San Antonio Scorpions 53-50 behind Kairys’ 14 points, Rinksalis’ 12 points and nine rebounds and RC teammate Arché Hicklin’s nine points and seven rebounds.

It then fell to the Terry Porter All-Stars, 51-49 in overtime, despite Darius Echols’ 14 points and holding Wisconsin-bound Scotti Davis to two. After dealing the Hoops Contingent of Milwaukee its first defeat, 66-53, behind Kairy’s 24 points and six assists and Rinksalis’ 18 points and 13 rebounds, the Hoops were eliminated with a 45-41 loss to the Nashville Celtics, despite holding 7-foot, 245-pound center Bawa Muniru, a Vanderbilt recruit, to seven points and five rebounds by caging him with a 2-1-2 zone.

Playing in front of 200 college scouts in Phoenix, Lynchburg gave the Chicago Fire, the nation’s top-ranked team and eventual tournament champions, all it could handle before losing, 70-43.

The Hoops opened the floor in a 69-61 win over the Arizona Starz, paced by Rinksalis’ 20 points, 11 rebounds and four blocked shots and three late 3s by Matt Powell (Covenant).

They closed the tournament with a 41-40 overtime loss to the International Cobras. Echols had 10 points and four assists.