Youth basketball ends season with championship games

MADISON – The recent 20252026 youth basketball season of Madison came to a close in fashionable style as the long-standing youth leagues, formerly known as BAM, comprised of both boys and girls, held its post-season league tournaments.

Here are the quick synopsis of each of the league championship games:

Boys 18U:

The top-seeded Pacers, coached by Bryan/DiCarlo, opened an 11-point lead after the first quarter and kept a steady lead against the Bulls and held onto a 49-42 victory and league championship.

Jude Wheelock was on fire for the winning Pacers hitting 11 field goals to score a game-high 22 points. Jake Bryan had 13 and Louis Johnson 9 to help the Pacers. The Bulls, coached by Ruf/ Holloway, were led mostly by two players who, combined, scored 35 of the team’s 42 points. Elijah Stevens was tops scoring 18 while Jack Holloway had 17.

Boys 14U:

The Timberwolves completed a perfect season to win the league, but it took an overtime period in the championship game against the Mavs to pull off the invincible season.

Outscoring the Timberwolves 12-5 in the second quarter and leading by 3 at halftime, the Mavs loss the lead to a deadlock at the end of regulation forcing overtime. In the extra period, Ryan Veal hit two 3-pointers scoring 6 of his game total of 9 while the Mavs were held scoreless from the field settling on 4 points from the free throw line giving the Timberwolves the 40-38 victory and the undefeated season with Veal as head coach.

Nicolaus Caterina led the winning Wolves with 15 points while Gavin Barnes added 10. For the runner-up Mavs, Dylan Deal was the real-deal scoring 15 while Alex Brown scored 12. McMillian was the Mavs head coach.

Boys 12U:

A 14-point lead at halftime was enough to propel the Mavs to a 2316 victory over the Culver/Kaiser coached Heat. Although, only scoring a single point in the third quarter, the Mavs’ early lead was enough to earn the league title for the Cole coached squad.

Only three players scored for the winning Mavs with Isaac Stigger leading with 12 while Reynaldo Robinson added 9. The Heat scoring was evenly spread out by those scoring as Harrison Kaiser and Mitchell Culver scored 4 points each.

Boys 10U:

Scoring first and often, the Warriors and head coach Montgomery rolled to a convincing 35-20 win over the Lakers for the championship title. Leading scorers for the Warriors were Kingston Montgomery’s 11 points and Kamden Johnson’s 9.

For the runner-up Lakers, Deashton Hamlett popped in 10 points and LaDarius Brinson scored 4. The Lakers were coached by Brinson/ Shaunce.

Boys 8U:

A victory came by way of a 4-0 scoring in overtime for the Sixers who defeated the Wildcats 24-20 for the championship trophy. Jackson Huffman scored his only 2 points of the game in the extra period to preserve the Sixers’ victory.

Coached by Hambrick/Wright, the winning Sixers were led by Karson Wright’s 12 points while Hudson Daily added 4. The Serpa coached Wildcats saw Bennett Burgreen lead the squad in the scoring department with 10 points while Ashton Clader added 6.

Boys 7U:

One of the highest scoring teams in league history, the Lakers outscored the Hornets 16-3 in the third period and trounced their opponents 36-14. The Friedlein/Davis coached Lakers were led by the one man wrecking ball Samuel Davis who poured in 23 points to lead all scorers. Next in scoring with 4 points was Andrew Cheatham.

The Hornets were coached by Kennedy and were led by the 6 points of Trent Kennedy while Dayton Watts added 4.

Girls 11U:

The Lynx outscored the Wings 13-4 in the fourth quarter, including 9 of her game high 13 points by Abigail Finley in the final stanza. Kaila Niemann scored 6 points as the Lynx defeated the Wings 25-18.

For the runner-up Wings, Everlee Aguilar scored 10 and Felicity Langston had 4.

Schultz coached the champion Lynx, while Mikelson coached the Wings.

Girls 8U:

A classic barnburner to the end featured the Fever edge the Lynx 1512 to earn the league championship. An 11-6 second half lead in scoring was the difference in the contest as the Fever trailed at halftime.

For the Fever, coached by Guerrero, the squad was led in scoring by Alicia Piowman’s 6 points and 5 points by Ella West. Schultz coached the runner-up Lynx. The squad was led by the 8 points scored by Demi Henry while scoring 2 points each were Paetyn Klein and Aminah Rashidah.