Throwback 2013: 13U in Anaheim, Vegas

The H1 Thunder 13U team went 4-1 in Las Vegas and 4-0 in Anaheim. Lost only to the Swoosh 13U champions, LA Valley Hoops, in Vegas. I still think we would've beat them in a rematch because we were jet-lagged that first night. No question about Anaheim, beating teams with 6-4, 6-3 centers en route to the Swoosh SoCal championship. Fun times on the road!

Where are they now: Josh M DE Jesus - playing for Kalakaua Middle School Jared Elwin - freshman on Roosevelt varsity, Javan Montiho - guard/forward for H1 Thunder 13U, Felcris Jay Corpuz Ahadain - guard for Kalakaua Middle School and H1 Thunder 13U, Ryan Higashionna - guard/forward for Kaimuki Middle School and co-captain for H1 Thunder 13U. (back) Kyle Moraga - guard for McKinley varsity, Tanielu Mosi Afe - guard for Farrington JV, Kali'a Mielke - forward/center for Kalani JV, Manoa Kualii-Moe, guard for Maryknoll JV, Chris Afe, forward/center for H1 Thunder 13U/15U and QB/WR for Solid Rock (Big Boyz) football, Tanoa Bowl All-Star.

Video: Thunder 13U vs Crossover

H1 Thunder vs. Crossover (Calif.), Swoosh Las Vegas National Championships, 13U Silver Division, Heinrich YMCA Community Center, Sunday, July 14, 2013.

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Video: Thunder 13U vs Imperial Valley

H1 Thunder vs. Imperial Valley All-Stars (Calif.), Swoosh Las Vegas National Championships, Heinrich YMCA Community Center, Saturday, July 13, 2013.

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Video: Thunder 13U vs South Coast

Pool play, H1 Thunder vs. South Coast (Calif.), Swoosh Las Vegas National Championships (Silver Division), Dula Gynasium, Saturday, July 14, 2013.

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Video: 13U vs LA Valley Hoops

H1 Thunder vs. LA Valley Hoops, Swoosh Las Vegas National Championships (Silver Division), Centennial YMCA Community Center, Friday, July 12, 2013. One day, maybe we get another shot at this team. We led by 7 with 6 minutes left and let it slip away. Playing 24 hours after a flight from Honolulu, with a 5-hour delay, a connecting flight from LA ... there are no excuses, but next time, we're not doing that. Not enough time to recover from jet lag.

Players win games. Coaches lose games. Next time, we arrive at least 48 hours early. Even with the loss, we won our next game and qualified for the championship bracket... then the tournament changed the rules and moved us into a lower bracket. We never got a chance to play for the title in Las Vegas.

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Video: 13U vs SoCal USA (pool play)

H1 Thunder vs. Southern California USA Basketball Academy, Saturday, July 20, 2013, Swoosh So Cal Ultimate Showcase, Next Level Sports Complex, Garden Grove, Calif.

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Video: Thunder 13U vs CBA

H1 Thunder vs. CBA (pool play), Swoosh So Cal Ultimate Showcase, Saturday, July 20, 2013, Next Level Sports Complex, Anaheim (Garden Grove), Calif.

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Boxscore added 1/17/14

H1 Thunder at CBA [Swoosh So Cal Ult. Showcase]
Jul 20, 2013	1ST	2ND	SCORE
H1 Thunder (1-0)	24	18	42
CBA [Swoosh So Cal Ult. Showcase] (0-1)	10	17	27

H1 Thunder
STARTERS	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
#3 Chris Afe	1	8-10	0-0	0-0	1-0	0	1	0	0	16
#4 Kyle Moraga	1	1-4	0-0	1-1	6-2	6	6	0	2	3
#5 Jared Elwin	1	1-2	1-2	0-0	1-0	3	3	0	1	3
#7 Joshua de Jesus	1	2-5	2-4	0-0	0-0	1	2	0	3	6
#24 Tanielu Afe	1	7-8	0-1	3-4	1-0	5	4	0	4	17
BENCH	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
#10 Manoa Kualii-Moe	1	0-2	0-1	0-0	2-1	3	4	0	2	0
#33 Felcris Ahadain	1	0-2	0-2	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	1	0
#41 Kali‘a Mielke	1	0-6	0-1	0-0	2-1	0	2	0	0	0
TEAM TOTALS		19-59 (.322)	3-10 (.300)	4-5 (.800)	13-4	17	20	0	10	42

CBA [Swoosh So Cal Ult. Showcase]
STARTERS	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
#2	1	3-8	0-0	0-0	1-0	1	2	0	4	6
#7	1	0-3	0-1	0-0	3-1	0	1	0	5	0
#14	1	2-10	0-1	0-0	7-1	4	3	0	9	4
#18	1	2-4	0-0	0-2	8-5	0	2	0	1	4
#34	1	3-3	0-0	4-4	2-0	0	0	1	0	10
BENCH	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
#4	1	1-2	1-1	0-0	2-2	3	1	1	3	3
team	1								3
TEAM TOTALS		11-30 (.367)	1-2 (.500)	4-6 (.667)	23-9	8	9	2	22	27

Video: Thunder 13U vs Tempo Sabercats

H1 Thunder vs. Tempo Sabercats (Ariz.), Sunday, July 21, 2013. Swoosh SoCal Ultimate Showcase, 13U Division semifinal game at Next Level Sports Complex, Garden Grove (Anaheim), Calif.

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Video: Thunder 13U vs SoCal USA (title game)

VIDEO TIME. The Swoosh So Cal Ultimate Showcase 13U championship game is online.

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Road trip gallery: Final days

Photos from the last two days of the H1 Thunder 13U's road trip.

Singing in the van after day 1 at the Swoosh So Cal

Ultimate Showcase.

Kyle Moraga. His mom was operating the video camera.

Remnants of a championship run: forgotten slippers,

coach's drawing board and a spoon for pre-game 

Dippin' Dots.

Kali‘a Mielke in a good mood, as usual.

He asked for it and he got it. Chris Afe clutches

the championship trophy. 

Swoosh tournament director Mike Alexander and some

of his staff.

Swoosh director Mike Alexander at left.

The champions.

Tanielu Afe carried the championship trophy home

from Anaheim to Kalihi. 

13U: H1 Thunder 49, SoCal USA 33

ANAHEIM — Four games in less than 24 hours should've been a big task.

Instead, our Thunder 13U persevered to capture the Swoosh So Cal Ultimate Showcase on Sunday afternoon at Next Level Sports Complex.

It was another great team win, our defenders swarming across the floor for steals to open a 14-4 lead early. The lead was 20-8 and it looked a lot like our pool-play game with SoCal USA, but that's when Kyle Moraga landed awkwardly after going up for a rebound, injuring his left ankle.

SoCal USA had to burn three timeouts in the first 10 minutes, but they chipped away with their bigs and tenacity.

The lead withered away to about 6 points at one junction. The Thunder opened the lead back to about 10 with 5 minutes left even though Jared Elwin fouled out and Kyle was still playing on the injured ankle.

With Tanielu Mosi Afe attacking SoCal USA's defense and Kyle, Chris Afe and Kali'a Mielke crashing the defensive boards, we maintained the lead. SoCal USA began to foul with 4 minutes left, but Kyle and Tanielu, as well as Manoa Kuali‘i-Moe and Joshua de Jesus, took care of the ball and kept going to the line.

Despite the fatigue, our Thunder hit free throws and pulled away for their first mainland tournament championship.

We got key contributions from everybody, including reserve guard Felcris Jay Corpuz. Every rest was key since we had just eight players, but our team chemistry is so strong now after nearly two weeks on the road. We weren't the tallest team in any of our games, but we had that chemistry and great defensive teamwork. Our final record on this trip was 8-1.

Congratulations Thunder 13U!

Boxscore added on 1/8/14

H1 Thunder at Southern California USA Basketball Academy
Jul 21, 2013	1ST	2ND	SCORE
H1 Thunder (4-0)	21	28	49
Southern California USA Basketball Academy (3-2)	16	17	33

H1 Thunder
STARTERS	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
#3 Kyle Moraga	1	2-6	0-0	4-6	10-0	4	1	1	3	5
#5 Jared Elwin	1	0-1	0-1	0-0	2-0	2	1	0	0	0
#7 Joshua de Jesus	1	1-6	0-4	1-4	3-0	2	2	0	1	3
#23 Chris Afe	1	4-11	0-0	0-0	8-3	0	0	0	2	8
#24 Tanielu Afe	1	9-21	0-2	10-14	7-4	3	1	1	1	28
BENCH	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
#1 Felcris Ahadain	1	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	1	0	0	0
#9 Manoa Kualii-Moe	1	0-2	0-0	2-2	7-1	0	3	0	0	2
#33 Kali‘a Mielke	1	0-2	0-0	0-0	2-0	1	0	1	2	0
TEAM TOTALS		16-49 (.327)	0-7 (.000)	17-26 (.654)	44-8	12	9	3	9	49

Southern California USA Basketball Academy
STARTERS	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
#3	1	0-4	0-0	0-0	3-3	0	0	0	0	0
#6	1	3-10	0-0	0-4	4-0	1	1	0	2	6
#11	1	4-13	0-3	0-1	11-4	0	0	1	2	8
#23	1	3-13	1-4	0-0	7-4	1	1	0	3	7
#24	1	1-11	0-2	4-4	5-3	1	0	0	5	6
BENCH	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
#15	1	0-0	0-0	0-0	8-3	0	0	0	1	0
#92	1	3-8	0-1	0-0	3-1	0	0	1	1	6
#32	1	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	0
#44	1	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	0
#17	1	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	0
#28	1	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	0
#50	1	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	0
TEAM TOTALS		14-59 (.237)	1-10 (.100)	4-9 (.444)	41-18	3	2	2	14	33

13U: H1 Thunder 45, Tempo Sabercats (AZ) 35

One down, one more to go. Tempo was a tall, tough, smart team. They had a 22-16 lead on us late in the first half. We had some impatience against their 1-2-2, and the referees called it much tighter than they did yesterday.

But by the second half, we adjusted. Tanielu Mosi Afe had some deft passes on the drive to his brother, Chris Afe, for three big buckets late in the game. Jared Elwin was clutch with a pair of 3s and some free throws.

Kyle Moraga and Manoa Kuali‘i-Moe were key with ballhandling in the final minutes. We got solid play from Joshua de Jesus andKali'a Mielke, and Felcris Jay Corpuz played smart off the bench.
That was a grind, a well-earned win.

Next: 1:00 pm, 13U vs. Southern California USA Basketball Academy for the championship of the 13U division (Swoosh So Cal Ultimate Showcase). We beat them last night, but now, it means little. Our boys are tired, but hungry. WE LUB THIS GAME. Boxscore added 1/9/14

H1 Thunder at Tempo Sabercats (AZ)
Jul 21, 2013	1ST	2ND	SCORE
H1 Thunder (3-0)	19	26	45
Tempo Sabercats (AZ) (2-2)	24	11	35

H1 Thunder
STARTERS	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
#3 Kyle Moraga	1	3-5	1-1	0-0	4-2	3	3	3	3	7
#5 Jared Elwin	1	2-3	2-3	1-2	5-3	0	1	0	0	7
#7 Joshua de Jesus	1	0-0	0-0	1-2	0-0	0	1	0	0	1
#23 Chris Afe	1	4-6	0-0	0-0	5-1	3	4	1	1	8
#24 Tanielu Afe	1	6-15	1-3	7-12	4-2	4	3	0	1	20
BENCH	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
#1 Felcris Ahadain	1	0-1	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	0
#9 Manoa Kualii-Moe	1	0-1	0-1	0-0	1-0	2	1	0	1	0
#33 Kali‘a Mielke	1	1-2	0-0	0-2	2-1	0	0	1	1	2
TEAM TOTALS		16-33 (.485)	4-8 (.500)	9-18 (.500)	21-9	12	13	5	7	45

Tempo Sabercats (AZ)
STARTERS	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
#1	1	3-4	0-0	0-0	4-1	2	0	3	0	6
#3	1	1-2	0-1	0-0	2-0	2	1	0	4	2
#4	1	4-13	3-6	4-4	2-1	3	1	0	1	15
#13	1	0-1	0-0	0-0	1-1	1	0	0	0	0
#23	1	3-5	1-4	3-4	9-3	0	1	1	6	10
BENCH	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
#12	1	0-2	0-2	0-0	1-1	0	0	0	0	0
#24	1	1-2	0-0	0-1	5-2	0	0	1	3	2
TEAM TOTALS		12-29 (.414)	4-13 (.308)	7-9 (.778)	24-9	8	3	5	14	35

13U wins pool play

H1 Thunder 42, CBA 27
H1 Thunder 37, Southern California USA Basketball Academy 22

ANAHEIM — Strong team play from our Thunder today at the Swoosh So Cal Ultimate Showcase on Saturday afternoon. Chris Afe was our leading scorer in the first game, getting a lot of strong drives to the hoop, a lot of nice feeds for layups from teammates. Easily his best game since the bone bruise on his leg a month ago.

Our overall team defense was successful. Our guys brought the pressure all game long against a good CBA team. This was a solid start to pool play, especially since our guys were sitting around for 3 hours after we found out about the schedule change.

In the second pool game, we faced a team that loves to fullcourt press like us, and they had a deep bench. But our 8 strong came out smart, aggressive and we led 9-0 within 2 minutes. They had some tall guys, including a 6-3 guy with NBA range, but our team defense was relentless.

Even after we pulled back into a zone, our aggressiveness and quickness were our big advantages. Tanielu Mosi Afe and Kyle Moraga were solid on both ends. We got strong defense, a key 3-point bomb and a pair of clutch free throws late in the game from Jared Elwin. Joshua de Jesus and Manoa Kuali‘i-Moe were ballhawkers on defense and made consistent, solid contributions on offense.

Josh's perimeter shooting kept defense honest in both games, and Manoa's ballhandling helped Kyle get some rest, allowing him to play some wing.

Kali'a Mielke was strong defensively against guys 6 inches taller, and we got some help off the bench from Felcris Jay Corpuz.

The guys are playing very hard and very intelligently for one another most of the time now. It's now a matter of how much they can keep doing this. They trust each other, hit the floor for each other, hustle like crazy for each other.

They know how to win close games. They know how to pull away from opponents in tough games. They don't back down to anyone, not the 6-4 guys in Las Vegas or the big guys here in Anaheim. It's all theirs to win now. Us coaches are there for big support and direction, but at this point, they know what to do.

That's a beautiful thing to see in kids this young. WE LUB THIS GAME!

Next: Championship bracket. We don't know the schedule, which changes out of the blue at any time anyway. But we play at either 9:00 am or 11:00 am on Sunday. The championship game is at 1:00 pm, then we fly home on the 7:00 pm flight. Boxscore added 1/17/14

H1 Thunder at CBA [Swoosh So Cal Ult. Showcase]
Jul 20, 2013	1ST	2ND	SCORE
H1 Thunder (1-0)	24	18	42
CBA [Swoosh So Cal Ult. Showcase] (0-1)	10	17	27

H1 Thunder
STARTERS	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
#3 Chris Afe	1	8-10	0-0	0-0	1-0	0	1	0	0	16
#4 Kyle Moraga	1	1-4	0-0	1-1	6-2	6	6	0	2	3
#5 Jared Elwin	1	1-2	1-2	0-0	1-0	3	3	0	1	3
#7 Joshua de Jesus	1	2-5	2-4	0-0	0-0	1	2	0	3	6
#24 Tanielu Afe	1	7-8	0-1	3-4	1-0	5	4	0	4	17
BENCH	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
#10 Manoa Kualii-Moe	1	0-2	0-1	0-0	2-1	3	4	0	2	0
#33 Felcris Ahadain	1	0-2	0-2	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	1	0
#41 Kali‘a Mielke	1	0-6	0-1	0-0	2-1	0	2	0	0	0
TEAM TOTALS		19-59 (.322)	3-10 (.300)	4-5 (.800)	13-4	17	20	0	10	42

CBA [Swoosh So Cal Ult. Showcase]
STARTERS	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
#2	1	3-8	0-0	0-0	1-0	1	2	0	4	6
#7	1	0-3	0-1	0-0	3-1	0	1	0	5	0
#14	1	2-10	0-1	0-0	7-1	4	3	0	9	4
#18	1	2-4	0-0	0-2	8-5	0	2	0	1	4
#34	1	3-3	0-0	4-4	2-0	0	0	1	0	10
BENCH	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
#4	1	1-2	1-1	0-0	2-2	3	1	1	3	3
team	1								3
TEAM TOTALS		11-30 (.367)	1-2 (.500)	4-6 (.667)	23-9	8	9	2	22	27

Boxscore added 1/17/14

H1 Thunder at So Cal USA Basketball Academy [Swoosh So Cal Ult. Showcase]
Jul 20, 2013	1ST	2ND	SCORE
H1 Thunder (2-0)	27	10	37
So Cal USA Basketball Academy [Swoosh So Cal Ult. Showcase] (1-1)	10	12	22

H1 Thunder
STARTERS	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
#3 Chris Afe	1	0-1	0-1	0-0	1-0	0	1	0	1	0
#4 Kyle Moraga	1	1-5	0-1	3-8	1-0	3	1	2	0	5
#5 Jared Elwin	1	1-1	0-0	2-2	1-1	0	3	0	1	4
#7 Joshua de Jesus	1	1-1	1-1	1-2	1-0	4	2	0	1	4
#24 Tanielu Afe	1	7-14	1-3	4-12	6-3	2	4	0	2	19
BENCH	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
#10 Manoa Kualii-Moe	1	1-1	1-1	0-0	3-1	0	1	0	0	3
#33 Felcris Ahadain	1	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	0
#41 Kali‘a Mielke	1	1-1	0-0	0-0	1-0	0	2	0	1	2
TEAM TOTALS		12-24 (.500)	3-7 (.429)	10-24 (.417)	14-5	9	14	2	6	37

So Cal USA Basketball Academy [Swoosh So Cal Ult. Showcase]
STARTERS	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
#3	1	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	0
#6	1	0-4	0-0	1-2	1-1	0	0	0	5	1
#11	1	3-5	2-4	2-2	10-3	1	0	1	1	8
#23	1	0-5	0-3	3-4	3-1	1	2	1	1	3
#24	1	1-2	0-0	2-2	2-0	1	0	0	4	4
BENCH	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
#15	1	1-1	0-0	0-0	1-0	0	0	0	1	2
#28	1	0-1	0-0	0-0	1-0	0	0	0	0	0
#44	1	0-0	0-0	0-0	1-0	0	0	0	0	0
#92	1	1-3	0-0	2-2	3-1	0	0	2	3	4
team	1				1-0				3
TEAM TOTALS		5-21 (.238)	2-7 (.286)	10-12 (.833)	22-6	3	2	4	15	22

13U Road Trip: photos

Photos from the first few days of our stay in Las Vegas.