Las Vegas • For the first time since 1997, a Utah-based club basketball team has won a major national high school-age tournament.
The Salt Lake Metro Black club team, directed by Dave Hammer, won the championship of 64-team Las Vegas Fab 48 tournament here Sunday night (17-and-under open division) with a 68-48 victory over a the Dallas-based Southwest Elite.
“It’s a pretty big accomplishment for these kids,” Hammer said.
The team, which was not part of the more prestigious Invitational Division, went 8-0 in its division, and Nick Emery, a sophomore-to-be at Lone Peak High School, earned all-tournament honors. Emery already has scholarship offers from BYU, Utah and others, and coaches from both those schools watched almost every game Metro Black played in the tournament.
In the quarterfinals, Emery scored 43 points to key a 76-73 win over the Las Vegas Desert Storm.
In the second round of bracket play, Bountiful High’s McKay LaSalle made eight three-pointers en route to 34 points in an 86-80 win over the San Diego Warriors.
The Salt Lake team also beat Franchize Red of Texas and the Arizona Stars in bracket play. In pool play, they downed all-star teams from Arizona, Washington and California.
Team members included Timpview’s Ryan Sagers, East’s Parker Van Dyke (the only other sophomore on the team, besides Emery), Layton Christian’s Hardy Weissohn, Juab’s Dallin Kay, Morgan’s Casey Evans, East’s Jack Larson and LaSalle.
