Willow Glen Resident

Sports

8th-grade basketball team shows everyone where Willow Glen is

By Dick Sparrer

Everyone was asking Roy Ayala, "Where's Willow Glen?" when he took a team of eighth grade all-stars to the National NJB Tournament in Anaheim over the April 13-15 weekend.

They're not asking anymore.

The local eighth-graders put Willow Glen on the map by playing their way into the tournament championship and placing second overall in the prestigious basketball in Southern California.

It all started, ironically, with an overtime loss. But the Willow Glen boys battled back to win three straight games before losing in the tourney finals.

Because of the opening-round loss and tourney tiebreaker rules, Willow Glen had to win its second game by 10 points in order to advance to the next round. The boys did that and more with a 13-point victory.

A 66-55 in the next game pushed the locals into the semifinals, where they managed to overcome a 23-6 first-quarter deficit to pull out a 67-62 win to clinch a berth in the tourney title game.

"To me, getting to the championship game was something I had never expected and could have only imagined for the team--we certainly overachieved in this tournament," said Ayala, calling his team's three victories in Anaheim "those three magical games."