2000 TEAM won the men's title in the fourth annual alumni basketball tourney. Pictured are front row (l-r): Ryan Cameron, - ,Derek Heiss and Ross Berg. Back row (l-r): Beau Heiss, Andy ~Shang, Josh Herbers and Aaron Parks.
To quote Yogi Berra, it was a case of "deja vu all over again" in the fourth annual O'Neill alumni basketball tournament held this past weekend. Both the '00 men and the MOB women repeated as champions. Sixteen men's teams and five women's teams competed in the three-day event that featured graduates of both O'Neill High and St. Mary's. A total of 36 games were played.
In the women's bracket each team played two pool games on Saturday. Teams were then seeded into a five team tournament. In the #4 vs. #5 game played late Saturday afternoon, the '04 - 'OS women won despite some hot shooting from Lynae Hesse Hilker of the '90's/Community team. The former Orchard stand-out hit four three-point goals and finished with 14 points, but '04 - 'OS had plenty of offense of their own. Lynnsey Davison, Kara Garman and Melanie Adamson combined to score 53 points in the 56-41 win.
Sunday morning's semifinals saw '04 - 'OS take on the top seeded MOB team in one game, while '00 - 'O1 met '02-'03 in the other. The MOB scored 18 points in each half to advance to the finals with a 36-25 win. Kacy . Heiss Kienholz led the winners with 12 points, while Lynnsey Davison finished with 13 for '04 - 'O5. The '00 - 'O1 women found the usually unforgiving rims of the O'Neill Elementary to their liking, as they jumped to a 34-15 halftime lead enroute to a 44-34 win. Courtney Flaherty Maas had 15 points in her team's win, all from behind the arc. Autumn Hanson had 13 more. Brandy Spiegel led the '02 - '03 women with 10 but their second half comeback effort came up short. In the final, Autumn Hanson scored 17 points but '00 - 'O1 couldn't overcome the inside outside combination of Kacy Heiss Kienholz and Amy Brodersen Riggs. The duo combined to score 38 points as the MOB broke a halftime deadlock to win 42-32.
In the men's portion of the tournament, teams were divided into four pools. The class of 2000 played in pool B and went 5-0 to win their second title in as many years. But as was the case a year ago, their run to the top was far from easy. Saturday afternoon they faced a hot shooting '04 Red team. '00 had to come from behind in the final three minutes to win 62-54. That win was sandwiched between victories over '84 - '85 and '86 - '87. Other pool winners were '96 in pool A, '03 in pool C, and '04 Blue in pool D. All four winners went 3-0 in pool play Saturday.
"Oh brother" could have been the theme for Sunday's men's semifinals. Three sets of siblings faced off. At the O'Neill Elementary the '96 team met '00. Mitch Heiss and Ryan Berg played for '96, while Beau Heiss and Ross Berg donned the Carolina Blue jerseys of the'00 team. '00 won 47-42 despite the efforts of Ryan Berg and Kyle Schellpeper who combined to score 28 points. Ryan Cameron led a balanced '00 attack with 13. The other semifinal pitted the '03 team against the '04 Blue team in a game played at O'Neill High. Travis Ptacek played for '04 Blue and brother Tyler battled for the '03 team. In a well played contest, '04 Blue came away with a 50-47 win. Travis Ptacek led the victors with 21 points. '03's Ryan Hickey tied his own alumni record for free throws in a game with 10. He finished with 20 points as '03 narrowly missed playing in their second consecutive final. In the exciting final '00 overcame a one-point halftime deficit to prevail 60-53. Beau Heiss and Andy Shong each scored 14 to lead the champions. Ptacek continued to impress as he led all scorers with 23.
Five women ard ten men were named to the O'Nei11 Alumni Basketball Tournament Ail Tournament Team.