Elijah Fisher and Grassroots Elite Capture CNIT U13 National Title
Championship Sunday for the U10’s to U13’s are in the books, and here is a recap of the big winners in the CNIT, including top ranked class of 2023, Elijah Fisher.
U10 Champions Gator Basketball
The U10’s matchup had the makings to be one of the most exciting on championship Sunday, and it proved to be just that. The Brampton Warriors, led by their backcourt of Dreyln David and David Bottomly, had been running teams ragged with their transition offence all tournament. Meanwhile for the Gators, no team had an answer for their gifted big man Marcus Green.
The game started with Green dominating under the basket, scoring time after time and showing off a very impressive form from the line for his age. But Brampton managed to roar back in the second half thanks to their patented high speed run and gun style, while Jayjet Singh managed to contain Green defensively in a way that no other player had been able to do all weekend, matching his size and strength.
The game would come down to the final seconds, where the Gators managed to take the lead with just a few second on the clock. However, an inadvertent whistle from the refs would discount the basket and force overtime.
In that overtime, Green managed to get right back to what he does best while Singh was in foul trouble, and led his Gators to their first CNIT national title by a final of 53-49. Green finished with 19 points and 12 rebounds for the Gators, while David had 14 points, 2 rebounds, and 2 assists for the Warriors.
11U Champions CIA Select Basketball
A strong start to the second half was all the CIA Bounce needed to lock up a CNIT national title, but UPLAY managed to make them earn it.
After a tough back and forth battle between both teams in the first, with Bounce leading 20-15 at the half, Bounce would go on a 13-3 run to start the second half and never look back, taking a 49-39 win and national title.
Bounce would capture the gold by a final of 49-39, with Isaiah Spencer finishing with 9 points and 5 rebounds for Bounce, while Jaion Pitt finished with an impressive 13 points, 7 rebounds, and 2 assists for UPLAY.
12U Champions Toronto City Elite
Toronto City Elite just might be one of the best 12U teams in the world, and man did they back up that claim at this year’s CNIT.
From start to finish, Toronto City Elite ran the floor tirelessly, shot with supreme confidence from behind the arc, and more or less took UPLAY out of the game at the very start, and secured a 66-40 win and a national title with it.
UPLAY did have a few bright spots however, as their point guard Jacob Theodosiou came ready to play from start to finish, finding ways to score and set up teammates all over the floor, while knocking down a number of threes from both corners.
Mikkel Tyne showed why he is already being looked at by major division one teams down south, showing off his crossover and ability to finish at the rim seemed to have him looking like a he was more than ready to take the next step in whatever prep school he will wind up at.
Tyne finished with 25 points and 7 assists in the win, while Theodosiou finished with 23 points and 4 assists.
13U Champions Grassroots Elite
Elijah fisher and the Grassroots Elite squad had not been tested to deeply throughout these CNIT’s, but the got all they could handle in the gold medal game from Team Breakdown out of Brampton.
The world’s number one 2023 player had a back and forth battle all game with 6’4 guard Andrew Robinson, who channeled his inner Kahwi Leonard for most of the first half to keep the phenom off balance and frustrated.
But by the second half, Fisher and the rest of Grassroots seemed to find their footing, and after a few tough calls that went against Breakdown, along with some technical fouls that landed Fisher on the line for three extra free throws, Grassroots got the lead they needed.
Breakdown however showed their resilience, erasing a 17 point deficit late in the final minutes to bring the lead down to four, but once again Fisher, with some help from some transition buckets from Jermaine Go, were able to shut the door with some late foul shots and give Grassroots the 63-50 victory and national title.
Fisher finished with 15 points, 4 rebounds, and 3 assists for Grassroots, while Bronson Chambers had 17 points and 4 rebounds for Team Breakdown.
