NK Tarheels/KY Select finish 6th at AAU Nationals in Memphis

The NK Tarheels/KY Select 7^th grade finished in 6^th place at the AAU D2 Nationals for the second year in a row.  They defeated the Illinois Lightning 75-32 to open pool play.  Cole Vonhandorf had 18, Justin Drees 17 and JC Hawkins with 11. They  lost on a last second shot with 0.7 seconds on the clock to the South Fulton Panthers 60-62. The Tarheels were up 1 with 0.7 second left when the Panthers threw in a hail Mary from about 25 feet.  Vonhandorf had 18, Sean Mcneil had 17 and Cameron Racke had 15. In their last pool game against the Columbus Mustangs they won 71-35.  This game was never close as they jumped out to a 21-0 lead and kept their foot on the gas. Vonhandorf had 24, and Mcneil with 15. The Tarheels would finish pool play at  2-1  and win the 1 seed in their pool.

Bracket play began with a win over Hartford City Dream Team 78-57. Vonhandorf had 34, Mcneil with 15 and Drees with 12. They then defeated the SW Little Rock Bulls 84-69. Vonhandorf had 44, Racke with 13 and Brent Angel with 10.  They would lose to Georgia United 70-58.  The Georgia United team would go on to win the D2 National Championship.  Vonhandorf had 32. They then defeated Lakeland Fire 73-46. Vonhandorf had 38 and Drees had 10. The Tarheels would lose a heart breaker in the 5^th/6^th place game to Team Wigg from Alabama 87-80.  Vonhandorf led in scoring again with his second 40 point performance of the tournament, he had 41.   

Vonhandorf averaged a staggering 31 points a game for the 8 games The Tarheels played in Memphis.  He scored every way possible from taking to the basket and knocking down the three ball.  Coach Charles Hawkins said "Cole has a motor that doesn’t stop and rest of the team feeds off his energy.  Cole was clearly in my opinion the best player in the tournament."  That is a pretty big accomplishment seeing there were 96 teams in D2. Coach Hawkins went on to say "This was a team effort.  Cole may have led us in scoring but the defensive play from players like Dante Hendrix and Hunter Meyer and the rebounding of Justin Drees and Brent Angel where just as important. Our scoring was pretty balanced after Cole would get his 30 points with Mcneil, Racke, Drees and Hawkins all chipping in" 

The Tarheel/KY Select roster with school attending:

Gannon Huff-Beechwood

Cole Vonhandorf-Blessed Sacrament

JC Hawkins-Summit View

Dante Hendrix-Ockerman

Devin McClendon-Holy Cross

Hunter Meyer-Turkeyfoot

Sean Mcneil-Ockerman

Brent Angel-Grey

Justin Drees-Sunman Dearborn

Cameron Racke-Twenhofel