Submitted photo – The Jack Norton Elementary boys and coaches celebrate their historic championship earlier this month.

With just 18 kids in the entire school, Jack Norton Elementary recently stunned the field at the 55th annual Jaycees Basketball Tournament in Crescent City.

The Hoopa school took home the B-2 bracket championship at the prestigious annual event, winning all three of its game for its first ever Jayces tourney title.

The team featured half of the school’s student enrollment, including two sixth graders and a fourth grader.

“They’ve worked pretty hard, and went from having no wins two years ago to winning (the tournament championship),” head coach Rodney McKinnon said. 

The Jack Norton boys defeated Redwood Prep 39-22 in the championship game, after opening the tournament with a 65-44 win over Blue Lake Union.

But it was a big come-from-behind win over Monument in their semifinal — when they were down by 10 points in the third quarter — that really showcased the players’ championship credentials.

“They were pretty resilient,” McKinnon said. “They got down a lot early in games and came back to win. They were a real resilient team.”

Team MVP Anthony Coulombe helped set the tone for the Jack Norton boys.

“He’s a really athletic kid,” his coach said. “He’s explosive and he’s able to score and finish through contact.”

Seventh grader William Simms Jr. also played a pivotal role on the way to the championship.

“He’s really good at controlling the game,” McKinnon said of the team’s starting point guard. “He makes the right passes and a really clutch player.”

It was, however, the team defense that really paved the way to success, and no one player epitomized the stellar defense more than Lorenzo Coulombe .

“He always defended the (other team’s) best player on the court,” McKinnon said. “He’s really skilled and made some clutch shots.”

Submitted photo

Jimmy Myers also made some clutch shots, including two pivotal late free throws against Monument that helped send the Jack Norton boys on to the championship game.

Joseph Nix also played some outstanding defense in the tournament and is a “high energy kid,” according to McKinnon, while Ma-Kaych McConnell showcased his basketball IQ during tournament play.

“He’s a really good defender and he made the right plays the whole tournament,” the coach said of McConnell.

Bronson Ruiz and Preston Ruiz rounded out the history-making roster of eight, both of whom had big contributions on the way to the championship and played big minutes all season, along with lone fourth-grader Javahn Ray, who appears to have a bright future in the game after averaging six points a game at such a young age.

“He played a lot of minutes for us,” McKinnon said of Ray. “When he came in he knew what to do on the court.”

All in all, it was a very impressive showing for such a small school.

“These kids, they all improved,” McKinnon said. “And it was really cool because Jack Norton had never won that tournament before.”

In fact, from 2008 until three years ago the school didn’t even field a team.

But when McKinnon started teaching there, one of his students asked him if he would help them field a team. He responded and the rest, as they say, is history.

“It’s really hard to get enough kids for even a co-ed team,” McKinnon said. “But we were lucky to have enough boys for a team this year.”

Once they were given the opportunity, the young players jumped at the chance.

“They just improved a lot,” McKinnon said. “A lot of them had never even picked up a basketball before they came to the school. Some of them had never even played sports, but they developed really fast.”

Assistant coach Tule Orourke also played a key role on the way to the championship and the former College of the Redwoods and Southern Oregon player was largely responsible for the strategy on the court, according to McKinnon.