A hometown newspaper with a local office, local owners & lots of local news
A hometown newspaper with a local office, local owners & lots of local news
There were plenty of teams and an audience for the fifth Fourth of July basketball tournament in Cloquet last week. Below are the tournament winners, the Milk Men.
Twenty local basketball teams faced off in the fifth annual 3-on-3 July Fourth basketball tournament in Cloquet. With two half courts going simultaneously at Pinehurst Park, the tournament went off with plenty of impressive basketball.
"It is a great tournament and we have some unbelievable talent in the tournament every year," said tournament director Paul Cameron. "We had a huge crowd to start the day and the atmosphere was lively and electric all day long."
Many of the teams feature fun and imaginative names, and it was the Milk Men who took top honors for the second time.
"They call themselves the Milk Men because they deliver," Cameron said.
The team features Univeristy of Minnesota Duluth star Noah Paulson along with Zaa Buffalo and Simon Randorf. The Milk Men defeated the FDL Boys, which emerged from the elimination bracket in what can best be described as an unbelievable basketball game.
"I can't tell you in words just how good those games were," Cameron said.
The FDL Boys team consisted of Curt Houle, Shazae Henagin, Sus Delapaz and Dexter Delille. Third place went to a team made up of Duluth Denfeld and Marshall players.
The "Most Drip" award, for the most stylish player, went to Lee Brooks. The MVP award went to Zaa Buffalo.
"Brooks is amazing and he has so much style ... it is a very prestigious award," Cameron said. "Zaa won the MVP award for the second time now, so that is pretty impressive."
Cameron himself has built an impressive sponsor list, including Carmen's, Dylan Merriman of American Family Insurance, Fitger's Salon, Erik Priley of Kolar Chev, Little Angie's Cantina, Port City Collective, Browns Connection and 218 Exterior Cleaning. The tournament also gets support from the Cloquet Fourth of July committee.
"We couldn't make this happen without the support of all of our sponsors," Cameron said.
Games started at 12:30 p.m. with the championship game finishing up about five hours later with perfect weather for basketball.
Cameron is excited about the possibilities for the future.
"Every player got a T-shirt this year and it is fun to give back to the younger kids to give them something exciting to be a part of," Cameron said. "We are always looking for more teams and sponsors and we would love to see this tournament grow even more."
As the championship game wound down and players dispersed for another year, there were a lot of pats on the back and a lot of athletes saying they can't wait for the Fourth of July next year, Cameron said.
