Abundance of Talent at Airmen Tournament

2022 Wayne Future Warriors -6th Grade Champions

Since 1999, Coach Al Powel and his staff have been hosting the Dayton Airmen MLK Tournament, and for as long as we can remember, the event has always attracted some of the top teams and players in the area and beyond. This year was no exception, as the top of the 5^th and 6^th grade divisions featured several quality teams and some very competitive games. 

The 6^th grade championship game featured a showdown between the Wayne Future Warriors and the Trotwood Rams.  The game also featured a match up between 2 of the city’s top players in Douglas “Trey” Dennis (5’8/SG/2022) for Trotwood and Tyler Dorsey (5’6/P/SG/2022) for the Warriors. Early on, this was a highly contested game, with both teams trading body blows. In fact, by halftime, the Warriors were ahead by only 6 points (30-24). However, with studs Dennis and Jamel Smith (5’4/WF/2022) relegated to the bench, the Warriors broke out a layup line, went on a 14-0 run, and pretty broke the sprit of Trotwood on their way to a 59-38 victory. 

Although Dennis and Smith are the primary scorers for Trotwood, the Warriors used more of a total team effort to claim the championship. Wayne is a well-constructed team with solid guard play, scoring wings and quality bigs. In fact, when we release our pre season Power Rankings in a few weeks, the Warriors could be near the top. The leader of the team appears to be Tyler Dorsey, who can put up big numbers at any given time, but key pieces like Lawrent Rice (5’1/PG/2022), RJ Mukes (5’4/SG/2022) and James Cammon (5’6/WF/2022) make this team tough to beat.  Oh yea, we have to mention Michael Cole (5’1/SG/2022) who can really light it up from beyond the arc. In terms of scoring, Rice led all scorers with 15 points, followed by Cole with 12, Mukes with 11, Dorsey with 10 and Cammon with 8 points. Dennis paced Trotwood with 14 point, all but 2 of which were in the first half.

Dayton Swish-5th Grade Champions

The 5^th grade championship turned out to be one heck of a game, as the Dayton Swish squared off with Salvation Army. The Swish would jump out to an early lead, and by the end of the opening quarter, would lead 9-6.  The Swish would maintain their lead through the second quarter, and would enter the break ahead 18-11. A 7-0 run to start the 3^rd quarter would knot the game at 18. Back to back treys by Paul Woodard and a Swish 8-0 would put them back on top 26-18 with 2:20 left in the quarter. A layup up by Dre’Sean Roberts would halt the run, and cut the lead to 26-20.  By the end of the quarter, the Swish was still up 28-23. Salvation Army would mount a 5-0 run of their own to tie the game at 28 at about the 4:08 mark. A final 4-0 run by the Swish would seal the deal and result in an eventual 40-32 victory.  The Swish was led in scoring by Paul Woodard and Delamar Blanton who both finished with 11 points, followed by Tyren Brown’s 5 points.  Dre’Sean Roberts paced Salvation Army with a game-high 14 points. 

It’s also worth noting that this event provided us with the opportunity to get an even closer look at Roberts, and we could not have been more impressed with his poise under pressure, IQ, length and the way he handles himself.  We were high on him before, but the performance he logged in on Monday has us thinking that when we release our class of 2023 Watch List later this week, Roberts could be one of the 3 best players in the state in his class!

Dennis, Dorsey, Rice, Mukes, Smith, Washington, Dorsey, Littles & Culter

In the 3^rd grade championship game Salvation Army defeated Team Dayton 17-12, and in the 4^th grade championship game Salvation Army took down Dayton Swish 40-15.  Of note in that game was the play of Salvation Army’s Marquise Young, Javon Vaughn, and Myles Perkins and the Swish’s Reginald Person.  In the 6^th grade semi-finals, the Future Warriors defeated the Dayton Airmen 45-29, while the Trotwood Ram bested the New Birth Warriors in a lopsided contest.  Other standouts included: Sellers Little (5’0/PG/2022), Rico Culter (4’9/PG/2022), Derrick Shepard (5’8/C/2022), Daniel Washington (4’8/PG/2022/Columbus), Robert Dorsey (5’0/SG/2022/Columbus), Ollie Martin (5'7/PF/2022) and Juwan Turner (4/8/SG/2024/Columbus).  

Roberts, Woodard, Blanton, Brown, Cole, Shepard, Turner

All in all, Monday represented a great day of basketball.  Congratulations to Al Powel, Mark Landers and the entire Dayton Airmen for their hospitality and for putting on another great event!

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