The L.A. Dream team won the Boys 6th Level 2 Division West Coast National Championship in Las Vegas, Nevada on July 17. The tournament was hosted by Jam On It AAU tournaments and held at the Las Vegas Convention Center July 14-17.

L.A. Dream team is located in Glendale and was created by Head Coach Harry Shirikchian and Assistant Coach Ryan Mirkhanian. The team has won four first place trophies in tournaments throughout Southern California this past year.

A total of 1,000 teams in all divisions, including boys and girls, were entered in the Las Vegas tournament during the four-day period. Forty-five teams were from five different countries with many others from various different states. L.A. Dream was 4-0 leading up to the championship game with wins over teams from California and Colorado, and a semi-final game win over a team from Washington State.

The championship game did not start out very well for the Dream team as they saw themselves down 11-2 against the Arizona team within the first five minutes. But L.A. Dream fought back and was able to pull within one point at halftime, 23-22.

The second half was hard fought with both teams exchanging leads with the game tied 48-48 as the clock ticked down, sending it into a two-minute overtime period. Overtime saw lead changes as both defenses did not give up much to their opponent.

After the first overtime it was again tied 55-55, sending it into a second one-minute overtime period. This time the California boys scored quickly and clamped down with some tenacious defense and held on for a double overtime win 60-56.

With the win, L.A. Dream will prepare to compete in both the U.S. National AAU Championship held in Florida and Virginia, and the 2017 International AAU Junior Olympics.

Submitted by Steve SHENIAN