Sandhills_Sentinel

Fifteen local players from Sandhills Machine, a youth national travel basketball program based in Southern Pines, have been selected by Team North Carolina to represent our state at the 2019 4th Annual U.S. Basketball Games (State vs State) to be played August 9 – 11 at LakePoint Champions Complex in Cartersville, GA.

Eighteen Sandhills Machine players attended tryouts on June 1, and 14 players were selected and three were named ‘Tryout Standouts’ for their respective age groups (Darion Young 16U, Jackson Howard 15U and Jaylen Sturdivant 13U).

Jasiah Gilchrist, 11U of Lady United (Sanford), is a special player, and she wasn’t available for tryouts; however, the Team NC Coach had the privilege of watching Jasiah play on two occasions, in Greensboro and Orlando, which led to Jasiah receiving a personal invite to represent our state.

“This will be a great experience for our players and an opportunity for them to learn and grow their skill sets while playing for coaches, with different approaches to the game; it will definitely put the fun back into basketball,” said Coach Cash Sutton, President of Sandhills Machine.

You may follow Team NC’s progress on the Halftime app.

For more information on Sandhills Machine, please click here.

Pictured left to right are: 16U – Darion Young, 15U – Christian Freeman, Jackson Howard, Nehemiah Thomas, Taylor Aichele, Jeremiah Melvin, Kaleb Nicholson, Kyle Ray, Thomas Mandell, 13U – Jaylen Sturdivant Salah Sutton, Shomarii Hailey, Kaedon Porter, 11U – Jaylen Kyle, 11U – Jasiah Gilchrist.

 

Courtesy photo/Contributed.