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WESTPORT, Conn. Players from Westport and Weston helped the Connecticut Premier Hoops U-13 team win a pair of games to tip off the spring tournament season.
The Premier Hoops squad is comprised of all-star 13-year-olds recruited from the Fairfield County Basketball League's winter season play. The team includes Westport seventh-graders Ben Casparius, Mack Muller and Justin Seideman and Weston eighth-grader Chris Swanson.
In the first game, Premier downed the host team, Nor'East Lightning, 60-53. In its second game, Premier gave the eventual champions, Phoenix Basketball U-14s, all they could handle, before losing 61-51. The game was close all the way. The final 10-point deficit came mostly from Phoenix hitting late-game foul shots that resulted from Premier's intentional-foul, game-extending tactics. In the third game, Premier rallied incredibly from a 17-point, second-half deficit to beat the Kingston, N.Y., Komets, 65-64, in overtime.
Casparius and Seideman were frequent scorers. Seideman had 10 points in the game against the champions Phoenix. Muller and Swanson, despite giving up a year of age and size to their opponents, were big contributors as well.
Next up for the Premier U-13s is the Rock Classic tournament this weekend. This tournament is held in various Bronx and Long Island high school and college gyms. The U-13 field will contain 15 teams from the Greater New York city region. The winner will qualify to play in a national tournament held at Disney World in Florida.
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