The Slidell Hawks, a 16U Amateur Athletic Union traveling basketball team, qualified for the AAU National Championship by capturing the Disney Easter Classic Basketball Tournament with a 48-45 victory over Florida Union.

It took place at Disney’s Milk House Gymnasium at the Wide World of Sports in Orlando, Fla. The National Tournament is scheduled for July 7-12 in Little Rock, Ark.

The event, which featured 166 teams, ages 10-17U, took place March 21-23. The top four finishers from this tournament qualify for nationals.

The Slidell Hawks, a 16U Amateur Athletic Union traveling basketball team, recently won the annual Disney Easter Classic Basketball Tournament in Orlando, Fla. The Hawks finished the tournament undefeated. Winning this tournament earned the Hawks an automatic invitation to the AAU National Championships in Little Rock, Ark. July 7-12. Pictured, from left, first row, are: Nick Prange, Andrew Winston, Jervious Epherson, Chris Crawford, and Brad Hewitt; second row: Coach Stan Hewitt, Micheal Lewis, Josh Hart, Joe Gayles, Alex Hill, Nick Abram, Armand Williams, and Doug Soule.

In the finals, Florida had a chance to send the game to overtime, but missed a shot at the buzzer.

Slidell, which is 10-5 overall heading into this weekend’s state tourney, opened the tournament with a 77-28 victory over South Florida, then knocked off the Florida Breeze, 59-47 before advancing to the finals with a 66-55 win over Team Michigan.

In order to get to Florida, the team had to raise money and did so by doing yard work for six weeks, including mulching, raking and other duties.

The trip is a tradition that was started last year by coach Stan Hewitt.

“It’s so professionally run. We want them to have the experience of going to a first-class facility and Disney’s Wide World of Sports is one of the best in the world,” Hewitt said.

Following the tournament, he takes them to Disneyworld.

The Hawks are a team comprised of Slidell High and Northshore High sophomores. Micheal Lewis is the only player who is not a sophomore. He is attending Boyett Junior High, but will head to Northshore for next school year. The only out of towner is Josh Hart, a Picayune High School student in Mississippi.

Now that Slidell has advanced to nationals, they are allowed to put together an all-star team from the surrounding state, but Hewitt won’t do that because he believes the squad that made it deserves the experience of playing.

Coach Hewitt, whose son Brad plays at Northshore, said the national tournament is tougher because of the rules of being able to get the best players, so he said the players have to learn a lot of fundamentals. Hewitt talked about how he gets the players ready to play the much harder competition it will face.

“It’s all about building the team support structure, they have to believe in what we’re doing and support each other. We have an opportunity to be a really good team,” Hewitt said.

The Hawks run a similar offense like Memphis and Kansas. Hewitt said the players enjoy the style he implements. In fact, Slidell watches game film of Kansas and Memphis along with tape of their practices.

Once a year, the team goes to see a Southern Miss. game. Hewitt is hoping to catch the Eagles take on Memphis next year so the team can see the offense run in person.