The Salt River Ba’ag basketball team is off to a hot start so far this year with big tournament wins across the state.

On the weekend of March 10, at the Ak-Chin Indian Community’s St. Patrick’s Day High School Basketball Tournament, Salt River Ba’ag came up with a big team win to become varsity champions, going 6-1 overall with all 10 players stepping up.

Earlier in March, Ba’ag participated in the Northern Arizona (NAZ) Soldiers First Annual Shootout Tournament, where they went 5-0 to win the championship. Kylen Bonner was the tournament MVP, and Conor Doka and Beau Burns Jr. came out with All-Tourney honors.

“We’d love to thank the NAZ Soldiers for the invite down to their tournament,” said Ba’ag coach Miyone Roanhorse. “We are ready to get into the grind of practice and win more games.”

Next up for Ba’ag is the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community Recreational Services High School Basketball Tournament, coming on April 14 and 15 at the Salt River Pi-Copa and WOLF gymnasiums.

Ba’ag is considering playing in a couple of other tournaments, the FMD Slam on April 28 and 29 at the Fort McDowell Recreation Center and the Fourth Annual Indigenous Junior Nationals June 23-25 in Mesa. There are also six Ba’ag players on an Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) team called UH Elite, and coach Roanhorse will be helping to coach the 17u squad.