Chris Crumpler's Bermuda Basketball Association (BBA) junior national select team returned to the Island with their heads held high after a winless but confidence-boosting tour to Las Vegas.

Coach Crumpler, a senior national team player, has been taking Bermuda's best young players to overseas invitational tournaments for the last two years.

This time, over the festive period, his juniors competed in the Amare Stoudemire Invitational. Stoudemire is a professional NBA player for the Phoenix Suns.

Going up against some of the top young talent in the US, Crumpler's side were unable to win any of their four games but did pick up the Team Sportsmanship award.

In their first round game they took on Durango High School from Nevada, going down 53-22, after a 25 to 8 second quarter run proved to be the difference.

Jonathon Lowe was the high man for Island side, scoring seven points.

In their consolation quarter-final game against Banning High from California, a three-pointer failed to fall for the team with just four seconds left as they lost 51-48. Tejour Riley led Bermuda with 16 points.

In their third game against McQueen High, also from Nevada, the select team came back from 13 points down at the start of the fourth quarter to keep it close but couldn't get the go-ahead basket, and eventually fell 54 to 50.

Lowe and Riley, who both scored 14 points, led Bermuda.

Against Northwood from Louisiana in their fourth and final match the team started competitively and ended the half at 31-28, but it was a different story in the second half as they went down 63-46.