Austin Perry, who will be a freshman at Columbus North, and Hudson Lang, who will be a freshman at Trinity Lutheran, helped the Indiana Elite Swish win the 14-and-under AAU National Championship last weekend in Orlando, Florida.
Submitted photo
After finishing runner-up in last year’s AAU National Championships, the Indiana Elite Swish had a goal to take that next step to the top of the podium this year.
The Swish won seven consecutive games over a four-day span, including three on Sunday. They beat Syracuse Hoops 42-29 in Sunday’s title game to win the 14-and-under AAU National Championship in Orlando, Florida.
“We did not want to finish second again,” said Austin Perry, who will be a freshman at Columbus North. “It was definitely a pretty good feeling, a relief that I was finally done playing however many games we did and to accomplish something like that. It was probably one of the best weekends of my life.”
The 5-foot-11 Perry and another local player formed a formidable backcourt for the Swish. Perry was the point guard, and 6-0 Hudson Lang, who will be a freshman at Trinity Lutheran, played a combo-guard role.
“I thought we played really good,” Lang said. “We moved the ball really well, and I thought we all just played really good together. It was really cool.”
Both Perry and Lang are in their second year with the Swish, which is coached by Indiana Wesleyan University coach Greg Tonagel. The rest of the team consists of Tonagel’s son Jace Tonagel (Oak Hill), Will Hegwood (Roncalli), Jayden Younce (Eastbrook), Cyrus Nathan (Hamilton Heights) and Aiden Dickerson (Carmel).
“We played well, but we played as a team, not individually,” Perry said. “We had good ball movement, which really helped us.”
The Swish beat a team from Philadelphia in the semifinals before downing the Syracuse Hoops for the championship.
“It was a big relief because we thought we were going to win it, but we weren’t really sure,” Lang said.
“It was definitely a surprise,” Perry added. “We felt like we definitely had a chance to win and had confidence that we could win.”
In addition to basketball, Perry also plans to play golf for North next spring.
Lang is the half-brother of Saige Stahl, who played at Columbus East, earned Indiana All-Star honors and is headed to play at Indiana State. Lang is headed to Trinity, where his father Mike Lang is moving over to coach the boys program after coaching the Trinity girls the past 12 years.
Hudson Lang is hopeful the experience he gained at the AAU National Championships will help him in the upcoming high school season.
“I think it will give me a lot of confidence,” Lang said. “I know the competition and how hard I’ll have to play. I’m really excited, especially with my dad going to be the coach because he knows how I play.”
