photo by: Contributed Photo: Jr. NBA

Free State freshman-to-be Mozae Downing-Rivers (23) celebrates with his Drive5 Power Elite teammates after winning the Jr. NBA Central Regional Championships on June 10 at Sports Pavilion Lawrence. Drive5 Power Elite won the U.S. boys final at the Jr. NBA World Championships on Saturday at the ESPN Wide World of Sports in Orlando.

The family of Free State High freshman-to-be Mozae Downing-Rivers features a long list of basketball accolades, but when the future Firebird steps on the court today at the ESPN Wide World of Sports in Orlando, he’ll be taking part in an event that none of his relatives have had the chance to play in.

Downing-Rivers and his Drive5 Power Elite teammates are vying to be the winners of the inaugural Jr. NBA World Championships. The tournament will consist of 16 teams — eight United States regional champions and eight international champions. Pool play will take place today and Wednesday to set the stage for bracket play on Thursday. The semifinals will be played on Saturday, followed by the championship game on Sunday.

“This is going to be a first,” Downing-Rivers said. “We’re going to come out and do as good as we can and get as far as we can and try to win.”

The path for Drive5 Power Elite, an Overland Park-based basketball program, to get to the Jr. NBA World Championships went through Lawrence. Downing-Rivers helped his squad to a commanding 76-27 win in the Jr. NBA Central Regional title game on June 10 at Sports Pavilion Lawrence.

While Downing-Rivers is the only player from Lawrence on the Drive5 Power Elite squad, he’s made close friendships with his teammates in coach Allen Skeens’ fifth-through-eighth grade program.

“I knew a lot of them before playing on this team after playing against them on a different team,” Downing-Rivers said. “We all just kind of came together. Allen brought us together and we started playing.”

photo by: Contribued Photo: Jr. NBA

Free State freshman-to-be Mozae Downing-Rivers (23) goes up for a block during the Jr. NBA Central Regional Championships on June 10 at Sports Pavilion Lawrence. Downing-Rivers and his Drive5 Power Elite teammates will play in the Jr. NBA World Championships, which begin on Tuesday at the ESPN Wide World of Sports in Orlando.

Skeens also spoke highly of Downing-Rivers with the role the future Free State freshman has played in his program. The Drive5 Power Elite coach said that a lot of his team’s success has been a result of Downing-Rivers’ abilities as a floor general.

“Mozae has really grown as a player and a leader on our team. We look at him to handle most of the point guard responsibilities for us, and he has shown an exceptional job of being able to do that,” Skeens said. “He’s always been a kid that is in the gym. It just kind of runs in his family, runs in his genes.”

Downing-Rivers has grown up around the game of basketball. His uncle, Matthew “Cougar” Downing, has served as the Haskell men’s basketball coach for the past three seasons and had a standout playing career of his own at Atchison High and Maryland. At Atchison, Cougar played for his father, Matthew “Chic” Downing. After Chic played his high school ball at Atchison, he became a four-time NAIA All-American at Benedictine before being drafted by the New York Knicks. Chic then entered the coaching ranks after one season with the Knicks, and went on to guide Atchison to four state titles.

Skeens credited Downing-Rivers’ knowledge of the game for helping him through some key developmental stages on the court.

“It took a little bit for him to translate the physical things that he wanted to try to do that he wasn’t quite capable of a couple of years ago, but he’s caught up with that. He was always a thinker of the game, so he thought about what the right play was,” Skeens said. “He just had to work on his physical and technical skills to be able to get there. Now he’s so good with the ball. His ball handling is exceptional. With his passing and vision, he just makes everyone around him better. We love to have him out there running our team.”

While Downing-Rivers is excited to go up against elite competition this week, he realizes that the Jr. NBA World Championships isn’t just a tournament to show off his skills. Downing-Rivers’ favorite professional player is LeBron James, and he models his game like the three-NBA champion. The Lawrence native is confident in his abilities to create his own shot and drive to the basket, but Downing-Rivers would rather stuff the stat sheet.

“I make plays. I’m a good passer,” Downing-Rivers said. “I play defense. I make people around me better.”

photo by: Contribued Photo: Jr. NBA

Drive5 Power Elite, an Overland Park-based basketball team that includes Free State freshman-to-be Mozae Downing-Rivers (23), gathers for a photo after winning the Jr. NBA Central Regional Championships on June 10 at Sports Pavilion Lawrence. Downing-Rivers and his Drive5 Power Elite teammates will play in the Jr. NBA World Championships, which will tip off on Tuesday at the ESPN Wide World of Sports in Orlando.

Skeens acknowledged that the Jr. NBA World Championships will be somewhat bittersweet with it being the last go-around for Downing-Rivers and the other future freshmen at Drive5 Power Elite. However, with Skeens’ son Logan playing at Shawnee Mission Northwest, the Drive5 Power Elite coach said that he will definitely keep tabs on Downing-Rivers at Free State and would love to see them go head-to-head.

“What he does that will translate well into high school is high school coaches will love the fact that he’s unselfish and that he’s playing for his teammates. When you come in and want to play with older guys that have been there and you’re the new guy, that’s very, very important,” Skeens said. “The other thing I will say with him is that passing wise he is probably the skill that as I coach young athletes that they are the weakest at. Everybody thinks they’re good at passing because they think that it is a simple skill, but they’re really not. Passing is an art form and Mozae is the best passer that we have.”

The first game of pool play for the Drive5 Power Elite squad is scheduled to tip at 11:30 this morning against the Northeast Regional champions. The game will be broadcast on Bleacher Report Live. Drive5 Power Elite will wrap up pool play against the West Regional champions (1:15 p.m. Wednesday on Bleacher Report Live) and Southeast Regional champions (7:05 p.m. Wednesday, televised on FS1). The two international pools include teams from Asia, South America, Africa & Middle East, Mexico, China, India, Europe and Canada.

“I’m looking forward to meeting other people from other countries and playing against other types of players,” Downing-Rivers said.

Downing-Rivers will also get the chance to meet NBA stars such as Dwyane Wade, Andre Drummond, Vince Carter and Brook Lopez; former NBA great Grant Hill and WNBA legends Tamika Catchings, Swin Cash and Jennifer Azzi.