PITTSBURGH— Experience does matter.

The North Pittsburgh Basketball Club Cavemen, an AAU Division II basketball team consisting of nine boys playing together for the third consecutive year, won the 13-and-under national championship last weekend in Memphis, Tenn.

The same nine players finished fifth in the 12-and-under nationals last year. They were 14th in the 11--and-under division in 2005.

"Experience is the big thing,"said the team's head coach, Howie Ruppert. "These kids have gotten better each year by playing together and practicing, both with the team and on their own."

Two Butler boys are on the squad:starting point guard Nate Snodgrass and reserve small forward Jake Hilliard.

Ruppert, also the varsity boys basketball coach at Shaler High School, described Snodgrass as "a point guard in the true sense of the word.

"He knows how to get the team into the offense and he understands momentum. He gets the ball to the right people at the right time,"Ruppert added.

He knows how to make free throws as well.

During one game at the national tournament, Snodgrass sank 11 consecutive free throws in the final three minutes to preserve a victory.

"I try to shoot 100 free throws a day,"he said. "Foul shooting is an important part of my game."

Snodgrass will be an eighth grader at Butler Junior High this year and will play basketball there.

He treats summer AAUball as a good training regimen.

"The better competition has made me a better player," Snodgrass said. "It's given me more experience and shows me what I need to work on. Shooting the ball is probably my biggest weakness."

The Cavemen entered 11 tournaments during the AAUseason and won eight of them. The squad lost only five games all year.

During the national tournament, the Cavemen won all eight games they played, including victories over Team Inland from Los Angeles and the Louisiana Magic from New Orleans to reach the title game.

The Cavemen defeated NOVAUnited of Washington D.C., 41-27, in the championship game. The tournament consisted of 92 teams representing geographical regions all over the United States

"We scored in the 60s and 70s in a lot of games this year," Ruppert said. "We scored 100 in a game in West Virginia. One kid dunked in a game for the first time. That's a big deal for a bunch of seventh graders."

After the Cavemen won their first three tournaments easily, they began playing in some eighth-grade tournaments and fared well there.

Hilliard broke his arm shortly before nationals and was unable to participate there.

"I was at a basketball camp, went up for a layup and a kid took my legs out from under me,"Hilliard said. "I landed on my arm. I'll be in a cast for the next five weeks.

"I felt bad, missing nationals, but I'm glad we won."

Ruppert described Hilliard — also planning to play eighth-grade basketball for Butler — as extremely athletic and quick.

"He's going to be a very good basketball player down the road,"he said. "He's not afraid of contact and he has an unemotional demeanor. He takes things in stride."

Other players on the team include Scott Ruppert, Anthony Dallier and Ty Neff of North Allegheny, Zack Taylor and John Paul Holt of Shaler, Andy Andrle of Pine-Richland and Ben Mickens of Pittsburgh.

Snodgrass and Hilliard plan to return to the Cavemen roster next year.

"We'll be in the 14-and-under division. We'll try to win that one, too,"Snodgrass said.