Nate Snodgrass and Jake Hilliard are only entering Butler Junior High School, but they've already experienced winning basketball on a national level.

Snodgrass was the starting point guard for the North Pittsburgh Basketball Club Cavemen, a 12-and-under team led by Shaler High coach Howie Ruppert. Hilliard is a shooting guard who comes off the bench for that team.

The Cavemen recently placed fifth in the 52-team Division IINational AAUBasketball Tournament in Lexington, Ky.

"We made that tournament last year, looked around and were happy to be there,"Ruppert said. "We didn't place."

This year was a different story.

The Cavemen won seven of the eight games they played in the tournament, facing teams from eight different states. Their lone loss was a 49-44 overtime defeat to the Columbus (Ohio)Hawks in their sixth game of the tournament. The Cavemen rebounded to win their next two games to claim fifth place.

"We won five tournaments this year,"Snodgrass said. "We have a good big guy and a good shooter. That makes a difference."

The big forward was John Paul Holtz of Shaler while the shooter was Scott Ruppert of North Allegheny. Players from Pine-Richland and Pittsburgh also are on the squad.

Coach Ruppert has been leading the current sixth-grade team for three years. Snodgrass is in his second year with the North Pittsburgh program while Hilliard is in his first.

"They were looking for a team to play on, and they've fit in nicely with us,"Ruppert said. "Nate has the perfect demeanor to be a point guard. He doesn't get rattled. He knows how to get our team into our offense.

"And he believes in the axiom that a good pass can make two people happy."

The Cavemen averaged more than 60 points per game this season. They scored 30 in one quarter against the New Jersey Player's Choice All-Stars during an eventual 65-44 victory.

"Nate can get the ball up the floor against an athletic team, and he's good at directing the offense. He's an intuitive player, and that's what you want in a point guard,"Ruppert said.

The Cavemen won 43 of the 47 games they played this year. They allowed fewer than 40 points per game.

Besides playing basketball, Snodgrass pitched and played shortstop for the Yankees of the Center Township Little League. He hit over .400 and pitched a one-hitter.

"It was pretty hard playing both,"Snodgrass said. "We practiced (basketball) three times a week. But it was worth it."

Hilliard played only basketball this summer. He plays safety for Meridian in the Butler Area Midget Football League and plays in a golf league.

"But basketball is my favorite sport,"Hilliard said. "I scored a couple of baskets every game, but I was mainly used for defense. It was good experience, playing those tournaments.

"Going to New York was a lot of fun. We all got to go to the NBAstore in New York City. It was pretty cool."

"We wanted an athletic kid to play inside the perimeter and Jake was perfect,"Ruppert said. "Once he got into it, he got comfortable with us. ... Jake has tremendous upside as a basketball player. He can jump, he's a good ball-handler and he can score in transition."

The North Pittsburgh Basketball Club has 90 boys involved in the program, which travels all over the East Coast for tournaments.

In the AAUnationals, the Cavemen defeated the Minnesota All City Ballers 68-48, the aforementioned New Jersey squad 65-44, the Wisconsin Madison Spartans 44-36, St. Louis Metro Jets 42-15, Raleigh Elite 49-38, Team Georgia Elite 45-41 and Eastern Panhandle Basketball 41-35.