The Athlete’s Connection is proud to present Houston Elite’s Dominique Andrews with our Spotlight Athlete award. Andrews had a very productive weekend.

Saturday and Sunday he and the Houston Elite squad participated in the Houston Elite Action Sports’ The Last Stand AAU boys basketball tournament at Pin Oak Middle and St Pius X Schools. With more than 20 teams in attendance, the Elite squad (led by Andrews) was the tournament champions with a 69-58 victory over Houston Hoopsters in the final game.

We caught up with Andrews at Pin Oak to see how he felt about his performance in the tournament.

“We just kept playing hard and smart and it paid off in the end,” Andrews, who was the game’s leading scorer with 21 points, said. “The game stayed really close but we pulled out the victory.”

With only a seven-point lead going into halftime, Andrews and the Elite squad started getting the ball rolling in the second half. The defense stepped up which caused them to get several points on turnovers. Andrews played a big part in that run.

As one of the leaders of the team, Andrews credits his style of play as an integral reason for the team’s success.

“I’m a defensive-style player,” he said. “I like to put myself in position to get a lot of steals and rebounds. That is how I help lead my team to victory.”

Andrews, a Class of 2009 player from Hightower, plays both football and basketball. He is already receiving some interest from colleges, but he is sure the hard wood is where he wants to channel most of his focus.

“I play football, but I want to go to college to play basketball,” Andrews said. “I work out a lot and work hard. I know it will pay off.”

Heading into his junior season, colleges like Wisconsin, McNeese State, and Oral Roberts have already began showing some interest.

Andrews and the Elite team will travel to Beaumont this weekend for a tournament. Then, in two weeks they take a trip to Lake Charles for another tournament.