The Arizona men’s wheelchair basketball team, a No. 1 seed in the National Intercollegiate Wheelchair Basketball Tournament, earned its first national championship with a 75-65 win over No. 2 Texas-Arlington at Champaign, Ill., on Saturday.
The Wildcats, who finished 29-4, went 3-0 at Champaign after earning a first-round bye. They beat UT-Arlington after topping No. 8 Edinboro 79-54 in the quarterfinals and No. 5 Southwest Minnesota State 81-51 in the semifinals.
Justyn Newman (senior from Garner, Kan.) had 26 points, seven rebounds and seven assists to lead the Wildcats over UT-Arlington.
Dylan Zander (junior from Macomb, Mich.) finished with 24 points and Brandon Louie (sophomore from Los Altos, Calif.) had 12.
Blaise Mutware, a graduate student from Toronto, led the Wildcats with 10 steals and also had eight points, eight rebounds and four assists.
The team is coached by Michael Beardsley, who hails from Tucson and graduated from Sunnyside High School in 2009.
BRINGING A NATTY TO TUCSON!
Congratulations to the Arizona Men's Wheelchair Basketball squad on their National Championship! Bear Down!!! pic.twitter.com/Xm5vdDlatq
— Arizona Athletics (@AZATHLETICS) March 30, 2025
The Arizona women’s team finished fourth in the national tournament. The Wildcats lost to host Illinois 62-37 in the third-place game Saturday.
RELATED: The late Rudy Gallego helped start the adaptive athletics program at Arizona. AllSportsTucson.com’s Andy Morales coached the Wildchairs’ basketball team along with Dave Herr–Cardillo in the early years of the program.
ARIZONA ROSTER
| Number | Name | School Year | Hometown |
| 0 | Kerwin Haake | Senior | Lexington, KY |
| 4 | Dylan Zander | Junior | Macomb, MI |
| 8 | Blaise Mutware | Graduate | Toronto, Canada |
| 10 | Ben Thornton | Graduate | Santa Rosa, CA |
| 11 | Garnett Silver Hall | Senior | Bolinas, CA |
| 13 | Justyn Newman | Senior | Gardner, KS |
| 17 | Carlos Reynoso | Freshman | San Jose, CA |
| 23 | Carter Jones | Junior | Victorville, CA |
| 24 | Elliott Murphy | Freshman | St. Joseph, MO |
| 35 | Elias Brown | Sophomore | Austin, TX |
| 51 | Nick Deyo | Sophomore | Hudson, WI |
| 52 | Brandon Louie | Sophomore | Los Altos, CA |
COACHING STAFF AND SUPPORT
| Name | Title |
| Mike Beardsley | Head Coach |
| Danny Maravilla | Assistant Coach |
| Riley Langner | Team Manager |
| Christina Chambers | Team Manager |
| Torrey Mansager | ASL Interpreter |
| Leann Smith | ASL Interpreter |
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