2019 MSNCT
| 2019 NAQT MSNCT | |
|---|---|
| Edited by | NAQT |
| Champion | Hunter A |
| Runner-up | Churchill A |
| Third | Hopkins |
| Fourth | Liberty |
| High scorer | Arin Parsa |
| Site | Chicago, Illinois |
| Field | 176 teams |
| Stats | [1] |
The 2019 NAQT MSNCT was held at the Hyatt Regency O’Hare on May 10-12, 2019. Hunter A (New York City, New York) beat Churchill A (Carmichael, California) to win the MSNCT title and make Hunter the first school to have won all three of the main high school and middle school nationals: PACE, HSNCT, and MSNCT. Hunter A's top scorers were Jacob Hardin-Bernhardt with 60.26 PPG and Ian Lu with 58.96 PPG. Hopkins (Fremont, California) placed third, while Liberty (Madison, Alabama) came in 4th place. The highest scorer was Arin Parsa with 124.05 PPG
Summary
Each team at the 2019 MSNCT played eight preliminary rounds. Hunter A held the first seed after defeating Middlesex A 640-165 to claim an 8-0 record. Teams had to have at least a 5-3 record to advance to the double-elimination playoff, which, for the first time, would be held on questions more similar to NAQT IS sets.
Hunter A was defeated by Liberty 275-355 in the second round of playoffs, and went on to fight their way through the lower bracket, eliminating Midtown Classical, Burleigh Manor, Daniel Wright, and Aptakisic to climb back to the top 4, including nearly grailing Aptakisic with a 280-5 score in the first half before Aptakisic came roaring back with five straight answers, though that streak was interrupted by Hunter A captain and first scorer Jacob Hardin-Bernhardt calling a timeout, after which Hunter A got the next three straight tossups and stalled away the time on bonuses to win 425-245.
Churchill A, after defeating Liberty 305-210, to be the last undefeated team in playoffs, had the 1 card and was guaranteed a spot in finals.
1 card Churchill A and 4 card Hunter A then played, in a game in which if Churchill A won they would advance to the finals with advantage, while if Hunter A won they would play the winner of the game between 2 card Liberty and 3 card Hopkins for a spot in a one-game final against Churchill A. Hunter A won 415-225 due to a phenomenal 8/2/0 performance by second scorer Ian Lu and went on to play Hopkins, who had just defeated Liberty 320-245 to claim the 2 card and knock out Liberty, making both their first and last games of nationals against Hopkins. They ended in 4th place. Hunter A defeated Hopkins 435-130, leaving Hopkins in 3rd place and Hunter A in the finals.
The finals were unsurprisingly chaotic, with multiple protests including Hunter A protesting Churchill A's answer of Brian Cooper for Bradley Cooper, resulting in Hunter A receiving a tossup on Ender Wiggin which they incorrectly answered with Ender Wiggins. Hunter A would also fruitlessly protest Churchill A's pronunciation of Saint-Saens [sɛ̃ sɑ̃(s)] as [sɑ̃t sens], as would Churchill A protest a found-to-be-nonexistent blurt by Hunter A on a Brooklyn tossup. The game would be ended on tossup 21 as Moxie Strom, Hunter A's third scorer, first line powered a question on Oliver Twist, which she had been reading the day before, and the time dripped out on the bonus, resulting in Hunter A's 280-250 victory.
NAQT gave out All-Star awards to the top 30 players in the tournament, and Rising Star awards to the top eight non-eighth grade players. The top All-Star was Arin Parsa with 138.02 PPG, who was followed by Pareekshith Krishna with 110.99 PPG and Lukas Koutsoukos with 106.99 PPG, respectively.
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