By Bill Reynolds
La Conner Community News

Call them champions — again.

Swinomish teens Jerome Toby Jr. and Dyson Edwards, who helped lead the Lummi Blackhawks to consecutive Washington state boys Class 1B Hardwood Classic titles in 2025 and 2026, hoisted championship hardware once more over the weekend.

Toby and Edwards played for the Montana-based Warrior Movement team that captured the Native American Basketball Invitational boys crown Saturday in Phoenix.

The local duo was picked up by Warrior Movement to compete in the 80-team tourney, the largest all-Native American high school basketball tournament in the country, now in its 23rd year.

Warrior Movement defeated Missouri River Elite 73-64 in the final round on the Phoenix College campus.

The tourney victors tapped Toby and Edwards because of their individual and team success with Lummi Nation.

Toby averaged 18 points, six assists, four steals, and four rebounds per contest for the Blackhawks last winter. He capped his senior season with a 26-point effort in Lummi’s 61-56 triumph over Tulalip Heritage in the Washington boys Class 1B finale March 7 at the Spokane Arena.

Shortly after cutting the nets in Spokane, Toby was named the State 1B Player of the Year and was recognized as the second-ranked player across all enrollment classifications in Whatcom County. The crafty 5-8 point guard graduated from Lummi as the school’s all-time leading scorer and will now take his game to South Puget Community College in Olympia.

Not all of Toby’s accolades this past year were in the athletic arena. He was also valedictorian of Lummi Nation’s Class of 2026.

Edwards in 2025-26 enjoyed a superb junior year for Lummi, contributing 14 points, four assists, and three steals per game while regularly defending each opposing team’s top player. At season’s end, Edwards was ranked No. 14 overall on the list of Whatcom County’s top players.

At 6-2, the versatile Edwards is equally comfortable playing on the perimeter, where he is a clutch three-point shooter, and with post-ups in the paint that allow him to employ his quickness and leaping ability.

By joining the Warrior Movement roster at the Arizona tournament, Toby and Edwards took part in a four-day event that featured a college and career fair and several educational summits in addition to top-flight hoops action.

Bill Reynolds is a general assignment reporter for La Conner Community News.