Aaron Felix Tinsley won a coveted San Diego Section Division I championship at Helix High School in 2005. Twenty years later he’s still playing the game he loves at the professional level.
“I still want to be connected, involved with basketball,” he said.
Tinsley played three years at Helix under legendary coach John Singer. He then played two seasons at Grossmont College before receiving a scholarship to play at Cal-State Dominguez Hills.
Tinsley played two seasons for the Griffins under head coach Doug Weber, notching single game highs of 38 points, eight rebounds, five steals and four assists en route to earning first-team all-league honors.
He finished the 2008-09 season at Dominguez Hills with 47 points and 10 rebounds in 16 games.
Tinsley capped the 2004-05 season as a San Diego Section champion.
The Highlanders, seeded fourth in the division bracket, knocked off top-seeded La Costa Canyon, 77-42, in the semifinals before going on to defeat x-seeded El Camino, 58-54, in the championship game to improve to 25-5.
El Camino (24-7) defeated Eastlake, 70-65, in the semis. Eastlake rebounded to post a runner-up finish to LCC in the 2006 finals by a score of 85-73.
Helix rebounded to defeat Escondido, 81-66, in 2007.
Chase Budinger, soon to be off to the University of Arizona and later to the NBA with the Houston Rockets, Minnesota Timberwolves, Indiana Pacers and Phoenix Suns, led LCC with 30 points in the semifinal matchup. Lance Hurdle, soon to be off to UC Santa Barbara, led the Scotties with 22 points.
“I was young, still learning under Lance Hurdle,” Tinsley said. “The championship game was at Jenny Craig Pavilion at the University of San Diego. It was a nice venue with good atmosphere.”
Tinsley, a point guard/shooting guard, signed his first professional contact in 2014 with Germany’s Bad Aibling Fireballs, returning home with first Bayernliga Sud honors.
He has since played around the world — in Mexico, Kazakhstan, Thailand and Guatemala.
He’s also played locally for teams in the reborn American Basketball Association (San Diego Kings), The Basketball League (San Diego Guardians) and now in the reformed United States Basketball League.
The Kings, who started up operations in 2017, played their home games at El Cajon Valley High School and the Salvation Army Kroc Center.
Tinsley’s latest adventure is with the San Diego Surf of the fledgling USBL.
“I’ve been playing around the world for a while now and (Surf general manager) Dominic McGuire has brought me back to San Diego,” he said.
Now 38, he’s still scoring points, grabbing rebounds and dishing balls off to teammates. He scored 10 points with three steals, two assists and three rebounds in Saturday’s 165-125 exhibition game win against the San Diego Legends at Montgomery High School.
He’s averaging 10.4 ppg on the season for the Surf, which at 5-2, sits in second place in the team standings.
The 6-foot-2 baller said that if he can physically maintain his body, his goal is to play to age 40.
Tinsley is firmly rooted in the game. He does have a side job as a personal trainer, assisting youth, high school and even college players reach their potential. He also serves as a referee for local youth, middle school, high school and adult rec games.
“It’s really a good fit,” he said.
Wherever he’s at or whatever he’s doing, he’s enjoyed his time on the court.
“The biggest thing for me is the cultural exposure,” Tinsley said. “Learning a new culture, basketball fans are different in each country.
“This is the most talented team I’ve played on. We’re fast, we can dunk, we can defend, we can do it all.”
The Surf will get a measure of where it stacks up against the league’s Pacific Northwest group of teams when the local ballers host the Yakima Heat (3-4) on Friday, April 10, at Montgomery High School. Tip-off is 7 p.m.
The Seattle Superhawks currently are the league’s lone unbeaten team at 8-0, followed by the Surf, Vancouver Bears (5-4), Salem Capitals (5-3), Los Angeles Blue Waves (4-5), Yakima and Bakersfield Majestics( 0-3).
“We still have some work to do,” Surf head coach Jeff Harper-Harris said.
Surf’s up
The Legends broke out to a 3-0 lead but was soon on the tail end of a 40-19 score after the first quarter. The Surf led 77-36 at halftime and 135-75 (60-point margin) through three quarters.
It was a free-wheeling, entertaining game full of offense. The teams combined for 101 three-point attempts, sinking 36.
June “Ju Ju” Winton led the winners with 33 points while Luke Washington poured in 32 points, Brian Penn-Johnson poured in 24 points and Jay Norton (Mission Bay) followed with 21. Demetrius Morant tacked on 12 points while Armani Stroud and Victorious Dean Jr. each added 11 points.
Winton finished the game with 13 assists and 10 rebounds. He’s averaging 32,7 ppg while Norton is averaging 15.2 ppg. Stroud (Long Beach State) is averaging 13.8 ppg while Washington is averaging 11.2 ppg.
The Legends’ Keavie Love led all scorers in the game with 41 points, hitting on eight of 14 treys, while Micah Boone jammed in 20 points.
Jayden Dulatre, a 2024 graduate of Eastlake High School, performed the national anthem on an electric guitar.
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