SE teams aim for championship

By Tyler Poda/ reporter

The SE basketball league resumed Feb. 24 with four games and two teams eclipsing the 90-point mark. 

The Scorpions maintained a six-point lead midway into the second half of the first matchup of the day against B.I.G. But, by way of a few key turnovers down the stretch, B.I.G. managed to creep within three points. The team had a chance to tie the game at the free throw line with nine seconds left but could not convert. It fell short to the Scorpions, 37-33.

In game two, Thunder vs. Leftovers, the Thunder forced a lot of early turnovers leading to open three-point shots to jump out to a lead in the first half. But the Leftovers came roaring back to tie the game at halftime 21-21 on the back of Steven Hoang’s 12-point first-half performance.

“It felt great,” Hoang said describing the first half, “I actually got some good shots.”

In the second half, the Leftovers proved to be no match as the Thunder pulled away by a final of 50-32.

Game three marked the beginning of the fireworks show. The Bulls began the game in an intense full-court pressure, forcing B.I.G. to turn the ball over a number of times and jumping out to a 17-2 lead.

“They had less people than us, and we knew they couldn’t handle the pressure,” Bulls player Riley McShae said on why they decided to run the full-court press.

The Bulls kept up the relentless pressure the entire game and continuously found open shots. It was as if everything they threw up landed in the basket. The entire gym was in an uproar as the Bulls approached 100 points. They passed, shot and alley-ooped their way to a 95-32 rout of B.I.G.

“It felt like we played our brand of basketball,” said McShae, who finished the game with 37 points. “We kept pushing and kept scoring.”

In game four, the scoring torch was passed to the Scorpions as they faced off against the Leftovers. The Scorpions dominated on the boards in the first half leading to a lot of second-chance points and a 42-18 halftime lead.

In the second half, the Scorpions ran out on a lot of fast breaks leading to easy buckets. Led by Jarig Landry with 23 points, the Scorpions raced all the way to a 91-29 victory.

“We played great. We played as a team. We found open shots,” Scorpion Brandon Dixon said about his team. “And we will be going to the championship.”

The league is back in action March 3 with three more games. Tipoff for the first matchup is at 1 p.m. in the SE gym.