By Drew Williams/sports editor
Andy Bonilla/The Collegian
4’s Up will be the top seed in South Campus’ intramural basketball tournament despite its poor play in the final two games of the season.
After losing to the Eastside Ballers 93-89 in double overtime March 22 to end its attempt at an undefeated season, 4’s Up lost again Thursday to Unstoppable by a score of 67-45 in a game that was never close to being competitive. 4’s Up finished the season with a record of 8-2.
Chris Franklin, 4’s Up’s leading scorer for the season, said the team took it easy in the final two games because it knew it had wrapped up the regular season championship no matter what.
“We have some guys that are still on vacation for spring break,” he said. “I told everyone not to worry about it as long as five guys showed up to the games so we could at least play.”
He said that was the hardest part when they lost the double overtime game against the Eastside Ballers.
“We didn’t even have everyone show up,” he said. “We lost playing with four players the entire game, and the other team was excited that they won, like they actually did something.”
Even though it won the regular season championship, 4’s Up will still have to win the South Campus playoffs to advance to the district tournament. It will go into the playoffs as the No. 1 seed and will take on the winner of the game between the fourth and fifth seeds.
The fourth seed just happens to be Unstoppable, who beat 4’s Up, and intramural director Michael Daniels said 4’s Up can’t get too complacent.
“4’s Up are the champions, but every team has gotten better since the beginning of the season, and the last-place team can still make a run and win it,” he said. “It’s hard to beat a team over and over again. I’ve seen the team with the worst record win it all because the first-place team got too comfortable. I wouldn’t be surprised if Unstoppable won the whole thing.”
Shawna Johnson, who has watched the South season since the first game, said 4’s Up needs to get its act together if it wants to win in the playoffs and represent South in the district tournament.
“They’ve been playing like crap,” she said. “I think they’ll come around, but they’re going to have to work harder and play harder if they want to keep winning.”
The playoffs will conclude March 31 when South Campus will see if 4’s Up, Unstoppable or maybe even an underdog in the playoffs will represent it in the district tournament.
