By Dena Adi/sports editor
Jim Birmingham/The Collegian
The SE basketball intramural season kicked off Feb. 26 with teams of three squaring off against each other.
The rules were different. Each game ended after 25 minutes or once the first team reached a score of 20.
It was a half-court game, meaning each team used the same basket. Scoring was different as well. For women, the three-point line counted for four points, and everything else counted for two. As for the men, shots scored on the three-point line counted as only two points and the rest as one.
Do Wurk and iWork faced off in the first game. Do Wurk was the only coed team. IWork attacked early and secured a big lead, which it held throughout the game.
After iWork won 20-5, student Sylvia Carter of Do Wurk, realized her team has a lot of work to do.
“We could have played harder,” she said. “We need to work on our communication.”
Da Truth and Team Zoom played a closer game with each team responding to every basket. Kevin Whittenberg of Team Zoom scored the last shot with a corner jumper, winning the game 20-18.
Whittenberg was all smiles after the game.
“It feels great being the best team in the tournament,” he said.
The third game was between Aim High and The Bums. The Bums gave Aim High competition early on but couldn’t grab the lead. Aim High top scorers Dominique Douglas and Kyle Mcelvain were forces to be reckoned with, with Mcelvain’s consistent jump shot and proper formation and Douglas’ physical capability to drive to the basket. These two made it clear they would walk away with the win.
“We practice every day, so I think we deserved it,” Mcelvain said.
In response to Whittenberg’s comments that his Team Zoom was the best in the tournament, Mcelvain begged to differ.
“We are for sure, without a doubt, the best team,” he said.
The final game of the day proved the most exciting. Utopia took on Team Africa in a hard-fought battle for the overtime win. Down six points with only minutes remaining in the game, Team Africa refused to give up.
After a few clutch layups, it was down by only two points with six seconds remaining. Team Africa’s Kenneth Udoh struggled early on, missing easy baskets but hit the two-point shot to tie the game and take his team into overtime.
Overtime in this version of three-on-three is sudden death with the first team to score winning. It turned into a dirty game. Fouls were called left and right, and both teams had several opportunities to win the game with an easy free-throw shot. It wasn’t until Utopia’s Randall Henderson made his free-throw shots after his team had five failed attempts that won the game 21-20.
Henderson was happy his team won but admits he felt the pressure.
“I was nervous, but we hit it,” he said. “We’ll be ready next week.”
