By Dena Adi/sports editor
In a basketball tournament of win-or-go-home Saturday, teams went head to head for the SE Campus championship. IWork prevailed and will represent its campus at the district championship April 1-2 on South Campus.
The first of four quarterfinal matches started with Team Zoom’s win over Do Work 20-16.
Ricardo Rose and the other iWork players then eliminated Team Africa, an early favorite from the competition, 20-6.
Team Africa’s Kenneth Udoh was shocked by the results.
“I’m disgusted,” he said. “We should have won that game.”
Utopia and The Bums were scheduled to play next, but members of The Bums didn’t show up, automatically advancing Utopia to the next round.
Despite an early struggle, Aim High picked up the momentum and knocked off Da Truth, 20-12.
Aim High’s Jon Lopez and Kyle McElvain served as a one-two punch dropping back-to-back jump shots and consistent rebounds, advancing their team into the next round.
Team Zoom and iWork kicked off the first semifinal game, which turned into a defensive brawl with more blocked shots on both ends than shots made. The close-scoring game ended in iWork’s favor, beating Team Zoom 20-16 after Quinten Johnson’s winning shot.
Team Zoom’s Guillermo Ortiz wasn’t happy with the outcome.
“The ref made questionable calls at best,” he said.
In the second game of SE’s final four, Utopia initially looked like the better team against Aim High. Coming back from a 12-4 start, McElvain and Aim High stunned their opponents, beating Utopia 20-16.
“I’m upset that we blew an eight-point lead, but I’ll still show my support next week at the district championship,” Julius Hightower of Utopia said.
It all culminated with the campus championship game between iWork and Aim High. IWork attacked early, stopping Aim High from building any kind of momentum. Despite a late-game rhythm, McElvain and Aim High came short of the win, losing 20-14.
IWork players were all smiles and happy to represent SE Campus at this week’s district championship.
Team-proclaimed “star player” Ricardo Rose didn’t want to take all the credit.
“We got the win because of our team. I couldn’t have done it without them. We’re ready to do it again next week,” he said.
