By Colt Langley/sports editor

During the second round of basketball intramurals on NE Campus, teams tightened up their game.

Of all the teams that won in the first round of games, the Akron Hammers were the only team that did not win again.

In the first game, the Titans beat the Wolfpack 54-20. Junior Koroma of the Wolfpack said the Titans played with a steady pace.

“They did pretty good. They had hard work, study and practice,” he said.

Wolfpack player Kyle Holt felt his team’s defense did not execute as well as last week.

“We did a lot better last week, considering our running and defense,” he said. “But we had some difficulties with people singling themselves out instead of passing the ball around looking for an open shot.”

Kareen Momo played his first game with the Wolfpack and felt a bit nervous.

“It’s the first time I’ve done this, and I was nervous and too afraid to take the dunk shot,” he said. “I couldn’t play my game. I was more worried about what people would say instead of playing my game like I usually would.”

In the second game, the Aztecs defeated the Chupacabras 43-29.

This game had more excitement and odd mishaps than the other games. In the second half, the Chupacabras received a technical foul for too many players on the court, resulting in two free-throw shots and ball possession for the Aztecs.

In one shot by a Chupacabras player, the ball got wedged against the rim.

Aztecs captain Cesar Martinez lost his contact lens when a Chupacabras player blocked his shot. Martinez said his team could play rougher if necessary.

“If they want to play physical, then so can we, ’cause we will,” Martinez said.

Shaun Williams, who scored about half of the Aztecs’ points, said the Chupacabras needed some larger players.

“I think they [Chupacabras] need to step up their guard play because they’re going to go for 0-5 if they don’t get bigger players.”

Amos McCluney, also of the Aztecs, said he was impressed with his team’s defense.

“We ran the ball and played defense. We were strong inside,” he said. “Today, our defense was about stopping people. We had an aggressive defense. Last week, our defense was passive.”

Sitting along the sidelines, Kaden Washington said he enjoyed just watching.

“It’s a really good competition. Some of the games aren’t close, but it’s still fun to watch,” he said.

In the last game, the Untouchables claimed victory over the Akron Hammers 52-47.

Even though the Untouchables won, both teams were neck-and-neck most of the game.

Bart Desender, NE intramural director, said he enjoyed watching the closest of games.

“The third game was really intense. There was a lot of great talent shown on the court,” he said.

Untouchables’ Chris Cooper said his team started slow. He wants his team to keep set offenses and defenses so they are not intertwining as much.

“They [Akron Hammers] played better than I thought they would, but we started out kind of slow because of some new players we got not being used to playing with each other,” Cooper said. “For next week, we want to stay sharp and not have to play defense while we are on the offense.”

Brittany Washington, the only woman playing for the Untouchables, said she is not used to this kind of game.

“It’s actually a culture shock. I’m used to playing with girls. Just walking into the gym is overwhelming,” she said.