By Kendra Dunson/reporter
Marine Creek Collegiate High School students faced off against NW Campus students during a 3-on-3 intramural basketball tournament Sept. 19, but the college students prevailed.
The NW-led Mavs were crowned winners against the Dubs from Marine Creek, one of three games the Mavs won to take first place in the tournament held in the WHPE gym.
Aaron Garcia, NW intramural sports director, said he believes adding high school students to what he calls his “most aggressive sport” will lessen the tension among the college students and add fun to the game.
“We want to have fun and respect everyone,” Garcia said. “At the end of the day, it’s just a game, and high school students do a good job of keeping the fun going in a game.”
In their first-round matchup in the college bracket against the Lakers, Mavs players Cordell Lee, Macario Sherman and Melvin Daniel were undersized, giving up four to five inches in their one-on-one matchups.
“Coming into this matchup, we knew they had the size advantage, so we had to play physical,” Daniel said.
The Mavs were more aggressive, grabbing offensive rebounds, controlling time of possession and playing physical defense. In doing so, the Lakers settled for perimeter shots and didn’t capitalize in the paint despite their height advantage.
“I feel like the main key [in that matchup] was to rebound,” Daniel said.
The second round provided more of a challenge for the Mavs. Their opponents were physically stronger, hence their self-dubbed team name, Swole, whose offense was more sophisticated, including setting double screens, pick-and-rolls and making the extra pass.
With the score tied with less than 30 seconds to play, Sherman drove into the lane, nailing the game-winning layup that sealed the Mavs’ place in the final.
“Mac [Macario Sherman], that’s him— he’s a clutch person. That’s why his nickname is ‘Baby K.D.’ [Kevin Durant],” Lee said with a laugh.
In the final, the Dubs had the early momentum led by leading scorer Tre Sheffield, who finessed his way around defenders and created lanes to get to the rim.
“They gave me the left side, so I took [the lane],” Sheffield said.
The college students only trailed the high schoolers by two going into halftime at 21-19.
By the second half, the game was a different story. The Mavs came out aggressive and capitalized on the Dubs’ turnovers, missed shots and tiredness in the half-court, which led to six straight fast-break points.
“Our three-pointers and mid-range shots weren’t falling, so we had to crash the board,” Lee said.
In the end, team effort beat out individual play in all three rounds.
“We turned up the intensity, started playing more defense and took smarter shots, which led to the W,” Sherman said.
