The UB Post

Media Credit: Christopher Henry The Champs live up to their name. (Top l to r): Gerald Edwards, Ike Carter, Tavon English, Andre White (Bottom l to r): Mansur Abdul-Malik (captain), Dwight Watkins Jr.

Media Credit: Christopher Henry Mark Bailey is on the ball for Da Rock Wilders during the final games of the intramural co-ed basketball tournament on April 16.

It all came down to the night of April 16: the intramural co-ed student basketball semi-finals and championship. Four teams played two games, one at 6 p.m. and one at 7 p.m. The winners of each game met in the championship at 8 p.m. The night was intense—teams were playing with heart and were high on adrenaline—all in hopes of getting to that second game.

The first game was between Da Rock Wilders (4-0) and the Free Agents (3-2). Da Rock Wilders led for most of the game by at least 10 points.

Midway through the second 20-minute half, Faisal Morsi, Rodney Hicks, Courtney Jacobs, Craig Svoboda and Brendan Lally fought back for the Free Agents, closing Da Rock Wilders' lead to only three points.

Through well-thought-out shots, time management and strategic fouling, Da Rock Wilders secured their victory 52-45, enjoyed an hour-long break and moved on to the final game.

The second match was between the Champs (4-1) and Anonymous (4-1). In the first half, team captain Stewart Koo and his teammates gave Anonymous a lead of more than 10 points, but the Champs' five-man team did not surrender.

In the second half, the worn-out Champs landed bucket after bucket and made smart plays. The Champs' Tavon English helped pull the team ahead by scoring a whopping 39 points with the help of teammates Mansur Abdul Malik and Isaiah Carter. The Champs kept their lead and won the game 57-48.

Without a break after their exhausting first game, the Champs (5-1) immediately took the court to play undefeated Da Rock Wilders (5-0) in the championship game. Two weeks prior, Da Rock Wilders had beaten the Champs 47-34.

Right from the start, Da Rock Wilders made it look easy by pulling away from the Champs with more than 10 points. Devin McKenney was on fire, nailing three after three, ending with a season high of 22 points.

The Champs quickly retaliated, making the score 28-27 at the half. In the second half, emotions were high, fouls were more intense and team members played as though their lives depended on it. Both teams fought hard, taking the lead back and forth from each other.

According to intramurals regulations, each team must have at least one female player on the court at all times; if there is no female player, the team can play only four male players at a time.

Because the Champs had no female players on the team, Da Rock Wilders took advantage of their own team's extra player by giving the ball to their unguarded players for open shots—Suzanne Kalwa scored six points and Kari Petyak scored four points. Mark Bailey also helped Da Rock Wilders stay close in the second half with 13 overall points.

In another impressive performance, English scored 26 points in the championship game along with Isaiah Carter (15) and Dwight Watkins (12) for the Champs.

The last minute transpired into strategy: stopping the clock by fouling the other team in hopes of having enough time to reciprocate points. During the game, the Champs fouled 10 times, Da Rock Wilders nine. The game came down to foul shots.

The Champs made their free throws and clinched the victory by one point, retaining their title for the second year in a row. The final score was 66-65.

Several league players also were selected to play in the Battle of Baltimore Tournament between other area colleges—Hopkins, Loyola, Morgan State, UMBC and Towson—on April 18 and 19. Although UB kept the scores close in games against Loyola, Towson and UMBC, the team lost all three games and did not advance to the finals.

Gonzalez, Campus Recreation Services facility manager, can be reached at paul. gonzalez@ubalt.edu.

The Teams

Da Rock Wilders:
AJ Robinson (captain), Devin McKenney, Suzanne Kalwa, Kari Petyak, Mark Bailey, Terrell McKee, Antonio Rainey, Greg Freed, Rashaund Savage

Free Agents:
Brendan Lally (captain), Faisal Morsi, Rodney Hicks, Courtney Jacobs, Craig Svoboda

Anonymous:
Stuart Koo (captain), Allen Melvin, Kevin Gracie, Emmitt Irwin, Ben Nowak, Robert Shrader, Tony Troese, Ted Turnblacer, Megan Morrissette

Champs:
Mansur Abdul Malik (captain), Tavon English, Isaiah Carter, Dwight Watkins, Gerald Edwards, Andre White

Updated May 4, 2008 at 11:22 p.m.

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