Pike A claims Intramural Basketball title in stunning finale

Pike A posing for the camera sporting their "Just Did It" T-shirts following their exciting double-overtime victory over Team TreeHouse in the Intramural Basketball championship (Joey McDermott).

With a crowd of at least a hundred people, Pike A, winner of the IFC Playoffs, and Team TreeHouse, winner of the Men’s A League playoffs, prepared to square off against each other to decide who would be crowned this year’s Men’s A League All-Campus Champions.

Neither team had an easy road to the championship game, though.

Pike A was seeded first out of six in the IFC A League playoffs, thus receiving a first round bye.  They played their first match in the semi-finals, taking on Kappa Sig, who they easily dispatched by a score of 58-38.  Next stop, IFC playoff finals.

In the finals, Pike A fought it out against some of their own fraternity brothers, in the end taking home a well deserved 45-31 victory over Pike B. 

Team TreeHouse had a longer climb to the top.  Seeded fifth of twelve, Team TH began their run against the 12th-seeded Triple X-Men, crushing their tournament hopes with a score of 57-36.  In the quarterfinals Team TreeHouse met up with the No. 4 seed, Slight Work, whom they dominated, 65-32.

The semifinals brought a new challenge entirely, the eighth-seeded Demented Peoples.  An eight seed is usually not a threat; however this particular eight seed had just defeated the top-seeded Immanuel by twenty points in their previous match.  It wasn’t an easy match for Team TH, but they still came out on top in the end, 52-49. 

The Independent Men’s A League finals consisted of Team TreeHouse and the seventh-seeded Dark Fantasy, and it was a low scoring match.  With only 47 total points scored between the two teams, Team TH brought home the victory with a 34-13 edge.

That set the stage for a Pike A and Team TreeHouse championship game.

Pike started out strong taking a 4-0 lead early on before falling silent for the next few minutes.  Nearly eight minutes into the game both teams were tied up at a measly 6 points apiece.  Then Pike caught a small spark, riding a five-point run to the eight-minute mark. 

As time winded down in the first half, Team TreeHouse continued to claw their way back into the contest, but by halftime Pike had held them at bay enough to maintain a five-point lead, making the score 21-16.

In intramural basketball, each game consists of two twenty-minute halves and the clock continues to run during fouls.

In the second half it was Team TreeHouse’s turn to have a strong start.  Not even two minutes into the game, the score became tied at 21 points.  Team TH didn’t stop there either, as they took their first lead of the game and continued their run until they lead 28-21 with just over 14 minutes remaining, a 13-point run. 

Pike was not ready to give up yet though, and they regained the lead at 31-30 with 10 minutes left to play.  Both teams continued to trade points back and forth until Pike scored two consecutive baskets, pulling the score to 45-41 with two minutes to go in the ball game.

Team TreeHouse decided they did not want the game to end just yet, tying the game 45-45 with a minute-and-a half to play.  Neither team was able to score, forcing overtime. 

Overtime in intramurals is a three-minute event in which the first possession is decided by a tip-off in the center of the court.

Team TreeHouse won the jump ball to start OT; however they weren’t able to capitalize.  Both teams missed shots back and forth until Team TH finally sank a jumper with 1:15 remaining on the clock.  With 4.9 seconds remaining Team TreeHouse still had a two-point lead, 47-45.  Pike drew a foul in hopes of giving themselves one last shot.

Ian Place stepped to the line for Team TH and missed his free throw.  Pike was about to get their shot.

Tick, tock.

Pike quickly inbounded the ball and drove the court.  With less than a second to go, Pike took a shot right near the three-point line.

Tick, tock.

As the buzzer rings, the shot goes in. Swish. 

Pike’s fans rush the court in a mob-like fashion chanting and cheering.  Seconds later the far-side referee signals that the shot was only worth two points and that the court must be cleared so the game could be continued.

Pike’s Captain, Dru McInerney, wasn’t surprised by the call, when asked after the game.

“No, it definitely wasn’t [a three-pointer],” he said. “Originally when I saw people going on to the court I started yelling at them to get off the court so we wouldn’t get a technical.”

On to second overtime.

Second overtime goes by the same rules as the first and it started off very similarly with Team TreeHouse winning the tipoff and not scoring until nearly a full minute into OT.

Both teams traded a shot back and forth before Team TH took the lead with 45 seconds to go by making one of their two allotted free throws.  With 19 seconds to go and the need to score being vital for Pike, Team TH was able to force a turnover. The turnover didn’t end up meaning much though since less than a second later Team TH committed a turnover of their own on a faulty pass that ended out of bounds. 

With 1.8 seconds remaining, Pike took the lead 51-50. 

The game wasn’t over yet though.  Team TreeHouse pulled an unconventional play out of their book, launching the inbounds pass full court and tipping it into a Pike player before the ball landed out of bounds.

With 1.3 to play, Team TreeHouse regained the ball on their side of the court.

Tick, tock.

Team TH inbounded the pass and instantly took a shot.  The buzzer sounded as the ball continued to drop, just barely missing to the left of the hoop.

Pike fans rushed the court again, this time knowing that a victory was for sure theirs to celebrate, 51-50, a well-fought double overtime victory.

Thus Pike A took home the title of Men’s A League Basketball All Campus Champions as well as a pile of t-shirts read “Intramural Champions, Just Did It”.

John Ferraraccio was the high scorer for Pike putting up 14 points, while TeamTreehouse’s Captain Ezra Damm was the high scorer of the game, scoring a whopping 19 points.
 
“We are returning all but one of our players for next year and he didn’t even play today.  We are hoping to have a dynasty,” said McInerney about Pike’s future.
 
The Men’s B League All-Campus title went to Mason Soccer, who overcame TKE, winning 47-24.  Mason Soccer had the endurance of champions, playing with an empty bench and still ending up on top, lead by captain and lead scorer Hughart Roberts with 16 points.

The Women’s All-Campus title was claimed by THE Women’s Soccer Team who defeated Chi Omega Red by a score of 31-24.  Captain Nicole Peters scored four points for the winning side, but the big scorer of the night was Lyndse Hokanson who put up 17 points, 15 of which came from beyond the three-point arc. 

The Co-Rec A League Title went to third-seeded Hoop Royalty.  Hoop Royalty overpowered fifth-seeded Ball_So_Hard, 57-48.  Hoop Royalty was lead in scoring by Hughart Roberts, who scored an admonishing 25 points.