By: Sherry Xiao
MSJ’s third annual 3v3 basketball tournament, held in the spring in past years, began early on January 17, Matches were ten minutes each and were played every day at lunch from January 17 to February 10 with breaks during finals and the wrestling tournament.
The winning team in the championship bracket was the Shooting Stars with Seniors Patrick Andresen, Shray Bansale, Param Bhatter, and Ilene Tsao. They defeated the Junior Ballerz 5-4 in overtime. The winning team in the consolation bracket was Teachers with Social Science Teacher Bill Jeffers, History Teacher Jason Cain, Geography Teacher Joshua Hunter, and Math Teacher Scott Sugden. The Teachers defeated JAMS in the consolation bracket championship game 5-2. The Shooting Stars were given a cash prize of $150. The Teachers were also offered a cash prize, but chose to donate it back to ASB.
This year was the first year pool play was used in organizing the tournament. At the beginning of the tournament, teams were randomly sorted into one of eight different pools. Teams played a minimum of two games each in pool play, then the winning team in each pool was sorted into the winner’s bracket, and the second place team was sorted into the consolation bracket. Initial seeding in the brackets was determined by point differentials. In the consolation bracket, pool play records were also taken into account. Both the winner’s and consolation brackets were single elimination.
“We played four games. We lost, but it was still fun because basketball’s a fun sport and playing’s just fun. Even after I lost, I still went back to watch because it gets really competitive and a lot of my friends were playing,” said Junior Eric Chang, a player in the tournament.
The event, organized by the L2 Sports Committee, had a total of 26 participating teams this year, the greatest number of teams in the history of the tournament. Teams were required to pay an entry fee of $5 per player. The portion of the money not awarded as prize money will go to ASB. Teams were comprised of three to four players, with limits on the number of varsity players allowed to play on the same team. Only three players were allowed on the court at any given time; the fourth could sub in during dead balls.
Sports Committee Member, Senior Gigi Hsu said, “This year there was really good turnout. I was surprised by how many teams signed up. I think every year the basketball tournament gets even more popular… People were just really into it. I was also surprised by how competitive people were. I guess that’s a good thing.
It was really fun to watch everyone enjoyed it.”
