 "Photo: Photo: Lulu Zhao")
March Madness might be coming to an end, but basketball fever is just beginning for PUC intramurals.
Intramural basketball playoffs are underway Sundays at the PUC Fitness Center. The tournament is double elimination, as it has been in years past.
The 2012 playoffs almost started with a whimper on March 25. It appeared the first two games would result in forfeits, as certain teams did not show up at the designated time.
One game actually did end before it began. Inception was set to play PUC Bulls on the South Court, but not enough players from the latter got to the gym on time. When the game could not be postponed any longer, the game was called in Inception’s favor, and the players that did show simply played a scrimmage game.
On the North Court, meanwhile, Free Ballers were set to take on Block Mambas. Just when it looked like the game was going to be called, however, the minimum number of players showed up, and the game went underway.
The game was a close one in the first half, with Free Ballers up 24 to 22 at halftime. At the half, however, Block Mambas changed their game plan.
“We were playing a zone game,” Ben Maul of Block Mambas said, “but we switched to a man defense. They had a good outside shooter, so we changed up to stop them.”
The plan worked. Block Mambas went on a 20-4 run to open the second half, and ended up winning 54-36.
The game got a little rough and chippy in the second half, and tempers on Free Ballers ran a little high and resulted in a few technical fouls. According to Block Mambas, though, this was all part of the plan.
“We got in their heads,” Matt Kubiak of Block Mambas said.
This was not the most one-sided game of the day. In later matches, the 35-point slaughter rule was utilized.
Greenlawn played Pandas, and had a 13 point lead at halftime. The lead continued to grow until the game ended with 6:03 left by a score of 63-27.
B-Ball Bubbies took on Legend-air-y, and led 27-17 by halftime. The second half, however, B-Ball Bubbies ran away with it, and won 59-24 with more than eight minutes left.
“We moved the ball around very well,” Dale Krygier of B-Ball Bubbies said. “We always found the open guy. That’s how we got so many easy buckets.”
Intramural playoffs continue on Sunday afternoons at 12:30 p.m. in the gym.