Intramural Basketball
By Mike Ghika- Sports Editor
The end of March marked the end of another intramural basketball season at Southern New Hampshire University. Champions were crowned in both the men's and women's leagues after full-court games were played in the Fieldhouse.
The women's game was held first, as the Ballas defeated the Shotcallas by a 28-18 final score. The Ballas, made up primarily of SNHU soccer players, led the Shotcallas, made up primarily of SNHU softball players, 14-10 at the half before cruising to victory. The Shotcallas' Andrea Wilson earned Most Valuable Player honors with 21 points and 9 rebounds, while Ariel Teixeira had 5 points and 2 boards in the win.
For the Ballas, Andrea Clausi led the team with 6 points, while Melissa Vitagliano had 7 rebounds. Elena Anderson had a bucket and 5 boards.
In the men's game, Balloon Knot and the N.W.O. squared off, but offense was scarce in the first half. The game actually went scoreless for the first five minutes before a Steve Rice free throw broke the ice to put the N.W.O. ahead. Balloon Knot did not have a field goal until 8 minutes into the half, while the N.W.O. was unable to notch its first field goal until there was a mere 5 minutes remaining in the first. The score was 11-6 at the half in favor of Balloon Knot.
With N.W.O. down two with just a second left to play, Rice knocked down two clutch free throws to force the game into overtime with the score tied at 20-20. In the extra minutes, Balloon Knot would turn the ball over in a 23-23 game with 5 seconds left, and the dagger followed as Mark Barnett knocked down a three at the buzzer to give N.W.O a 26-23 championship win.
Rice led all scorers with 18 points, while Cornelius Ilea and Robert Lucas had 10 and 8 points respectively for Balloon Knot.