The Division 1 recreational intramural basketball league kicked off last Tuesday in the RAWC’s main gym. The games consist of two 20-minute halves with stopped time in the last two minutes if the score is still at 10 points or less at that point.
Two teams, “Lord of the Courts” and “Occupy John Wall Street 2”, started off the day at 9 a.m. Although they were clearly excited, both teams were rusty and showed frustration on the court, evident from the 0–0 score for the first four minutes of the game. When they finally scored some baskets the adrenaline kicked in, and both teams found their rhythm. The score was close for most of the first half, going into halftime with a score of 26–25 in favour of Lord of the Courts.
Occupy John Wall Street 2 took the lead in the second half by making great passes and setting up a number of plays that capitalized on their team’s superior physical fitness. Lord of the Courts had a few skilled shooters who allowed them to keep up on the scoreboard.
In the end, Occupy John Wall Street 2 landed the 51–40 victory. When asked about the team name, captain Zak Khan replied, “It was a name I found online last year. I just searched ‘unique team names’ and Occupy John Wall Street was one of them. We added the ‘2’ this year because we won last year.”
The day’s second game took place at 10 a.m., pitting the teams “Don’t Get Bodied” against “CUA”. The game was delayed due to a lack of legitimate players on Don’t Get Bodied. Only three out of five players on each team may be U of T intramural players (that is, players on the Division 1 Blue basketball team); Don’t Get Bodied had four. They decided to allow Osama Abdelkader to join CUA, while Riccardo Nero, who happened to be in the gym, joined team Don’t Get Bodied. They finally started the game with a starting lineup but no substitutes.
Jeff Thorpe, CUA’s tallest player, won the tip-off. He was nearly unstoppable under the net, and scored the majority of CUA’s points in the first half. Despite having one substitute—one more than Don’t Get Bodied—team CUA was down 25–20 at halftime.
Both teams were getting tired in the second half, but Don’t Get Bodied was able to maintain their lead, winning the game with a final score of 52–43.
Mehmet Akcagliyan, the captain of Don’t Get Bodied, said, “We’re glad we came out with a victory—glad my guys showed up at 10 in the morning. We played really well despite having only five guys. Defence works, you know?”
The league will play on Tuesdays and Wednesdays for the rest of the semester. Students are encouraged to come and watch games throughout the day; all they need is a TCard for access to the main gym.
