Drama Goes Epic in Men's Winter League Action

By Joe Sowmick, Events Coordinator

On Sunday, March 3, the drama went epic as two unbeaten 2013 Men's Winter League teams faced each other for the first time. The unbeaten Ball 'Til We Fall (BTWF) stayed consistent over AJ Tax Consultants with a 74-65 win. Point guard Jason Huntoon led the BTWF'ers with a double-double (13 points and 12 assists). Bear Raphael continued his hot shooting, taxing his opponents for 37 points in the loss. In a competitive second game, the Saginaw Thunder took the Basketball Dinosaurs with a prehistoric 54-46 victory. The tandem of Isaiah Thomas and Juuan Sanders brought the Thunder by both scoring in double digits . The drama of the evening focused on the Chippewas outlasting BTWF in a stunning 73-69 contest. Team Chippewas offered no excuses and refused to forfeit. They played their starting five the whole game due to rest of their team off on spring break . Power forward Jesse Swindlehurdst pounded home 24 points with backcourt specialists Luke Sprague and Chase Owl contributing 37 more. Jason Huntoon posted his second double-double of the evening, contributing a complete stat line of 17 points, 13 rebounds, 8 assists and 2 steals in the loss. "Both teams played an inspiring game of team basketball, and they will certainly have another chance to play each other in the double elimination tournament," League Commissioner Kevin Ricketts explains. "It was good to see a lot of the youth out here tonight and they how important the fundamentals and conditioning are to playing an all around team game." The final game of the evening saw The A Team triumph over the Freeballers 77-68. The A-Team'ers were led by the duo of Henry Wemigwans and Marcus Russell, each firing in 20 plus points a piece. The Freeballers ace James France knocked down six shots from beyond the arc and netted 34 points in a loss .

The Men's Winter League games are free and open to the community.