The University College Basketball Association’s season has come to an end and with a big finish. The men and women’s championship games were held last week and buildings 44 and 45 came out on top. Both games were very entertaining and kept spectators at the edge of their seats until the last minutes of the game. At the end of both games, the championship teams were presented with a trophy. The first game was a battle between the women’s buildings 44 and 39. Both teams have proved throughout this season that they belong in this game. After losing their first game of the season to building 48, 21-12, they bounced back and defeated buildings 37 and 40 to advance to the championship. They have been led by Mishawn Robertson who has been one of the leading scorers on the team throughout this season. Building 39, led by Briana Moutlet, arguably the women’s MVP, looked to finish up their undefeated season with the bragging rights of being ranked number one.
It was a slow start for building 39 in the first half, scoring only four points from the field. Luckily Moutlet was five of ten from the free throw line, which kept close behind 44’s growing lead. Besides their foul trouble 44 had five of their eight players score in the first half, which gave them their four point lead at the end of the half. Robertson and Moutlet tied with five points each at the half.
Nahyamka Skipper and Monique Francis began to step up for 39 and keep them in the game. 44’s four-point lead at the half slowly decreased, and it turned into a one possession game. Each team began to trade off points as the clock ran down, but 39 were unable to stop 44 from scoring. 44 defeated 39 by two points, 25-23. Robertson would be named the MVP for leading her championship team in scoring with eight points. Skipper also had eight points in 39’s loss.
The men’s game ended in a similar fashion, with the victor winning only by one point. Both teams played their heart out and wouldn’t give up until the end. The undefeated 38 came into the game ranked number one and with the reputation of scoring a lot of points and defensively shutting down their opponents. 38 led by the UCBA’s leading scorer, Jemiah Richards, who just came off an eleven point performance against the Free Agents, came into the game the crowd favorite.
Both teams started off strong, working the ball to the middle for easy field goals, and getting to the foul line. After going score for score throughout the whole half, 45 remained on top leading only by two points, 11-9. Richards only scored one point during the half. 45’s James Black had four points at this mark, to lead his team in scoring.
In the second half each team exhibited the urgency to score by adapting to a sort of run and gun offense. Richards began to step up his play by contributing another five points. Building 38 led with a minute to go, but a score 45 put them in the lead 30-29. With the clock winding down, a last desperation shot attempt by 38 failed and 45 was crowned the UCBA men’s champion. Black was named the games MVP, leading both teams in scoring with 15 points.