Photos by Libby Wilson
STUCO hosted their second annual basketball tournament on Saturday, raising $150 for the Pinky Swear foundation. Six teams participated, with the team ‘Shaqtin a Fool’ winning the whole tournament. Winners received Chik Fil A gift cards on Monday.
“[The Pinky Swear foundation] goes to help families with kids who have childhood cancer,” said Special Events chair, junior Julia Stopperan. “With basketball being so oriented with Pinky Swear, we wanted to continue that [with] our basketball tournament.”
The bracket was set up to be single elimination. The winning team, called Shaqtin a Fool — an NBA television reference — was made up of four seniors and one sophomore. Two of the participants, Trevor Thompson and Stanley Morantz, are on East’s varsity basketball team.
They competed against a team made up of mostly sophomores, which included sophomore varsity basketball player Andy Maddox, during the championship game. This final game went down to the wire, going into double overtime.
“It was really competitive, but it was friendly competitive,” senior Eli Kurlbaum, of Shaqtin a Fool’s team, said.
Kurlbaum enjoyed the tournament because he had recently recovered from an injury that had put him out of the winter GABL season. He was also able to play with his childhood friend, Morantz, and his brother, sophomore Noah Kurlbaum — the lone sophomore on their team.
Stopperan said that she planned this year’s tournament similarly to last years. Student referees, junior Thomas Sweat and sophomore Jack Reeves, called the games. It also came at the same time as last year, the weekend of the Final Four, to get people in the mood for basketball, according to Stopperan. She hopes to continue the basketball tournament next year.
