2017 Men's Rez League crowns tournament champions 2-19-17
Joseph V. Sowmick - February 22, 2017
In an effort to provide bonus coverage, Team Observer and the Rez ballers were hooping it up with exciting Men’s Rez League tournament action on Feb. 19 in the Eagles Nest Tribal Gym. Saginaw Chippewa Recreation Manager Lucas Sprague mentioned the double elimination tournament capped off another successful season of basketball.
“This year, we had a quadruple overtime nail biter that saw Team Trepanier triumph over Team Ca$h. That semifinal game by itself had the fans in the stands going and was exactly what the Men’s Rez League was all about this year, all out competitive basketball,” Sprague said. “The Run N Gunners took that same drive into the tournament finals and forced tournament champions The Bomb Squad to overtime. Every one of the five league teams came to play and from 10 a. m. to 7 p.m., the action was up and down the court all day long.”
Referees Andrew “Bear” Raphael, Eric Pearson and Brandon Ardvino oversaw the action while SCIT Recreation staffers Kyle Shomin and Walter Trepanier assisted with Organized Sports Specialist Lindsey Sprague helping with the scoreboard and keeping track of tournament brackets.
Along with eventual Men’s Rez League Champions, The Bomb Squad taking down runner ups Run N Gun 74-72 in overtime, other teams in the tournament included Team Trepanier, Team Ca$h and House of Vasquez.
The consensus MVP for the tournament was The Bomb Squad power forward Kyle Ready. Final standings of the six-week league that started on Jan 8 saw The Bomb Squad and Run N Gun sporting identical 5-1 records with House of Vasquez at 3-3, Team Ca$h at 2-4 and Team Trepanier at 0-6.