The junior class officers held the 2nd Annual Students vs Faculty Basketball Tournament on Thursday and Friday, March 29-30, and the faculty came out with a 51-33 victory.
Teams of three to four players signed up to enter the tournament for a fee of $20 with the proceeds going towards funding prom for the Class of 2013.
The three winning teams from Thursday’s tournament advanced to play against faculty during Friday’s Student vs. Faculty Game. The student team included: seniors Montrel Smith, Garrett Wilson, Kyle Douglas, Kevin Yates, Ray Han, Jack Canfield and Khyrie Neveaux, and junior Trey Parker.
“Seeing that we had five players from the varsity basketball team, I really thought we were going to win,” Smith said.
The students took on the faculty squad consisting of: Principal James Cross, English I teacher Bruce Hayes, math teacher Steven Fish, AP Environmental Science teacher Aaron Hoefer, Economics teacher Derek Spier, choir director David Lee, and speech teacher Kerrie Steger.
Social studies teacher Elizabeth Smalley was supposed to be the final spot on the roster, but AP US History student-teacher Tyler Parker made a last-minute substitution, leading the faculty squad with 12 points.
Seconds before tipoff, social studies teacher Kay Fenn paid referee Jeremy Stahl. At halftime, the students held an 11-10 lead, but scorekeeper Tammy Laurence added five points to the teacher’s game.
“With age comes a scoring handicap,” game announcer Ed Larsen said.
The halftime show featured a shooting contest between CRryptonite Robotics team 624’s robot Panzer and a faculty squad of Smalley, Fenn, math teacher Julie Chipman, math teacher Missy Birch, and speech teacher Syleta Harkins. The teachers won the first contest 21-10, but Panzer took the second match 18-10.
“You know, it was actually kind of sick for them to build that robot,” senior Jordan Atiya said. “It was shooting baskets better than the basketball team.”
Once the second half came around, the students regained and kept a lead with a 9-3 run, highlighted by Douglas’ tip-in dunk and Neveuax’s off-balance three pointer with four minutes left.
However, Smalley ran on to the court with a spare ball and attempted layups while the students had possession, gathering 10 straight points.
With a 37-28 faculty lead, Amos attempted to bridge the gap by making a three-pointer, but the teachers had the “questionable” advantage, according to Smith, and the buzzer sounded with a 51-33 faculty lead.
“Like I said, I really thought we were going to win,” Smith said. “But the teachers were allowed to cheat. We thought we could still win even with them cheating. It’s okay, though; we’ll let them feel good about themselves. It was still fun for us.”
