Davey, seniors Paisley, Parhar shoot way to March Madness title

As student and teacher fans filled out brackets at the start of the NCAA tournament, others played out Saratoga High’s version of the basketball craze. The annual March Madness event is a three-on-three, first to teacher points basketball tournament. The team made up of seniors Kent Paisley, girls varsity standout Arya Parhar and social studies teacher/girls’ basketball coach Mike Davey took the crown in a hotly contested bracket.

“It was great playing with [Parhar] and Mr. Davey,” Paisley said. “Going into the tournament, we thought we were one of the favorites, and we were able to pull it out.”

In the tournament, the championship team, entitled “Final Destination”, beat tough threesomes that included varsity stars such as sophomores Steve Berman and Kyle Dozier. Despite this tough draw, “Final destination” used its members’ various strengths to pull out close victories.

“Arya could shoot, Mr. Davey could take over games when he needed too, and I provided emotional support,” Paisley said.

In the championship game, “Final Destination” faced “Adeetya Dev”, which included senior Karthik Annaamalai, junior Brandon Pak and freshman Dharini Ramaswamy. The game was tied 9-9 when Parhar sank a three-pointer to win the championship.

“They had a big size advantage,” Pak, who plays on the boys’ varsity team, said. “We could have won if Mr. Davey hadn’t gotten so many rebounds.”

Despite the tough loss in the finals, “Adeetya Dev” made an outstanding run in the tournament, including an 11-0 beatdown in the first round. However, Pak took this success with a grain of salt.

“March Madness doesn’t really reflect basketball players’ skills, especially since some people don’t really try hard,” Pak said. “I am better at 3-on-3 basketball than 5-on-5 basketball, though, because I was able to hand the basketball more.”

Although March Madness was a success, it was not without controversy as players took issue with various rules.

“I don’t think teachers like Mr. Davey should be allowed to play,” Ramaswamy said. “It’s not fair to have a varsity player and a varsity-level teacher on your team.”

Paisley, who said that Davey should be allowed to play because there is no rule against teachers, was frustrated with the bracket itself.

“Our half of the bracket had some of the best players in the school, while the other side had much worse teams,” Paisley said. “But we made it through our half and won it all, so I shouldn’t
be complaining.”