March Madness teams make way to finals

Senior Neel Kattumadam, a member of  the March Madness basketball team “PM,” ran down the court with his heart beating and legs pumping. His team remained nervous as the game neared its end, and the close score of 15-14 left no room for error. A misstep by a defender allowed Kattumadam, the team’s point guard who runs the team’s offense and controls the ball, to take the winning shot that advanced them to the quarterfinals.'

“It was pretty exhilarating,” Kattumadam said. “They were a really good team so it was nice to know that even though we were undermatched, we could still figure out a way to win.”

ASB has been hosting a March Madness basketball tournament that has pitted 16 teams against each other during tutorials and lunches. The teams each have four players, where no more than two of them can be on the school basketball team.

On March 19, the teams in the quarterfinals were announced. All eight teams — the Mavericks, Splash, Warriors, Spurs, PM, Lakers, AM and Golden Oreos — felt full of confidence and adrenaline. The prizes for team that wins the tournament are four Golden State Warriors tickets.

The game between the Warriors and Spurs as well as  the game between the Mavericks and Splash were on March 20. The Mavericks won with a score of 14-11, and the Warriors beat the Spurs 18-15.

“AM” matched up against the Golden Oreo’s and PM took on the Lakers on March 27. AM lost to the Golden Oreo’s 15-8, while the Lakers beat PM in a shutout game 15-0.

In the semi-finals, the Warriors defeated the Mavericks 16-14 on March 27, and the Golden Oreo’s beat the Lakers 17-15 on March 30.

Due to printing deadlines the championship game between the Warriors and Golden Oreo's, set to be on April 13 during tutorial, could not be covered.

The tournament is run by campus supervisor Mark Hernandez and Kattumadam, who is ASB Board Representative.

“Mr. Hernandez has been helping me a lot to get everything done, so I haven’t had to worry about finding teachers to supervise because he is always there,” Kattumadam said.

In future March Madness tournaments, Kattumadam mentions a possibility of making it co-ed and pitting a staff team against the winning team to compete for the Warriors tickets.

Overall, Kattumadam feels that this tournament has been successful and enjoys watching the average 50- to 60-person crowd “watching these teams duke it out in the tournament.”