Four overtimes

Two B-league teams were scheduled to play their opening game, and everyone was excited to get started. However, when the teams arrived at the gym, they found out that the court they were supposed to play on was being used for an A-league game. The game had gone into quadruple overtime between the DS vs. Village. The players from the two B-league teams, Hot Sauce and O-Line were disappointed at first as the game entered its second overtime, but that quickly turned into excitement to see what was about to happen next. Towards the end of the second overtime, a game-tying three was hit by a member of DS and everyone knew they were in for an entertaining third. It was an intense matchup, with both teams playing at a high level, and the crowd could not take their eyes off the action. 

Josh Benson ‘24 is on the tennis team at Muhlenberg and plays intramural basketball for the B-League team Hot Sauce. When he arrived early for his game, he described the ongoing game as “Crazy. My old RA, Josh Cabral [‘23], went off. He was dunking and everything.” said Benson

The possible game-winner at the end of the third overtime just grazed the rim and bounced away. The refs decided that the “next shot wins” for the deciding basket, which, after a few possessions, a player from Village hit with a floater.

 “I felt so bad for [Cabral] because he couldn’t quite get the win, but he was really trying his heart out, which is about all you can do; you just put your body on the line, see what you can get, and play your heart out, and both teams were able to do that, and it was really thrilling to [watch them] win. It was part of me that wished they could have gone to one more overtime, so he could have seen more drama there,” lamented Benson.

Intramural basketball is off and running, and the first day didn’t disappoint in terms of competitiveness and entertainment.

Benson added, “Intramural basketball is a great way to have fun, but there is still some competition, and it is with good friends; you know, I can hang out with a bunch of cool people that [I] get to spend time with through intramurals,” said Benson.

Intramural basketball is divided into two leagues, A and B, with varying levels of competitiveness. The differences are in the level of competitiveness, “There definitely is some more competition in A-League,” says Benson. “I mean, the B League’s not quite a competitive league in terms of the level of skill people have and their sort of desire to win.”

In the following game between Hot Sauce and O-line, there were 47 seconds left, Hot Sauce was up by three. Players from the previous A-League game stayed to watch. O-Line needed a three badly and kept jacking up triples and getting offensive rebound after offensive rebound. Finally, with about ten seconds left, the ball was rebounded by a defensive player who was fouled. Following a missed free throw number one, the offensive line was able to attempt two more three-pointers but was unable to capitalize and ultimately fell short. “It’s always stressful when you see a game come down to the wire and you’re on one of the teams,” said Benson. “It definitely was an intense time, but I really thought I knew that we had it in us to win. We were protecting the paint a little bit, which they had been a little bit more dominant in as opposed to three-point shooting. It was a much better strategy, it felt like we were really forcing them to work for it by forcing them to shoot those long-range, low-probability shots.”

Cabral shared, “I love playing basketball. I’ve been playing ever since middle school. Intramural basketball is fun but also competitive, and there’s a great atmosphere. What I like the most is seeing all the different people that play in the league, from guys on the soccer team to footballers and lacrosse players to people who aren’t on sports teams. Our first game this season went into quadruple overtime. That just goes to show how competitive the league is. It was a great game and a lot of fun! That atmosphere in that game felt like a playoff championship game; it was really cool!”