Ari Einhorn

Sophomore Micah Brickman, a member of the Managers, blocks junior Jesse Fisher’s shot in the tournament championship.

The bleachers went crazy at Kab Shab on Feb. 28 as junior Lilah Waldman swished a jump shot for the Managers team. However, her team went on to lose to the Power Forwards in the final round of the 3v3 basketball tournament.

The sophomore grade government ran a 3v3 basketball tournament to foster community within the high school. This was the second year this program was run, as the current juniors did the same thing when they were sophomores. The tournament started on Feb. 19, with six teams participating. The two teams left standing played in a championship game during Kab Shab.

The tournament had two brackets, each with three teams; every team played each team in their bracket. The team with the best record got to move on to the final. 

“The idea was to get everybody together to play basketball and have a good time,” sophomore Dean Brett Kugler said.

Even though it was run by the sophomore grade government, the tournament was open to all grades. Waldman participated on a team with junior Ross Fellner and sophomore Micah Brickman, all of whom are managers of the boys varsity basketball team.

Waldman assumed that her team would be eliminated after the first round because none of her teammates played basketball, so she decided it would be nice to try for fun. As the first game her team played was against a team with members who actually played basketball, Waldman assumed it would be a quick loss.

However, her team was able to make it past the first two rounds and played in the championship. The final was set to be during Kab Shab, but with the game tied and no time left in Kab Shab, the game was continued during CT that day. 

“The first game felt crazy because it was against people who actually played basketball,” Waldman said. “So we were not expecting to win at all. Like, we thought we were just going to lose immediately, but then Ross did really well.”

The Power Forwards, consisting of juniors Ella Longman, Jesse Fisher and Jacob Lipsky, ultimately won the championship, winning a dozen Krispy Kreme donuts as their prize.

This was the second year in a row that the sophomore grade government ran a 3v3 tournament, with the current seniors running the same tournament last year.

“We drew on last year’s juniors,” sophomore class treasurer Caleb Berman said. “They also had a tournament like this last year, and it was a lot of fun, so we wanted to run it back.”

Teams were a mix of grade and gender, and some teams even had teachers. Junior Tali Loeffler and Isaac Yourman played on a team with High School Jewish Life Chair and math teacher Robert Shorr. However, they lost in their bracket and were not able to advance to the championship.

“It wasn’t only just the grade, also we had people from different grades participating in the tournament, it was open,” said Kugler. “So it’s nice to be able to lead in planning activities for our high school.”