By Rob Potter
MONTICELLO — March 27, 2007 — Even though it was held a few days later than planned, the second annual 3-vs.-3 Basketball Tournament at Monticello High School was still a rousing success.
Scores of students, parents and community members gathered in the Monticello High School gymnasium last Tuesday night to watch some exciting hoops action.
The event was slated to take place the previous Friday, March 16, but that day’s big snow storm forced organizers to postpone it until Tuesday, March 20.
The tournament was conducted by the high school’s Academy of Finance and Sports, Entertainment & Event Management/Marketing Class and the Village of Monticello Parks and Recreation Department.
The Academy of Finance is a two-year program to help students learn more about banking and finance. In the first year, the students take classes in Accounting and Financial Services/Business Economics. After completing that first year, students have the opportunity for a paid summer internship.
During the second year, classes in Entrepreneurship and Financial Decision Making, as well as college-level courses, are taught.
The Sports, Entertainment & Event Management/Marketing Class studies sports and entertainment from the perspective of management and marketing. The basic management functions of complementing, controlling, organizing and planning are covered as they relate to college, amateur and professional sports.
“The tournament was very successful last year, so we decided to do it again this year,” said Maria Carpinone, who is the teacher of the Sports, Entertainment & Event Management/Marketing Class.
“Last year, we had eight teams and tonight there are 11 teams playing,” said Wendy Levinson, who is the Director of the Academy of Finance. “The fact that the tournament is bigger and successful again is awesome.”
Levinson noted that between the admission fees and concession stand sales, about $425 was raised. That money will be used by the students for a beautification project at the high school in conjunction with Sullivan Renaissance’s “Spruce Up Your Schools” program.
Levinson noted that the beautification project would involve improving the area near the high school entrance or enhancing the sign near Route 42 that directs visitors to the Monticello High School, Robert J. Kaiser Middle School and Kenneth L. Rutherford Elementary School.
“This is a collective effort,” Levinson said of the hoops tourney. “It’s a grassroots effort and it’s very successful. And it’s nice to see all the students getting involved and the community supporting the event.”
Several area businesses showed their support by placing ads in the tournament program.
“The local businesses have been great,” said Brian Daitsman, who is a senior at Monticello High School and the president of the Academy of Finance.
He said that “several months” of preparation went into the second annual tourney. Among the pre-event work was obtaining permission from the Monticello Central School administration to hold the competition and contacting Village of Monticello Parks and Recreation Department Director Betsy Conaty to ask her if she would assist with scheduling the games and keeping score as she did at the inaugural event.
According to Daitsman, about 20 Academy of Finance members helped out at the tournament. A majority of the students in the Sport, Entertainment & Event Management/Marketing Class played in the tournament, while the remaining students assisted the Academy of Finance members, Daitsman added.
Although Daitsman and fellow organizers scheduled the event for a Friday night to attract a large crowd, holding the game on a school night worked out OK.
“I’m happy, there is a big crowd here for a Tuesday night,” he said.
In addition to Conaty, other tournament volunteers included Mat Goldsmith, who helped with operating the scoreboard, and referees Jonathan Hyman, Michael Levinson and Edwin Perez.
Each of the 11 teams in the tourney was allowed a maximum of five players. Each squad played four games, which were seven minutes in duration with a running clock. To avoid slowing down the game by shooting free throws, a player who was fouled automatically scored three points for his or her team.
In the semifinal games, which were each eight minutes long, Team 9 defeated Team 11 by the final score of 18-5 and Team 4 defeated Team 7 by a 12-4 margin.
The rules were changed slightly for the final game. First, the winning team would be the squad that scored 30 points first or was ahead after 12 minutes of play. Secondly, players could shoot 3-point shots. Thirdly, any player who was fouled would then take free throws.
At the end of 12 minutes of spirited competition, Team 9 defeated Team 4, 21-12.
The members of first-place Team 9 were: Anthony Mann, Dorentina Rraci, Kyle Wigfall, Kevon Willet and Shawn Williams.
The members of second-place Team 4 were: Mike Hughes, John Lacey, Andrew Moss, Rod Stickle and Logan White.
The Monticello Elks provided T-shirts for the top two teams as well as four individual trophies to recognize outstanding players. The winners of those trophies were: Kyle Wigfall – Most Outstanding Player; Anthony Mann – Offensive MVP; Ernie Rosado – Defensive MVP; Logan White – Sportsmanship Award.
The members of the other teams were as follows:
Team 1 – John Bowens, Alexis Bruno, Andres Diaz, Justino Parades and Cory Waichman.
Team 2 – Gene Daniels, Johnny Goodin, Jesse Smith and Ishmael Weekes.
Team 3 – Nicole Christopher, Iris Robinson, Satanya Snowden, Shahedra Walker and Tyquan Walker.
Team 5 – Rob Dunbar, Arton Gashi, Joey Gonzalez, Devon Mathis and William Watson.
Team 6 – Tyler Hutchins, Polly Palhano, Rob Venditti and Tyrus Walker.
Team 7 – Joe Balzano, Mike Blount, Thomas Gonzalez, Dom Rodriguez and Ernie Rosado.
Team 8 – Jordan Herzog, Christopher Ketcham, Daniel Siegel, Zack Siegel and Dennis Stafford.
Team 10 – Mike Boyce, Angel Ferrer, Wayne Fletcher, Joshua Rivera and Frank Small.
Team 11 – Kiev Bracey, Chris Cardona, Dior Jackson, Reggie Rios, Angel Torres and Luis Torres.