By: Matthew Taylor
The Winter 2026 basketball intramurals came to an exciting finale during the Rees Series Basketball Tournament on Saturday night, Feb. 14. Nearly 50 teams participated in the five leagues. The men’s tournaments included 33 teams divided into three leagues (A, B and C), and the women’s tournaments included 16 teams divided into two leagues (A and B).
The Rees Series Championships for Men’s and Women’s A Leagues were sponsored by AdventHealth, who gave out Most Valuable Player (MVP) awards for the final two games in each bracket.
The Men’s A League featured a five-team bracket. The championship game was a face-off between first-seed “We’re Washed,” captained by Adrian Serna, and the second-seed “Moggers,” captained by Orlando Lopez. Due to a momentum shift at the end of the second half, the Moggers came out victorious in a high-scoring matchup, winning 78-66. AdventHealth awarded team captain Lopez with the MVP.
“It felt great,” said Moggers player Ryan Lopez. “It is my second time reaching the championship, and I graduate this semester.”
The Women’s A League featured eight teams. The fifth-seed “Basketball,” captained by Grace Peterson, rose through the ranks to face off against the second-seed “Tall Tale,” captained by Nyah Jackson. Jackson, whose team name was inspired by the average height of its players, had played with many of her team members in prior years, including a homecoming season playing alongside her sister, Camryn, for the first time since high school.
“I was relieved but also nervous,” said Jackson. “I hadn’t been in the championship since freshman year, and my team then got blown out.”
Grace Peterson’s “Basketball” was the underdog in each of their games leading to the championship. They defeated the fourth-seed “Southern Breeze” and first-seed “Chick-fil-Layups” in their attempt to take the championship title. After a defensive 34-24 matchup, “Basketball” continued their underdog win streak, and captain Peterson was rewarded with the MVP.
Twelve teams participated in the Men’s B League bracket, and the championship game featured first-seed “Never Played,” captained by Joshua Kim, and the second-seed “Foul Baiters,” co-captained by Tumelo Mhango and Jackson Cvercko.
The players on Kim’s “Never Played” were primarily from the pre-medical/dental background. Their name was picked in irony, as most of their players had some sort of experience before coming into the season.
“Our primary strategy for the game,” said Kim, “was to get the ball to either Josh Loenser or Isaac Lopez and just try and support them in whatever way we can.”
Mhango and Cvercko’s Foul Baiters have a long history playing together, as even their underclassmen players have teammate chemistry from high school. The team entered the game with their spirits weighed down by the sudden injury of one of their offensive players, sophomore Joseph Houston, who had suffered a partial tear of his LCL.
“We didn’t really have a strategy going into the night,” commented Tumelo. “We’ve been playing very good defense and offense.”
While Tumelo expressed frustration with the officiating, he shared appreciation for the opportunity to grow closer to his teammates.
Never Played defeated the Foul Baiters with a score of 55-43.
As with the upper leagues, the Women’s B League featured eight teams pushing to take home the victory. First-seed “Princess Ball,” captained by Melody Mambo, faced second-seed “Ball w/o You,” captained by Chloe Frans.
“We played against our friends,” said Mambo. “It was a really fun opportunity to have fun and remember that we’re all still friends in the end.”
“We all knew what we were comfortable with,” continued Mambo. “Being able to adjust to different positions was the true strategy into playing the game.”
In the closest matchup of the night, Ball w/o You defeated Princess Ball in a tight 26-22 game.
The Men’s C League was the largest bracket of the night, featuring 16 teams. Unlike the aforementioned championships, this tournament’s journey to the final game was not as straightforward. The initial matchup was meant to be between fourth-seed “Shalom Yahweh,” co-captained by Gideon Orellana and Jadon Douglas, and third-seed “Hoogins,” captained by Noah Saesim. However, fans at the event instead saw the second-seed “Love Muffins,” captained by Morgan Baldwin, get a second chance after their loss to Hoogins.
“Hoogins actually beat Love Muffins in their semi-final game,” explained Intramural Director Troy Walker, “[but] the captain of Hoogins contacted me and said they had to forfeit the championship game due to injuries/other.”
“Our strategy was simple,” said Love Muffins player Caleb Mohns. “Play solid defense, rebound well and look for a strong first breakout pass. Whenever we were at our best, everything started with those fundamentals.”
“Our primary strategy was to just play hard defense and have our defense lead into offense,” said Douglas. “There aren’t any plans we ran; [we] just moved the ball around set screens for each other, played to our strengths.
In the end, Love Muffins made good on their second chance and defeated Shalom Yahweh 54-45.
After hours of competition, five teams emerged as champions from the 49 contenders of the evening’s event.
