The 2009 men’s open intramural basketball season concluded Saturday night in a narrow championship victory for Money Bi$cuits–the undefeated No. 1 seed coming into the tournament. They prevailed in the final seconds thanks to some critical defensive stops and free throws, much to the delight of their rowdy cheering section which occupied nearly half the bleachers set up in Carmichael Gym for spectators.

Zach Griep, a 2007 graduate and CSLEPS employee, sealed the deal with two free throws in the closing seconds to defeat WPW United, who also entered the game with a 9-0 record.

Griep said after the game he was thrilled to win a championship in an intramural league with so many competitors.

“This is awesome. [we had an] undefeated regular season coming into [the tournament], so I’m just excited and happy for the guys,” Griep said. “Out of 120 something teams and we win, that’s exciting.”

Despite ending up on the losing end of an intense game that saw bodies dive to the floor on multiple occasions, Jeffrey Brookshire, the captain of WPW United and a junior in mechanical engineering, said he enjoyed the intramural season and the championship game because it gave him the opportunity to enjoy the game of basketball with his friends.

“We just had fun and that was the bottom line. It is nice playing basketball for one last time before we all graduate,” Brookshire said. “We’re happy we made it this far. They were a good team and we played some really good teams in this tournament, this just happened to be the one that got us today.”

The game was a contested affair from start to finish, and the crowd of more than 200 combined with the intensity of the players to create an atmosphere that Griep said made the game all the more enjoyable.

“It was awesome. It was like high school basketball all over again,” Griep said. “It is fun and a lot more enjoyable because the adrenaline stays a little bit longer. It is a great environment and I am glad they set up the bleachers for us. That was really awesome.”

With the exception of the game’s waning seconds, the crowd was at its loudest after a seemingly impossible 3-point shot by Matt “Ice” Kostelic, a junior in biological sciences. The shot came on an inbounds pass that was thrown with 1.4 seconds left in the first half. The ball fell through the net as the time expired, bringing many in the crowd to their feet.

“I was just thinking, if I can get a little bit of an opening and get a shot off, I can try to give us a little momentum going into the second half,” Kostelic said. “I got it and fired it and luckily it went in.”

The defense in the last minute of the game demonstrated just how badly the players wanted to win, as both teams forced each other into multiple turnovers and struggled to score. In the end, WPW United was unable to close the two-point gap, as they failed to score on each of their last several offensive series. The outcome was finally decided on Griep’s free throws.

“I had some confidence coming into those free throws because I had hit my first three mid-range shots,” Griep said. “So I was confident and I was thinking, if I can just make one, we can be able to pretty much have a victory.”