A total of 14 teams participated in Monday’s 2nd annual Martin Luther King Jr. Classic basketball tournament at Amsterdam’s Bacon Recreation Center. The event, organized by the Wishful Thinking Foundation raised over one thousand dollars toward the construction of a new recreation center in the city of Amsterdam. Eight teams of boys and girls played in the middle school division and six in the high school division. They took to the courts early Monday morning for the all day event.
The championship games were both close contests with Team Melvin taking on Team Tamia in the middle school final, while Team ZO took on Team Brian in the high school match-up.
Team Melvin defeated Team Tamia 29-28 to claim the younger division crown. Playing for Team Melvin were Rory McNamara, Jarey Aponte, Melvin Fernandez, Nathan Lucente, Ethan Hunt, Jose Reynoso, and Dom Blair.
Team Brian reached the final of the high school division with a thrilling 29-27 win over Team Urgh in the final seconds. Team ZO had advanced unbeaten through the winners bracket and went on to take the title 32-30 over Team Brian. Playing for Team ZO were the “Fab Five” of Marv Robles, Joshua Santiago, Dennis Bier, David Crawford, and Alonzo Martin. Team ZO was coached by Kory Bergh.
