Teams of three gathered for the April Madness basketball tournament hosted by leadership In the small gym during lunch from April 25-28.

“The April Madness tournament was to have a good time on our campus one more time before the seniors graduate and relax before AP tests start,” Amanda Rowe said.

Teams consisted of three people, but there could only be one men’s varsity basketball player on each team.

“There was only one basketball player so that way each team is roughly of the same skill level and it makes it more competitive as a whole, and that’s really what makes it fun, the competition,” Justin Kraft said.

Instead of playing, some students decided to coach a team of their friends.

“I coached the team of Sam Perkins, Andrew Williams, Royce Haight and Bryon Restori. I coached this team because they are close friends of mine and Royce asked me to be the coach. I wanted to bring energy, enthusiasm and success to the team so we could beat every team in the court. Sadly we didn’t make it all the way, it was all for fun,” Anthony Sanchez said.

With this being the first time the school has hosted a 3-on-3 basketball tournament this school year, students were eager to compete against their friends.

“My team was team Big Block Crew, and we lost in the student championship game. It’s a cool experience to get to talk trash and play around with some of my buddies. I usually give a little more contact than I probably should but you gotta do what you gotta do to win. It’s fun and I get pretty competitive and I use some inappropriate language but it’s cool to get a little taste of what Jason Lewis and Matt Willis feel when they’re balling out,” Bryon Restori said.

The winning team played the teachers who were put together by Mr. Alex Anderson, Mr. Joshua Ansley, Mr. Jesse Armas, Mr. Brian Pointer and Mr. Kevin Estes. The Rhinos won the student portion of the tournament, but fell to the teacher team.

“The championship game was just to get teachers involved, it adds a different effect to the atmosphere seeing the teachers get out of the regular professional setting as well,” Rowe said.

Students were also invited to watch the tournament throughout the week in the small gym.

“I only watched the students versus teacher game but I thought it was cool to see all the teachers loosen up and have fun with the students and get to see their competitive sides. The best part was seeing the teachers get excited when they won,” Faith Harris said.

ASB plans to make this an annual event, which will include the tradition of a championship game featuring students against teachers.

by DEANNA PAYAN