On Monday, March 11, Senior Board began hosting a March Madness event for the first time in the Big Gym. 

March Madness is an event that the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) hosts every year, in which different colleges across the country are entered in a basketball tournament throughout the entirety of March.

“I got inspired from a real life NCAA tournament to create a version of our own, where the winner of the tournament gets to play against the faculty,” Senior Board Treasurer Selma Timpers said.

Each game was eight minutes long, and the team with the highest number of points would be declared the winner and move on in the tournament. Otherwise, the standard basketball rules apply. 

The games were free to watch for every student. However, tickets for the students vs. faculty game at the end of the tournament will be sold for $1.

Six teams entered the tournament. The Great Whites led by Bryce Chin, the Sandwich Artists led by Jonathan Kim, Team Sith led by Jeremy Rivas, Glazing Otters 67 led by Ryan Klinthong, Calamity led by Steven Tu and the Kaptain Koalas led by Jonco Holgado faced off in a series of battles for the win.

Like the collegiate version of March Madness, the tournament was set up in bracket-style rounds. Calamity and Glazing Otters 67 opened, while on the other side of the bracket, the Great Whites battled the Sandwich Artists. Being the first teams to sign up, the Kaptain Koalas and Team Sith freely advanced, going on to battle the winners of the Calamity-Glazing Otters and the Great Whites-Sandwich Artists games, respectively. The winners of the semifinals competed to win the grand prize of going up against faculty in a final game on March 15.

In each game, the school’s athletic director Mr. Dion Coley and players sophomore Jeremy Rivas and junior Karen Grewal officiated.

On Monday, March 11 in the Big Gym, Calamity took on Glazing Otter 67, and successfully beat them by ten points. Following this game, the Great Whites faced off against the Sandwich Artists and blew them out, advancing farther into the tournament.

In the semifinals, the Kaptain Koalas faced off against Calamity on Tuesday, March 12. Both teams constantly made shot for shot, but in the end, the Kaptain Koalas pulled through in a thrilling three point win. 

Right after this, the Great Whites went head-to-head against Team Sith and crushed them by two points. 

During the match, the lead shifted repeatedly between the Kaptain Koalas and the Great Whites, although the Koalas maintained the upper hand for much of the game.

On the Kaptain Koalas, senior Earl Gervacio drained multiple three-pointers while seniors Jonco Holgado and O’shan Williams had amazing plays with each other. 

Meanwhile, on the Great Whites, senior Giovanni Stewart was a rebounding machine with seniors Aiden Chin, Bryce Chin and Michael Arredando draining multiple shots as well.

As the clock counted down, the Kaptain Koalas were up, winning 21-20. The Kaptain Koalas won the March Madness tournament, earning the privilege to take on the faculty team on Friday, March 15.

Team Kaptain Koalas consisted of sophomore Jaden Gervacio, junior Samantha Sirichai, and seniors Melanie Duran, Earl Gervacio, Jonco Holgado, Justin Lim, O’shan Williams and Kirk Uytiepo.