WS Chronicle

The 18 and over basketball league at the W.R. Anderson Community Center in conjunction with the Josh Howard Foundation had their first night of competition last Wednesday.  All of the games were competitive and two of them even went into overtime.  W.R. Anderson Director Bryant McCorkle and Josh Howard Foundation Community Relations Manager Steve Nivens both said they were not surprised by the high level of play from all the teams.

Initially, the center had settled on a total of eight teams, but from the response they received from the community they decided to stretch the league to 10 teams.  Eight of the teams were in action on Wednesday. 

“The games were awesome and we had a nice turnout even with the threat of severe weather,” said McCorkle.  “The style of play during the games was good and everybody was out there hustling.  We had collegiate players and former high school standouts here, so the games were great.”

The game between the Elite All-Stars and Team Supreme was a tough fought battle.  Team Supreme came out victorious by the score of 71-65.  Tramaine King of the All-Stars finished with 32 points while Tony Byrd finished with 23 and Jay McCorkle chipped in 22.  Team Supreme was led by Rob Neil, who scored a game high 33, and Dre Howell scored 21.

The low scoring affair between the Young Ballers and Team Truth was the largest margin of victory Wednesday night.  Team Truth walked away with a 58-49 win. 

The matchup of Team US and Finesse Game was a very close game that went down to the wire.  Finesse Game squeaked out a narrow 50-48 victory.  Both sides had balanced scoring from the starters and the bench players.  Good defense also contributed to the low score of the game as well.

The game involving Dem Boyz and W.U.P.U.G.B. was an entertaining game that ended with Dem boys edging W.U.P.U.G.B by the score of 61-57.  The high scorers from Dem Boyz were Chris Young with 12 and Bryan McCorkle (Bryant McCorkle’s son) with 11.  W.U.P.U.G.B. was led by Lepreece Lynch with 14.  Nate Long and Ty Bitting contributed with 8 apiece.

W.R. Anderson Director McCorkle says the league is wide open and all teams have a chance to win it all.  He said multiple teams stood out during the games and is optimistic about how the league will play out in the end. 

Going forward the league will play games on Wednesday and Sunday evenings.  The games will begin at 6:10 on Wednesdays and 1:30 on Sundays.  On Wednesday’s there will be four games while on Sundays, every team will lace up. 

Nivens says this is exactly what they were looking for when they started the league.  He said there are many outlets for the young men in the city to play organized basketball but the 18 and over demographic has somewhat been left out.  The recreation center and the Josh Howard Foundation plan on having another league in the fall where they will possibly expand the number of teams and make a few tweaks to the format.