WS Chronicle

The Late Night Basketball League at the 14th Street Community Center has been a mainstay in the community on and off for decades.  Last week, the center crowned its most recent champions, Dem Boys.

Dem Boyz defeated Team Prolific in the championship game by the score of 97-84.  Loaded with talent, Team Prolific was heavily favored going into the game, but Dem Boyz had other ideas.

“Team Prolific had a lot of good players and they had a lot of depth on the bench and they had three guys on the team that were on the championship team from last year so they may have been a little over confident,” said Louis Lowery, 14th Street senior supervisor. 

According to Lowery, when it comes to the playoffs during the late night league, you can throw the regular season records out the window because everyone seems to play their best at that time. 

“One thing I can say is no matter how the seeding or regular season goes, I can only count on one hand the number of times the team that was supposed to win according to their seed has actually won,” Lowery said.

Dem Boyz came out of the gates clicking on all cylinders.  At one point in the first half, they built a lead of 20 points over Team Prolific.  Following a timeout, Team Prolific seemed to wake up and began to chip away at the lead.  By halftime, Team Prolific had come all the way back, trailing 49-48 at the break.

There were no big runs by either team in the second half.  It was a barn burner of a game, with each team doing their best to come away with the victory.  Dem Boyz outplayed Team Prolific down the stretch with clutch shots and tough defense to claim the victory in the end.

Michael Quattlebaum of Dem Boyz, a.k.a. “QB,” was named MVP of the game.  He says it felt good to come away with the win, especially since few people gave them a shot going in.

“This feels great, to be honest,” said QB.  This is actually the second time I have won this championship, but it has been a few years, so it feels good to bring it home.

“We just had to relax, calm down and get it together after they came back and took the lead,” QB continued.  “After we were able to do that, you see how things turned out.”

Lowery stated he knew Team Prolific would make a run but was concerned whether or not Dem Boyz had the fortitude to withstand it.  He says in the past, Dem Boys would have folded under the pressure, but they persevered in the end.

“This game was up there because the underdogs in this league always seem to pull it out in the end,” Lowery continued.  “Throughout the history of this league, it happens here, so I always look for it.”