WS Chronicle

The League, sponsored by the Josh Howard Foundation, just wrapped up another successful summer basketball league at the W.R. Anderson community center.  For the second year in a row, Wake up Pray up Get Buckets (WUPUGB), walked away as champions of the league after defeating Blue Chips 116-91 in the championship game last Tuesday.

Blue Chips came into the game undefeated at 9-0.  They had been one of the toughest teams in the league all season, according to league commissioner Steve Nivens.  On the other hand, WUPUGB were only 3-4 heading into the playoffs.  As the defending champions, everyone knew they would be tough.

“The funny thing is that Wake up Pray up Get Buckets was only the fifth seed coming into the tournament, so that should tell you how competitive the league really was this summer,” said Nivens.  “Every team from the fifth to the 10th seed were all three and four coming into the playoffs.”

Good Vibes and Blue Chips were the two unbeaten teams going into the playoffs.  Nivens stated that many fans projected Good Vibes as the eventual champion based on their play throughout the season.  Nivens says it was a “toss up” as to who would win the game on championship night.

“I saw Wake up Pray up Get Buckets last year and I saw what they could do,” he says.  “The way they beat the Number One seed, I knew they meant business.  They had to play three games to win it all and they beat everyone by at least 20 points every game in the playoffs.”

The championship game was a back and forth battle early on.  Nivens stated that once the second half began, WUPUGB began to take over the game.  Mike Hughes led WUPUGB with 27 points and was named championship game MVP.

“Those guys just came out and started making high percentage shots,” said Nivens.  “They just had too much fire power in the end.”

Nivens says the league was better than ever this summer.  He says the quality of the league as progressively improved from its inception one year ago.

“The whole league was better because people saw the spring league and saw what type of players they need to come with,” he said.  “Sometimes that didn’t even help because someone is stacking their players over what you have.”

“The competition was a lot better and I would put this league up against any other one around,” he continued.

Nivens stated his plans for the league are to continue to expand the brand he has built up thus far.  “I want to show off the Triad for all of the talent that we have,” he says.