Students whip teachers on b-ball court

Dozens of high school students at St. Regis showed off their basketball skills and raised some money for a good cause at the same time in the school's gym Friday.

Around 44 students raised money for Hoops for Hearts so they could participate in Friday's three-on-three tournament. The students raised a total of $500. Eighth-grader Shelby Berg raised the most, finishing with $192. Seventh-grader Allison Davids followed with $102.

The students each created their own teams of four people for the three-on-three tournament. The extra player could be substituted during the game or take someone's place in the event of an injury.

Gym teacher Cindy Feasel said 11 teams played each other one time during the tournament that started at 9 a.m. The games lasted 10 minutes each and there was a five-minute break between each game.

To give the female teams an edge, Feasel said when girls scored, their baskets were worth more points. Three-point shots were worth four points and two-point shots were worth two points for girls and three-point shots were worth two points for boys and two-point shots were worth one point.

“It's just to make it a little more competitive. Otherwise the guys would wipe out half the teams,” Feasel said.

The top four teams from the morning competition were combined to play a full four-quarter game against St. Regis' faculty and staff who named their team the Staff Infections. The top four teams were the Ligers, who won all 10 of their games, the Awesome Pawsomes, who won nine of their games, the S.B.'s, who won seven of their games, and Fat Camp, who won six.

Feasel played with the Awesome Pawsomes all morning, but switched to play for the Staff Infections in the afternoon.

“I usually let one of the junior high kids that didn't make it in play in my spot in the afternoon,” Feasel said.

The staff versus students game started shortly after 1 p.m., and the whole school filed into the gymnasium to watch the older students take on the teachers and munch on popcorn.

The first quarter of the game set the tone for the rest of the afternoon. The much younger students outran their teachers and finished off the first quarter leading their teachers 22-3.

The teachers struggled to recover from their first quarter deficit for the rest of the game. By the end of the first half, the students were ahead 37-11.

The teachers scored 11 points in the third quarter, more than they had the entire game. However, it was not enough to stop the relentless scoring from the students, several of whom played for the St. Regis Tigers this season.

By the end of the game, the Staff Infections resorted to some sneaky tactics. At several points in the game, there were more than five players from the team on the court. There was also an unsuccessful attempt by maintenance employee Scott Lowry to lift fourth grade teacher Monica Wilson onto his shoulders for a slam dunk. All of these tactics ultimately failed for the Staff Infections and the students finished out the game winning 64-36.

“I think our biggest problem was the staff being out of shape,” Feasel said.