MLK Tourney delivers new base champs for basketball

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Luis Loza Gutierrez
  • 17th Training Wing Public Affairs
GOODFELLOW AIR FORCE BASE, Texas --  The 17th Services Division hosted the 2008 Goodfellow Air Force Base intra-mural basketball championship Jan. 24 at the Mathis Fitness Center.

The game proved to be a matter of dogs versus dogs as both the Alpha and Bravo teams of the 17th Mission Support Group battled it out on the court to see which group of Junk Yard Dogs would claim rights to the title.

Despite only having seven players total as part of their team rotation, the Bravo Junk Yard Dogs were able to defeat the Alpha team 68 to 49.

Unofficial Top-Dog honors went to No. 21, Brian Stansbury, Bravo's sure-shot point guard, who had a game high 26 points.

Power forward, Michael Thompson, had a team high of 16 point for the Alpha team of the 17 MSG.

This year's b-ball championship was different from earlier years, not just because two teams from the same unit met in the final game, but because this year's champions would be determined by whoever won the 2008 MLK Basketball Tournament.

In previous years, the base basketball championship would traditionally take place after several weeks of play, which consisted of a regular season and a few playoff games.

Cut backs in funding forced base sports officials to find a way to still provide a basketball championship team for the base, hence the three-day tourney.

The MLK tourney is named in honor of the late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who won the Noble Peace Prize as a civil rights activist during the 1960's.