Students hit hardwood for shot at Duke tickets

The massive lights bounced off the glossy hardwood and the sound of basketballs echoed throughout the 23,000 baby blue seats in the Smith Center early Saturday morning - the Duke game was on the line.

Four teams of students laced up for the sixth annual 3-on-3 basketball tournament put on by the Carolina Athletic Association.

Each team paid $20 to enter, and the winning team was awarded two lower level tickets for each of its players to the February showdown with Duke University.

The tournament was a fundraiser for the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center.

"The full donation looks to be around $250," said Nick Lovelace, CAA chief of staff, who played in the tournament two years ago as a sophomore.

Each team, composed of three or four players, was guaranteed at least four 15-minute games.

There were no referees, so the physicality was rough as the players were responsible for calling fouls.

Angie Betting, manager of the Smith Center, who is accustomed to coordinating basketball games for more than 23,000 fans, media and two university teams, smiled as she casually ran the giant scoreboard for the handful of early-rising spectators on the court to see.

"They get a chance to play in the Smith Center, which is not something everyone gets to do," Betting said.

The games were fierce from the get go. But the competitiveness turned up a notch when the Future JV Team accused their opponents of unfairly monopolizing the game during the final six seconds.

Officials ruled in favor of Future, and six seconds were added back to the clock.

James Meister, the tallest of Future's four players, scored a dramatic game-winning basket to move his team on to the championship game.

Future JV Team went on to surprise the bigger, taller Team X by beating them and winning the tickets. The buzzer pierced through the empty air signaling the end of the game and Future's victory.

Jumping up and down, the players celebrated with smiles and cheers.

"I thought they were going to smoke us," said Future team member Russ Grote about the imposing opponents in the final game. "But Duke tickets sure feel good."

"Yeah, it was worth getting here at 7:30 this morning," added Michael Cvelich, Future's leading scorer in the final game.

Justin Johnson, CAA president, acknowledged the low number of teams compared to past years. He attributed it to senior class registration and the inability to advertise the event in the Pit during the week because of rain.

"We'll just take some money from CAA to increase the donation to what we usually give to Lineberger," said Johnson.

The Hooker 5K Run in the spring is the second of two annual events put on by CAA to benefit the Lineberger Center, Johnson said. He is hopeful that the run will make up for the low turnout at the tournament.

The players, on the other hand, could not have been happier with the sparse number of entries, as the road to the prize was that much shorter.

"Yeah - I was MVP," said Alex ter Wee of Future as he walked out of the Smith Center after his team's victory.

Ter Wee's MVP status may be debatable, but UNC's most valuable ticket is all his.

Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.