Last Saturday night it may have been cold outside, but everyone in the gym could feel the heat from the intensity of the J&J Equities vs Preferred Capital championship face off. After months of intensive play, and some of the highest scoring playoffs in MBL history, the MBL 2018 Championship title went to J&J Equities, due to their hard work, sportsmanship, team leadership of caption Judah Ripstein, and all-star performance by Tzvi Wexler. The final score was 70-62 after the first overtime in MBL Championship history. This year featured many firsts and record breaking in the MBL such as, Ami Strick, on January 27, breaking the all-time MBL FG record with a buzzer beater at the half. And that very same week Ben Smile broke the MBL All-Time Single Game rebounding record with 35 boards. Most notably, Akiva Lafer breaking the long standing most points in a game record, previously held by Moshe Berkovits, by scoring 60 points in a single game! And Ami Strick broke Binny Shick’s all-time scoring record! All this and more has shown that the talent and success of the players in the Madraigos Midwest Basketball League is increasing each year – we can only imagine what next year has in store!
This Wednesday, the Amsters will be hosting an awards dinner for all who participated in the league so that we can show our appreciation to our sponsors, Eye on Devon, Robinson Financial, Preferred Capital, Bebe’s Kosher Deli, Worthy Insurance, Guaranteed Rate, J&J Equities, and RK Reality. As well as to our 2017-2018 coaches, Avishai Lev, Moshe Berkovits, Daniel Cooper, Chananya Dauber, Ariel Gutnicki, Josh Weisel, Noah Rosen, Isaac Milobsky, Efrayim Prero, and Daveed Hagage. And a thank you to our league coordinators DJ Shabat, and Michael Youness. At the dinner we will be announcing the award winners:
For league MVP –Akiva Lafer
Defensive Player of the Year – Ami Mashiach
X-factor Award –Josh Lefton
Sportsmanship Award – Tzvi Abrams
Upperclassman of the Year – Ben Smile
Underclassman of the Year – Ariel Strick
Rookie of the Year – Akiva Lafer
and Most Improved player – Efraim Warso
We are thankful to have the opportunity to show our appreciation for all those who contributed to the league and played hard each week making it the success that it was.
The MBL is a part of the Madraigos Midwest after school enrichment programming. Many of our city’s youth participate, with over 150 weekly attendees between the separate boys and girls leagues. Not just a sports program, the participants have the opportunity to engage with the coaches to develop positive and healthy role models, as well as close relationships with participants from a variety of local schools. The league allows for learning important life skills such as teamwork, self-esteem, the importance of being active, healthy competition and discipline.
