The Prairie Basketball League hosted the Championship tournament this weekend at the Clearspring Middle School.
Abram Razon, the Commissioner for PBL discusses what the league is all about.
“PBL has been around for its third year, and we are a non-profit organization league based in Steinbach,” he says. “We offer basketball opportunities and programs for all ages starting at the age of five and then all the way up to around 60 years old.”
The day began at 8:30am with a full schedule ahead.
“Today we are capping off our Spring League with our Championship Day, followed by our All-Star weekend coming up tomorrow. Today we started off with our Future Star Celebration for our little kids and followed by six championship games.”
The league includes Juniors, High School, Open Women’s, Seniors, Open A, and Open Elite.
Razon has a love for basketball and is excited to have the opportunity to introduce it to new people and share his love for the sport with others.
“I’ve been a basketball fan for as long as I can remember, and all of this is just amazing. I get to be around the sport I love.”
The Juniors game was a nail-biter and Razon explains that anyone can win if they put in the time, effort, and teamwork.
“You can never count anybody out. Basketball is a game of runs, and you have got to be in it every second,” he explains. “Every mistake that you make, every lapse that you make, the other team will make you pay for it.”
Registration forms can be filled out through the PBL website. Upon registration, players will receive a jersey and a start date.
“All of our players sign up individually and then we hold a draft day at the start of each league. On draft day, our board is in charge of making sure that all the teams are split up fairly.”
The day was filled with some great basketball, team building, and cheering from the fans.
Teodrus Yutzy-Hiebert, PBL Bucks player in the Juniors Division, won the Championship and Player of the Game.
“We were playing the best team, the number one seed. We are the second seed and they beat us before in the season,” Yutzy-Hiebert says. “We stayed with them the whole game and then at the end we pulled away and won.”
Yutzy-Hiebert says he doesn’t play a specific position; he goes where his team needs him the most but forward is his favourite.
“I like playing small forward because I can be on the wing and then drive and I’m stronger so I can get in the paint.”
As the game came to an end, the Bucks found themselves falling short, but Yutzy-Hiebert came to the rescue with an incredible shot which was also the highlight of the game for him.
“We were down 69-72 with a minute left and I hit a 3-pointer to tie it!”
The Bucks ended up winning the game.
The High School League Championship game came down to Take Flight Elite vs. Tropic Thunder.
Tropic Thunder was falling behind in the first quarter but picked it up for an extremely tight second and third quarter. In the fourth, they pulled through to take the win.
See some photos from the tournament: