QUICK TOURNAMENT RECAP
Last weekend, UCLA Competitive Sports was fortunate to host the 2017 NIRSA Championship Series Region VI Basketball Tournament on campus at the John Wooden Center and Student Activities Center. The tournament hosted 42 teams from all over the West Coast, and even had a team from Delaware! In total, 27 teams entered the Men's Division, while 15 teams entered the Women's Division. The team breakdown is listed at the bottom of this article, along with links to tournament stats, and tournament results.
In the Women's Division, UC Davis overcame an early pool play loss to finish a flawless bracket play by defeating the Grand Canyon Women's Club to finish as the champions of the 2017 Regional event.
In the Men's Division, Grand Canyon University Intramurals overcame some early pressure in the championship to defeat their classmates, Grand Canyon University Men's Club to repeat yet again as the Region VI champs.
UCLA TEAM TOURNAMENT WRAP UP
Among the teams entered were the UCLA Women's and UCLA Men's Club Basketball teams. Competing in their first and second regional tournaments, respectively, the Women's and Men's teams competed admirably, and fought their way to tough wins against stiff competition.
The tournament run of the UCLA Women's Club basketball team was marked by resilience. Competing in their first event under the leadership of team captain and president, Jessica Maguire, the team faced 17 point deficits in both of their pool play games against eventual champion UC Davis, and East coast opponent University of Delaware. In both games, the Bruins completed remarkable second half runs to defeat UC Davis 56-53 and Delaware 39-38.
However, the magic created by the comeback kids ran out in bracket play. With a small second half lead in their first bracket game against established club Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, the Bruin ladies ran out of gas and dropped the game, 46-50, ended their hopes of a hometown championship.
On the Men's side, UCLA Men's Club basketball overcame early adversity in pool play to find a winning recipe in bracket play. It was sluggish start for the Bruins, who settled into the tournament by playing long-time Region VI basketball stalwart, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, and an upstart University of Arizona squad, dropping both pool play games by 10 points in each game. However, the bracket offered the Bruins a fresh start, and they capitalized on the opportunity.
Bolstered by the strong play of Mekai Ruddock, Vilius Vysniauskus, and Malik Martin, as well as an Earth-shattering dunk from Kendrick Azubuike (SportsCenter worthy), UCLA went on a memorable tournament run that started with a 63-51 over the Sun Devil squad of Arizona State University. The run continued with the Bruins defeating a pesky University of California, Riverside squad, 73-55 to advance to the quarterfinals. In the quarters, UCLA met its match when its squared off with established club, San Diego State. After building a 7-point half time lead, Tanner Fanjoy of San Diego State made sure that the Bruins didn't stay in the lead very long, draining DEEP threes on FOUR consecutive possessions, setting off a barrage of threes from San Diego State that lasted the remainder of the second half. Despite incredible resilience in cutting the deficit to 3 with under a minute left, the Bruin men ultimately couldn't overcome the deep shooting of SDSU, and dropped the game 65-57, finishing the tournament in a tie for 5th.
TOURNAMENT POOL PLAY RESULTS, TOURNAMENT RESULTS, TEAM ENTRANT LIST, AND STATS
WOMEN'S
Women's Pool Play Results (LINK)
Women's Bracket Play Results (LINK)
Women's Tournament Stats (LINK)
Team Entrants: Boise State, Cal Poly Pomona, Cal Poly SLO Gold, Cal Poly SLO White, Cal State Northridge, Grand Canyon IMs, Grand Canyon Club, Mount Saint Mary's, The Claremont Colleges, UC Davis, UC Irvine, UCLA, University iof Delaware, University of the Pacific, USC
MEN'S
Men's Pool Play Results (LINK)
Men's Bracket Play Results (LINK)
Men's Tournament Stats (LINK)
Team Entrants: Arizona State- Dubs, Arizona State- Sun Devil Squad, Cal State Northridge Club, Cal State Northridge- It Doesn't Matter, Cal Pol Pomona Gold, Cal Poly Pomona Green, Cal Poly SLO White, Cal Poly SLO Green, Cal State East Bay, Cal State Bakersfield, Cal State Monterey Bay, Grand Canyon University Intramurals, Grand Canyon University Club, Northern Arizona University, Oregon Ducks, Sac State, San Diego State, Stanford, University of Arizona- Cheddar Boys, University of Arizona- Youngbloods, UC Irvine, UCLA, UC Riverside, UC Riverside Blue, University of the Pacific, UNLV, USC
