MXS Nets Three-peat As Hoops Champs Published Feb. 21, 2007 By Tech. Sgt. Ken Sloat and Senior Airman Ann Wilkins Jefferson 910th Airlift Wing Public Affairs YOUNGSTOWN AIR RESERVE STATION, Ohio -- The 910th Maintenance team climbed through fierce competition from three other teams competing in the intramural basketball playoffs here Saturday of the February UTA to claim first place, making it the Maintainers' third championship in as many years. MXS v OG The first game of the four-game playoff pitted the three-year champion Maintenance team against 910th Operations Group. The Maintainers came out strong, winning the toss and dragging the Ops Group team to basket early as Markus Boykin leapt from the top of the key to put three points on the board for Maintenance. His continued success from the outside helped create a MXS lead that kept the Ops Team struggling to keep up. The unstoppable drives of MXS high scorers Rob Runnion and Joshua Winder contributed significantly to the MXS early lead. Runnion shot successfully from the outside five times earning 15 first-half points while teammate Winder took second place with five successful baskets earning 11 first-half points. At the half, The Maintainers owned a 28-point lead. Undaunted by their position, The Ops team emerged after the half ready to claim a spot in the final. The Ops Group's John Boccieri earned 13 second-half points making him the game's second half high scorer with nine of those points coming from short outside. Not surprisingly, he also holds the title for most personal fouls earned racking up three personal fouls but only sending the APS to the free throw line once. The Ops Group's James Haupt was a close second high-scorer, earning 10 points and shooting 50 percent from the free throw line. An apparent favorite for the Aerial Porters to commit a foul against, Haupt holds the distinction of being the only member of Ops sent to the free throw line and nabbed four points because of it. But victory for Ops wasn't to be: The game ended with The Maintainer's snatching a 66-42 victory. AW/MSG v MXS MXS didn't have much time to catch their breath before starting the night's second game, this time against a combined 910th Air Wing/Mission Support Group team. The two teams were evenly matched through the whole game. By the end of the first 10 minutes, the score was 16 all. Andrew Musial and Alex Brown lead the way for the AW/MSG. Musial had 14 first-half points, including one three-pointer and three-of-five from the free throw line. Brown had eight of his twelve total points in the game during the first 20 minutes, playing fair with only one personal foul charged to the Wing's senior recruiter. Lafayette Smith added a field goal as well. The MXS players, meanwhile, were hot with the three-point shot in the first half, as Runnion once again hit two of them, and teammates Stephen Crenshaw and Joshua Winder each added a three-pointer of their own. Crenshaw was also sent to the free throw line twice, hitting one of four shots. Mike Golden added four points, one from the field and two free throws made, while Marcus Boykin put two points. The teams kept trading baskets, keeping it close with a halftime score of 24-23, AW/MSG. The second half saw more out of Musial as he led all scorers with 21, including another three free throws made in the second period and two more field goals. But it wasn't enough to stop MXS. Despite another two field goals from Brown and another two from Shawn Spaulding, AW/MSG couldn't stop MXS in the end. The Maintainers' Mike Golden came on strong in the second half, swooshing in four field goals and one foul shot. Crenshaw added seven more points. But it was Mark Stephens lone free throw that made the difference, as MXS barely squeeked by in the end, winning 40-39. APS v MED In the final round of elimination 910th Medical Squadron faced the 76th Aerial Porters. The five-member strong Aerial Port team had just enough players to compete and no room to rest. AP's Trelayne Edwards was his team's top point-getter, earning seven first-half points which was five higher than The Medic's first-half achiever Scott Smith's six points. The Medics struggled to hold back the onslaught of Aerial Porters Michael Minnix and Trelayne Edwards who earned a combined 15 points in the first half. Edwards netted five of his shots, more than 55 percent from the free throw line. Another success story is William O'Brien who shot 75 percent from the line. The first half closed with the APS up by 12 in a 13-25 game. The Medics came back swinging after the break. They came back fast and turned the heat up with a press for victory. Ronnie Robbins was the Medics second-half high scorer. The Medics were afraid to push back. Although they weren't able to get bigger numbers on the board, they were able to out-earn the APS team more than four-to-one in fouls. A staggering statistic, that put the APS in line for 21 attempts at free throws compared to the Med's five attempts. Second half efforts that shined included those by Medics like Robbins, who earned six points and Derryll Schenk, who shot 100 percent from the free throw line. But even James Jesionowski's five second-half points couldn't get the Medics caught up to the APS. When the lights went out on the Medics' hopes for a title, they were down by three in a 37-34 Aerial Porters' victory. Championship: MXS v AP The climactic championship game had Maintenance toe up against Aerial Port in the center circle for the tip-off. As the game played late in the evening in the nine o'clock hour, both teams could have well been tired, with MXS having played twice already and Aerial Port just finishing a close one against the Medics. Yet the players'scoring didn't show signs of fatigue. Like in game two, MXS was on fire with from three-point land as three players put up five of them in the first half, Stephens and Winder with two and Runnion with one. Aerial Port answered strong at the free-throw line in the first period with a 70 percent scoring statistic. O'Brien netted four of six foul shots while Minnix hit all three of his. Bob Zehnder nailed a three pointer, as did Minnix, who also added a field goal. When the buzzer sounded at the end of the half, it was another close contest as MXS was only up by three, 21-19. The second half was looking good for AP's chances. Louis Fusco tacked up two points from the field while O'Brien and Zehnder stepped up with four field goals each, the top two point-getters of the game. But it wasn't enough to stop MXS in the end, including the fact that AP had only five guys and no substitutes to give them a break. MXS's three-point basket king Runnion added three more of them in the second half, and Mike Golden put on a show making six field goals, the most of the half. MXS won its third game of the night and its third 910th basketball championship in a row, with a final championship game score of 48-40. Both teams proudly accepted their first- and second-place trophies and posed for team photos.