By Josh Redden
Reporter
April 7, 2006
Shooting more than 160 free throws made sophomore Josh Terry Milligan’s 2006 free throw champion at the competition held March 30 in the Steve Lacey Field House.
Eight students, all male, entered the tournament. Half of the participants were members of the Milligan basketball team.
The tournament was set up through a double elimination bracket. Pairs of players faced each other at the free throw line, one-on-one through the bracket. The player who shot the most baskets out of 20 won, and the winner moved on to the next round.
“The players’ names where drawn from a hat to see where they were placed in the bracket,” said sophomore basketball player Joe Brown, who ran the free throw tournament for the intramural staff.
With only about five spectators at the tournament, the gym was pretty quiet.
“It looks like there is an unfair advantage for the guys that are not on the basketball team to win,” said sophomore Peter Harris, a spectator. “I am rooting for an underdog to win, someone that is not on the basketball team.”
Harris almost got his wish with soccer star sophomore Michael Negussie shooting from the line. In the tournament, Negussie first played Terry, winner of the tournament, and beat him by one shot, making 19 out of 20 free throws.
“I played basketball in high school, so I know the fundamentals of the game and I just stuck with them,” Negussie said after beating Terry.
“The players start counting their twenty shots with their first make. We do that because when you are just standing there waiting for it to be your turn you get cold,” said Brown. “It’s not like in a real basketball game when you are constantly running and keep loose.
Terry made it to the finals to face freshman basketball player Tyler Estepp, who made it to the finals of the tournament without a single loss.
“It is going to be tough in the finals because in the finals you shoot best out of 40 free throws,” said Harris. “Terry has to beat Estepp twice to win the tournament, which means they will be shooting best of 80.”
Terry beat Estepp in the first 40 and in the second, making Terry the tournament champion.
Terry said that he could not have won without Jeremy Dulgar, his personal rebounder in the tournament. He received a twenty-five dollar gift card for winning the tournament.
The players that participated were:
Freshman Jeff Barnes, basketball team
Freshman Tyler Estepp, basketball team
Sophomore Cliff Hakizabera
Senior Frankie Harris, basketball team
Sophomore Michael Negussie
Junior Luke Rodgers
Sophomore Josh Terry, basketball team
Freshman Chris Wells