The month of March is known to go hand in hand with a basketball frenzy.  Although the annual NCAA tournament has not yet begun, the madness is already underway  in the Staples High School fieldhouse.

The 11th and 12th grade recreational basketball March Madness tournament came to a close as Team Tanzer took the crown on Thursday, March 14.

“Winning March Madness was special this year because the team was made up of a bunch of my friends, which made it very exciting,” Matthew Tanzer ’19 said.

The double elimination tournament started on March 7, but was down to just seven teams for the final day.  

Tanzer and his team already had a loss in the tournament, but were able to fight their way through the losers’ bracket all the way back to the championship game. There they met Team Leon, their rivals throughout the season.  

After a back and forth affair,  team Tanzer was able to slip away in the final minutes to earn a 51-44 victory.  

Being a game of huge proportions, along with it came a huge crowd.

“It was exhilarating watching Zach Horowitz ’19 hit two three pointers,” Adam Petro ’20 said.“It really sparked their run.”  

Unlike team Tanzer, many other teams were not as fortunate, and were forced to go home empty handed.  For the seniors, this meant they had played their final games of recreation basketball.

“It’s definitely hard to see it end,” Ben Schwartz ’19 said. “I made a lot of bonds over the years of playing rec.”