The annual 3v3 campus basketball tournament took place last weekend, drawing many athletes and spectators to the Davis Field House to raise money for this year’s Bible Conference offering.
Men and women, upperclassmen and underclassmen, residence hall supervisors, alumni and Bruins players — not to mention Matt Herbster, Marshall Franklin and Jon Daulton — all gathered Friday night and into early Saturday morning to participate in the spring tradition.
An event that has been going strong for years, the 3v3 tournament allows players to team up with their friends in groups of three or four to participate in a pool-style arena before entering a round-robin, double-elimination playoff bracket.
New changes were made this year to allow spectators, increasing the fun, fellowship and funds for the Bible Conference offering.
This was also the first year for the women’s 3v3 Tournament.
Freshman Kelly Ward, who teamed up with friends, said, “I wanted to participate because I love playing basketball, and it sounded like it would be a lot of fun. It was kind of like our own March Madness at BJU — and staying out four hours past the curfew was definitely a plus.”
Sophomore Ben Van Holstyn put together a team with junior Daniel Knox and freshman Jadan Kashi. Van Holstyn voiced a couple of reasons for enjoying this particular fundraiser: “My favorite part of the tourney is seeing who comes to play. Some of the team combinations are pretty funny,” he said. “Also, I like seeing intramural guys go head-to-head with Bruins or even staff.”
Although the winning teams may have seemed to have unfair advantages, all had to go through good competition while facing off against hard opposing teams. At the end of the night, the winners on the men’s side were fellow Bruins teammates Zach Mercado and Kirtis Yurchak, along with freshman Corey Turner. In the women’s bracket, Bruins Kourtney Hoefler, Trisha Irving, Hannah Tompkins and Kim Spiecker rose above the rest of the field.
All players and spectators pay a small fee to participate in the tournament, and proceeds go to the Bible Conference fundraising goal, the remodeling of the Snack Shop and Campus Store. With dozens of teams on the men’s side and several teams on the women’s side, the 3v3 tournament was yet again a huge success.