BABC Earns Trip to EYBL Finals
The EYBL regular season came to a close last weekend as session four took place in Minneapolis.
The BABC went a perfect 5-0, finishing 13-4 on the season including a perfect 9-0 in Division A, widely considered to be the toughest of the EYBL’s four divisions this year.
The top five teams in each of the four divisions also earned an automatic birth in the EYBL Finals, which will again be played at the Peach Jam during the first week of the July evaluation period. This will be BABC's 20th consecutive year at the Peach Jam. They are the only Nike sponsored program in the country to qualify for the event in all six years since the EYBL was founded.
BABC won the 2011 Nike EYBL championship and also advanced to the Peach Jam finals in 1996, 2001, 2004 and 2008 prior to the EYBL.
Despite their success during the current season, BABC has yet to play a game at full strength. Point guard Ikenna Ndugba missed the first three sessions before returning in Minneapolis, but then it was three year starter Robert Martin Jr. who missed the weekend because of academic commitments. Terrell Brown and Brett Hanson were both late arrivals in Minneapolis while Fru Che and Arkel Ager-Lamar sustained injuries mid-way through the weekend.
Stalwarts like Bruce Brown, Tommy Mobley, Pat Fisher and Kevin Marfo carried the club through the five wins while both Ndugba and Hanson came up with game winners at various points during the weekend.
BABC’s final win of the EYBL regular season came early Monday morning in a 69-68 win over Pro Skills. BABC had already clinched first place in Class A following Sunday’s wins over the PSA Cardinals and Boo Williams and so while the game meant nothing on paper, BABC head coach spoke about how important it was for his team to compete on Memorial Day, even addressing his players before the game about the meaning of the day. The club responded as five players scored in double figures led by 17 points on 5-10 shooting from the arc by Mobley and 12 points and 15 rebounds from Marfo.
BABC will host their annual Boston Shootout from June 5th – 7th at Cathedral High School in Boston and then participate in the Zero Gravity Nationals on June 13th & 14th as final tune-ups for their latest trip to the EYBL Finals.