Texas State Elite wins regional intramural basketball tournament

Posted by Jayme Blaschke
University News Service
April 3, 2007

The Texas State Elite won the National Intramural-Recreational Sports Association (NIRSA) Regional Basketball Tournament, held on the campus of Texas A&M University in College Station March 23-25.

A total of 39 men’s and 15 women’s teams from schools across the region including Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas participated in the tournament.

Texas State’s Chris Langhorne was named tournament MVP and was joined on the all-tournament team by Dustin Minter.

The Texas State Elite consists of players from three different intramural sports men’s basketball teams: Ryan Karpel, Minter, Anthony Hesson, and Derek Atwood from Quiet Storm; Langhorne and Charlie Davis from Team Genesis; and Jude Messina from Kappa Alpha.  The tournament consisted of two pool play games with the top two teams in each pool advancing to the single elimination tournament.  Texas State faced Harris County College Friday night at 10 p.m.  Behind the 16 points each from Langhorne and Hesson, Texas State was victorious 76-38.  Texas State’s next game was Saturday at 8 a.m.  In this game, Langhorne and Atwood led Texas State to a 67-40 victory over the Flight from the University of Texas–Pan America.

With this victory, Texas State advanced to the tournament.  After drawing a first round bye, the Elite faced the O-State Hoosiers from Oklahoma State University.  Texas State was led to a 77-38 victory by Langhorne and Karpel.  Texas State then defeated the African Americanz from the University of Houston, 68-61, behind the 18 points of Langhorne.  Their next game was against another team from the University of Houston, BBC/BAMF.  In this game Karpel and Minter’s leadership and the overall team play of the Elite led to a 62-53 victory and a trip to the championship game.  In the final, the Texas State Elite faced the “W.H.I.P” from Texas Southern University.  This game proved the most challenging for Texas State.  However, they were able to pull out a 59-50 victory behind the strong defensive play of Messina, the outside shooting of Davis and the rebounding of Hesson.

The Elite will now looks to represent Texas State at the National Intramural Basketball Championship hosted by Ohio State University April 13-15.  Anyone interested in supporting the team’s trip can contact David Arndt at (512) 245-8090 or da1074@txstate.edu.