BasketballAt the beginning of the intramural basketball season, few people would have raised an eyebrow if someone had predicted a Staff Infection-Running Suckers Division I Championship match-up.Staff Infection, one of the most talented and the most experienced team in intramural play, and the Running Suckers, the back-to-back Division I Tournament Runners-Up, both came into the regular season this year with lofty expectations.However, after Staff Infections 2-2 regular season in League A and relatively few challenges to the Running Suckers in League B play, respectively, the teams made their regular seasons moot points and lived up to expectations, earning a place in the Division I Championship game.Staff Infection, after a quarterfinal win over the back-to-back champion Brothers, made quick work of America Yeah in Monday’s semifinal match-ups, dominating on both ends of the floor and walking out of Huntington Gymnasium with an easy 78-56 victory.Meanwhile, the Running Suckers faced its first great challenge of the winter in the other semifinal game against a Cinderella Theta Chi squad. The Running Suckers showed great poise under pressure, and the fourth seed eked-out a 52-48 win over the undermanned Theta Chi team.In Division II, there were no major surprises in the semifinals on Monday night as top seeded Curtis and the third seed, the Yo Mets, moved on to Thursday night’s final.Curtis, after surviving a scare last week against the eighth seed, Main Moon, kept cool under pressure to hand League D Champion Jason & The Johnsons its first loss of the season in the semifinals by a 62-54 margin.In the bottom half of the bracket, The Maroon-News’ preseason championship pick in Division-II, the Yo Mets, narrowly pulled out a defensive battle against the second-seeded Great Colgate Ballers, 41-35.There were no surprises Tuesday night in women’s semifinal action, as the top two seeds advanced to the championship game.The top-seeded Collar Stompers, undefeated in the regular season, brought its regular season momentum into the playoffs by making easy work of the fourth-seeded Women’s Rugby squad, running them out of the gym by a 47-23 margin.Women’s Soccer, the second seed in the bracket and a Maroon-News preseason favorite, was able to take a last-minute lead against a tough Club squad, earning a 37-36 victory and a spot in Thursday night’s championship game against the aforementioned Collar Stompers.Read next week’s Maroon-News for the results of each of the three championship games.

Ice Hockey In a recap of intramural hockey results from the last week, the surprising League A-leading Whalers lost for the first time this season. After easily defeating Theta Chi 7-2 on last Thursday. The Whalers finally fell from the ranks of the unbeaten on Sunday at the hands of Delta Upsilon (DU) by a score of 6-4.The Whalers remain in first place in the league with 10 points and a 5-1 record, holding a four-point edge over a 3-2 Sigma Chi A squad that defeated DU 8-2 last Thursday.Beta Theta Pi remained idle this week at 2-1 with four points, while Theta Chi and DU sit in a last place tie at 1-4 and with two points apiece.In League B, the Yo Mets are emerging as the leaders of the pack after defeating Pep Band 3-1 last Thursday, extending their record to 6-1 with 12 points.A close second in the league is the Panty Raiders. The team narrowly defeated Phi Delta Theta (Phi Delt), 2-1, on Sunday to improve its record to 5-1 with 10 points.Third place in League B is shared by three teams, with 2-3 Phi Delt, 2-3 Team 917 (which defeated the Frozen Ovaries, 6-3, this week) and 2-4 Frozen Ovaries at four points apiece. In last place in the league is a struggling Pep Band team that has two points and a 1-6 record.