Team X with the City of Parkland Parks & Recreation Men’s Basketball League. {courtesy}
By: Kynon Codrington
The second season of the City of Parkland Parks & Recreation Men’s Basketball League ended the same way as the inaugural year in 2023 with a Team X championship.
On August 6, Team X defeated South Florida in an overtime thriller, 62-57 to capture back-to-back league titles led by their captain Ed Nelson.
Nelson scored 20 points to go with 7 rebounds to lead the way on offense with shooting guard Dom Denny finishing with 19 points. Point guard Akeem Morissaint recorded double-digit points with 10, and forward Garth Campbell added 8 points.
Power forward Ben Bridges led the team in assists with four and earned best trash talker of the league voted on by the players and spectators.
Defensively, shooting guard Brian Litman drew the game’s only charge to force a turnover and shift the momentum to spark the squad.
Team X went 7-of-20 from three-point distance to pace a back-and-forth contest. South Florida forced the game to overtime with a 3-pointer of their own with less than 6 seconds left to tie the game.
It was the second time the two teams needed extra time as Team X won a regular season battle 60-59 on a game winning lay-up by point guard Jason Kornblau.
Team X will get to keep the championship hardware for another season. Next year will be another tough test as the league continues to improve.
Team X’s roster consisted of the aforementioned Nelson, Bridges, Campbell, Denny, Morissaint, Kornblau, Litman, Scott Gusler, Kynon Codrington, Erin Stuller, James Tramontano, and Lucas Woodhouse. To check out highlights from this season please visit the Team X Instagram page: team_x_orange. Game stats and highlight video were courtesy of Jack and Jace Kornblau.
The program was successfully run by Parks & Recreation Specialist (Athletics), Lester Hudson. For more information on next season, email lhudson@cityofparkland.org.
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