Hatboro, PA – Another year, another successful PGBL Summer Tournament finished. This year’s event featured 7 very talented Basketball teams from as far as Brooklyn with some players even traveling from Virginia to participate. The PGBL has made a name for itself within the Greek Community of Philadelphia, New Jersey and even New York but what makes this tournament so special is the open eligibility for players of all different ethnic backgrounds. The PGBL opens the doors for everybody to participate and therefore brings in players of different calibers to combine their talents with the local Greek players.
This year’s Semi Finals included teams Brooklyn, Trenton, Toon Squad and G.B.R. and surely did not disappoint. If you’re a fan of the game, you would of surely appreciated the competition in this tournament, especially the 3 multiple overtime games, one of which went to triple overtime where the tournament rules called for sudden death. Chris Piliard scored the first point for Trenton in that game and assured them a trip to the Finals.
The Championship game featured Trenton (Chris Piliard of the PGBL Kings) vs. G.B.R. ( Pete Kada of the PGBL Revolution ). These 2 teams battled until the very last second, literally. With 5 seconds left in the game and the score tied at 58, Team Trenton inbounded the ball and advanced it to Kurt Simmons who elevated for a long range 3 pointer. Simmons was fouled in the act of shooting but it didn’t matter because the shot went in! Simmons beat the buzzer and delivered a game winner for Team Trenton, winning Co-MVP in the process. His teammate Maurice Hobbs was able to control the pace with his amazing ball handling and ability to blow by his defenders, earning him Co-MVP honors as well. Great job to these guys and the PGBL hopes to see you back in our future tournaments.