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Shoot the Cause and RC's Print Specialists were both brand new teams in the Mansion Park CBRC Summer Basketball League's Division 5 this season. Both met in the finals on Wednesday night with Shoot The Cause coming in as the No. 6 seed against the top-seeded RC club.
"I had no expectations. This was my first year on the team," said RC point guard Ryan McGarvey, who played for City Beverage last year.
After a few of his friends decided to retire at the last minute, McGarvey found himself looking for a team for the 2018 season.
"My little brother (Brandon McGarvey) joined this team, and I knew some of the guys from high school …. I knew we had a solid team but I didn't know about the other teams in the division," he said.
What the McGarvey's know now is that they can call themselves champions, thanks to a 45-39 victory at the Pleasant Valley Elementary School courts.
The RC team, which lost only game all year -- to Imler's which it avenged in the playoffs -- was still aware of the potential of its opponent on Wednesday night.
"We played them during the year and Izzy (Isaiah Wansley) is so tough. He can handle the ball. He can shoot, but I had a good feeling about our team," McGarvey said.
Shoot the Cause's Austin Finochio also liked his team's chances, despite the fact it had trouble getting all 10 of its players to show up during the season because of work and other commitments.
"We knew that come playoff time, we would be stronger because we would have our numbers," he said. "It's tough with work. Had we played this Monday or Tuesday, I wouldn't have been here because of work. The rain helped me."
RC was helped out big time by its big man down low, Josh Settle, who finished with 29 points, including 19 in the second half of a game that was tied, 21-21, at the break.
"I wasn't there the first time we played them, but I was told they had this big guy who just shoots over you every time and that is what he did. He was tough to stop," Finochio said.
RC has 10 players on its roster but Settle didn't come out the entire 40-minute game.
"He is an ox down there, a machine," said McGarvey, who finished with eight points.
Settle didn't mind at all playing the entire game, and was more than gracious in deferring to his teammates afterwards.
"They do a good job of getting me the ball where I want it," he said. "I was just hoping that we could go undefeated this season but we lost to Imler's, but then we beat them in the semis."
Wansley led Shoot the Cause with 15 points while Mike Scharf added 11 points.
SHOOT THE CAUSE (39): Scharf 11, Watson 2, Abram 7, Morris 2, Wansley 15, Finochio 2 .
RC'S PRINT SPECIALISTS (45): Settle 29, Binduga 6, R. McGarvey 8, B. McGarvey 2.
Halftime: 21-21 tie.
Officials: Rodney Chism, Pat Young, Ken Plisinski.