The Bakemas Ballers’ season came to a close on March 3, as they fell to the Eggpack by a final score of 44-36 in the first round of the intramural playoffs.
“Here’s the bottom line: it hurts,” Ballers Head Coach Ryan Pelillo said. “I’m hurting for the guys, the girls, everybody. I mean, we all put our souls out there. I can’t think of one other bunch that wanted it more than us tonight. Unfortunately, shots didn’t go. We came in with a strategy, we stuck by it. Sometimes it just doesn’t go your way.”
It was a clearly difficult evening for Pelillo on the sideline. The style of play he drew up for the Ballers didn’t match the product the Eggpack put together; he was outdueled by his own roommate and Eggpack Head Coach Jonathan Blair.
“I really love the defensive pressure we’re able to get right now,” Blair said to the broadcast team at halftime. “I love [fourth-year] Steve [Rontiris] right now in the matchup against [second-year] Owen [Desharnais].”
Rontiris affected the game in all facets for Blair’s squad. For the Ballers, Desharnais put together a solid game on both sides of the ball, but ultimately could not do enough to lift his team over the hump.
“It’s about the team,” Desharnais said. “We had a great year, and we’re a good group. We’ll be back next year. Not the way we wanted to go; not the way I wanted to go tonight. It could’ve been better, but I left it all out there for my team today. So I can hold my head high knowing I did that.”
The Norwood, Mass., native paced the team with 16 points, along with five steals on the defensive end. Joining him with double digits in the scoring column was second-year Michael Sormanti.
The local product out of Cranston dumped in 11 points of his own. He also snagged five rebounds and a pair of assists. Second-year role player and Cumberland resident Emma Roberts added four points as well.
The Eggpack led 16-11 after one quarter of play and never looked back from there. Their lead ballooned to 26-19 at halftime, and 36-26 after the third quarter, before the eventual comeback fell short for an eight-point loss as time expired.
“Overall, we didn’t know what our expectations would be coming in,” Desharnais said. “We don’t have a lot of people that have really played organized basketball. It was a rollercoaster. We had to forfeit a game. We had a fight during a game. We had a game where we put it all together and really dominated. The last few games of the season, we came up short. Today, we just couldn’t hit the outside of a barn. We gave it our all, but sometimes it just doesn’t happen.”
The Ballers season may be over, but they’ll be back next season, with the goal of a deeper playoff run at the top of the to-do list.
