It was a long time coming for Chris Henderson as his Team Henderson club came through with a 61-56 victory over Team DaSilva to claim the Tamarac Over 30 Adult Basketball League championship.
Henderson had played 17 seasons in the Tamarac league and was missing the elusive title that so many other players had experienced. His teammates rallied around their coach and gave him an early birthday present. Henderson rewarded his teammates’ confidence in him with an impressive game-high 28-point performance. Teammate Zach Hopwood contributed to the offensive effort with 15 points.
Team DaSilva went into halftime with a 30-26 lead with their post player Nick Chandler scoring 13 points with a strong inside game. He ended the contest with 22 points. DaSilva teammate James Alexander contributed nine first-half points.
Team Henderson came out in the second half with some defensive adjustments by pressuring the three-point attempts and got their offense untracked to build up a lead. DaSilva’s Woodolph Harrigan kept his team within striking distance with his 13-point effort to get his club within four points.
A big three-point bank shot by Team Henderson’s Hopwood ended the threat and pushed the lead back up to seven points. Henderson was fouled during the waning moments of the game and was sent to the charity stripe. He closed out the scoring by hitting his free throws as time ran out.
“That shot by Zach broke their back,” Henderson said. “It was a very competitive game, but we had a game plan to stop their guards. DaSilva’s Nick (Chandler) was a monster underneath for them and we couldn’t do nothing with him. This was my second time making it to the championship final. The last time we lost by five points and I made myself a promise that if I ever got back to the final, I would leave it all out there. This win makes this all that much sweeter.”
Team Henderson was 10-2 during the regular season and earned the top seed. The top eight teams in the 10-team league advanced to the playoffs.
Team Henderson cruised to the finals with convincing 20-point wins in the quarterfinal and semifinal matches to set the stage for the final match against Team DaSilva. Team DaSilva had defeated Team Henderson in the regular season handily. The sting of that loss proved to be a wake-up call and turned the season around for Henderson’s club.
“They embarrassed us that game and we had a team meeting to air things out and made some adjustments,” Henderson said. “We had a three-guard approach with Zach, Oswald and me pushing the offense.”
As the final horn sounded, it was a moment of great satisfaction and relief for player-coach Henderson.
“It feels so good to finally win one and is validation after so many years of trying,” he said. “I led the league in scoring but could never win the title. Our determination was the key to winning. We just came together after that regular-season loss to them.”
There were plenty of glories to be shared among the team. Oswald Shaw took on the challenge of taking on the opponent’s top shooting threat and sacrificed some of his scoring opportunities for the benefit of his teammates. Arneaud was a top shooting threat and Paul Sinclair was the inside presence on offense and defense. The team finished the season with an overall record of 13-2.
Henderson has been playing at Tamarac for seven years.
“I love playing in this league and to be honest it keeps me sane,” he said. “I can come to the game and release a lot of stress by being on the basketball court. I’m still passionate about this sport.”
Team Henderson was led by Chris Henderson, Oswald Shaw, Paul Sinclair, Zach Hopwood, Greg Arneaud, Paul Debreau and Demetrius Cyrus.
The Tamarac adult basketball summer season is currently underway and there are eight teams vying for the title.
