After a long season with plenty of exciting and entertaining games, the Newtown Youth Basketball Senior League championship was held and Team Mockovak was crowned the champion with a 43-33 victory over Team Via at Newtown High School on March 10.

It was quite a feat. Team Mockovak is led by senior captain Kyle Mockovak, the lone senior leading a team of underclassmen. Senior Christian Via’s team had quite a season and playoff run.

At the end of the first quarter, Team Mockovak led by five and never faltered, taking a 23-16 lead into halftime. In the third quarter, plays down low by JJ Haddick helped Team Mockovak get to 30. Team Via closed the gap making it 27-30 with a pair of long 3-pointers by Via, a 3 from Matthew Tomaj, and two from Khalil Vessup. Team Mockovak closed the quarter with a basket by Evan Nikolis, and a 3-pointer by Jonathan Moseman regaining momentum and a lead of eight.

In the fourth quarter, Mockovak hit two free throws and put up four more points to seal his team’s victory.

The game brought a large crowd and student section to NHS as the students have been following the successes of the Senior League teams all season. To qualify for the championship Team Via had to get past Team Adams in the quarterfinals and Team O’Leary in the semifinals. Team Mockovak defeated Team Gargano in the quarters and Team Murray in the semis.

For Team Mockovak, Haddick and Mockovak led with 13 points apiece, Nikolis put up seven, and Colin Luby had a pair of 3-pointers to help his team to the victory.

Via’s team scored 24 points behind the arc in the championship game. Five of those 3-pointers came from leading scorer Via with 15. Matthew Tomaj drained two from downtown and six points.

“It feels great to win the championship. I put my blood, sweat, and tears into this championship and I finally got what I worked all the hours in the gym for,” Mockovak said.

The winning team members received “Senior League Champion” rings to commemorate the success.