By Bob Nuse, Sports Editor
Christian Burns put an exclamation point on a successful first season for the Victory Sports Pro-Am Summer Basketball League.
Burns’ three-point shot at the buzzer lifted Masselli & Warren Law Firm to a 67-64 win over CertaPro Painters in the league’s first championship game last Thursday night at The Hun School. The dramatic win brought to a close the first of what league director Bryan Caver hopes will be many successful seasons for the new league.
“When we talked about this on April 24 and said this is something that we wanted to do, it was six weeks out,” said Caver, the former McCorristin High and Seton Hall University standout. “We couldn’t have fathomed the way this thing turned out. And it is a testament to the way the guys have come out and competed. They are really doing the work. I just kind of created a place for them to do it.”
The eight-team league began in late June and concluded last week with its first championship game. Burns scored 20 points to lead the scoring for Masselli & Warren, which saw a 13-point lead slip away in the final four minutes before Burns came through with the game-winning shot. Yvon Raymond added 10 points and Greg Ford had nine in the win. Jeff Robinson had 14 points, while Kevin Avent had 11 and Khalid Lewis added 10 in the loss.
“It was a good game,” said Burns, a 2003 Hamilton West graduate who has spent the last nine years playing overseas. “Everybody knows each other and it was a lot of fun out here. We picked it up late. I think (Caver) did a tremendous job with the league. I think next year it is really going to blow up. He’s going to do a lot of work in the off-season to get it going. He’s one of the famous guys to come out of Hamilton and he is doing it for us now which I think is awesome.”
Masselli & Warren led, 60-47, with 3:59 left before a furious run by CertaPro Painters knotted the game at 64-64 with 5.7 seconds left. But Burns made sure there was no overtime when he sank a three-pointer as time expired.
“We only had a handful of games together with everybody,” said Burns, who played last year in Prague in the Czech Republic. “So we got it going at the end. If you know how to play the game it makes it easier.
“This was awesome. He could put New Jersey back on the map as far as summer league basketball.”
Caver was happy with the way the first season went. He had a great venue with Hun and the players were excited and receptive to the league.
“We couldn’t ask for a better final,” Caver said. “It was a great run. I enjoyed this so much. Seeing these guys compete is what it is really all about. It’s about the players.
“These guys want to compete. I just really wanted the community involvement and for the Division 1 players to not have to travel too far. A lot of these guys are pursing trying to play professionally, whether it is semi-pro or overseas. Or if they are just players in the area that want to continue to compete at a high level, we have given them a platform for that.”
Caver has heard from friends around the country since the league got started and the word has been spreading.
“I had a friend of mine from (Los Angeles) congratulate me,” Caver said. “Arturas Karnisovas, he’s with the Denver Nuggets now, he sent me an email and congratulated me as well. So I think the sky is the limit for this. We just want to continue to provide a quality product.”
