BY JOHNNY WILSON
ICC DIRECTOR OF PROGRAMS & RECREATION
Adult Basketball
SEED TEAM CAPTAIN REGULAR SEASON (W-L)
#1 Khaki Buckets (Jared Eldridge) 10 – 2
#2 White Walkers (Szymon Bielesz) 9 – 3
#3 Hilltop Hoopers (Carl Dewese) 8 – 4
#4 The Grinches (Aiden Featherstone) 6 – 6
#5 Cahuilla Ballers (Tino Macias) 2 – 10
#6 Santa Rosa Elite (Ashlie Bohannon) 1 – 11
The regular season has ended, and now it’s time for the playoffs in the ICC Adult Basketball league. As in the NCAA, “March Madness” on the Hill is in full effect as we already have had underdog upsets, buzzer-beaters, and a quarterfinals game going into double-overtime.
In the ICC Basketball league, the top two teams of the regular season bypass the quarterfinals and get an automatic ticket to the semi-finals, while the other four teams begin the single-elimination playoff tournament bracket.
#1 seed Khaki Buckets and #2 seed White Walkers have their spots guaranteed in the semi-finals on March 18th at 6:00pm at the Idyllwild School gym.
The playoff tournament started last Wednesday March 11th as #6 Santa Rosa Elite faced off against #3 Hilltop Hoopers in the first quarterfinals game.
The Hilltop Hoopers (lead by captain Carl Dewese) made quick work of Santa Rosa Elite as they jumped to a 10-point lead and never let off the gas pedal until the time expired. Quick passes from Elaina Duke to Michael Smith and Sean O’Keeffe makes it hard for any team to stop.
The #3 Hilltop Hoopers will go on to face the #2 White Walkers in the semi-finals, as #6 Santa Rosa Elite have been eliminated. Thank you to captain Ashlie Bohannon of the Santa Rosa Elite for a great season.
The second quarterfinals game was #5 Cahuilla Ballers vs #4 Grinches – this game was incredible.
The Grinches, led by captain Aiden Featherstone and their star player PJ Gorczyca,were off to a good start. And once their sharp-shooter Boaz Charley started making shots from the 3-point line, it was looking as if the Grinches were going to run away with this one as their brought their lead to 16-10 about halfway through the 25-minute game.
Watching from the sideline, the Cahuilla Ballers’ injured captain Tino Macias called a timeout. The Cahuilla Ballers subbed in young future-star Azul Cervantes. With her earbuds in, she looked cool, calm, and collected. Right away, teammate Derrick Calloway got her the ball as she sunk a 3-point shot. The Cahuilla Ballers spectators cheered as they saw a glimmer of hope.
Fifteen seconds later – same play, same shot, and another 3-pointer by young Azul Cervantes! Now the crowd was getting loud, as the momentum was shifting in favor of the Cahuilla Ballers. Novel Calloway was fighting strong to get every rebound, as Louis Estrada was making shots from all over the court.
This league has a “win by two (points)” rule when time expires – the Grinches were still up, but only by one point when the clock went to zeros – and into overtime they went.
The two-minute overtime period was a battle. Every board, every pass, and every shot were contended, as both teams fought hard to avoid elimination. And when the dust settled, the score was tied 21-21. And into double-overtime they went.
In this league, the second overtime period is a sudden-death overtime period: whoever scores first wins the game.
The Grinches had first possession of the ball – they passed it to the outside for a sideline shot … MISS! The Cahuilla Ballers got the rebound and passed it to the outside of the arc, a three-point shot … Miss! But they got the offensive rebound and had just enough space to throw the ball up toward the hoop amidst a crowd of players… the ball hit the backboard and went in!! Game over.
The Cahuilla Ballers upset the Grinches and are heading to the semi-finals. What a comeback. What a battle. Hats off to the Grinches who had a great season and an excellent cast of players.
The #5 Cahuilla Ballers will be facing #1 Khaki Buckets on Wednesday March 18th at 6:00pm – can they do it again and pull off the ultimate upset by defeating the top-ranked team? Well… it is “March Madness” where anything can happen. Stay tuned.
Youth Baseball and Tee-ball
Registration is now open for the 2026 season of ICC Youth Baseball and Tee-ball, and this year it’s only $29 per player thanks to the Idyllwild Race Committee and their generous contribution to ICC Youth Sports.
The Idyllwild Race Committee brought back the 5K and 10K races last year – and a big part of last year’s proceed was donated to ICC, specifically for families to get registration discounts on youth sports such as baseball, tee-ball, and soccer.
For more info and to register for youth baseball and tee-ball, go to the ICC website at www.idyllwildcommunitycenter.org
Adult Volleyball
Only two weeks remain until the playoffs, as the top three teams – Village Hardware, Idyllwild Garage, and Idyllwild Brewpub – are separating themselves further and further from the pack.
Things could get interesting between BBI Construction, Red Kettle, Santa Rosa, and The Peak in terms of who finishes at what rank, as these teams are only a couple of games apart from each other in the current standings. The seeding will determine who plays who in the playoffs, which could be a huge determining factor in the first-round quarterfinals.
Like in the ICC basketball league, the top two teams skip the quarterfinals and automatically go to the semi-finals in the playoff single-elimination bracket.
The quarterfinals will occur on Thursday March 26th (5:45pm and 7:30pm) and the rest of the playoff tournament is scheduled for Saturday March 28th, which includes the two semi-finals matches (9:00am and 11:00am), the 3rd-place match (1:00pm) and the final championship match at 3:00pm.
All volleyball playoff tournament games are played at the Peace Center gymnasium at Buckhorn Camp.
