Despite the presence of two former varsity basketball players on their team, Duvey's Dozen trailed by four points to the top-seeded Jackhammers at halftime at the men's intramural basketball championship game Tuesday. But that was before Tate Sherman '08, who played on the varsity team as a first-year, took over the game.

Using a series of dazzling moves that electrified the crowd, Sherman scored 19 second-half points to lead second-seeded Duvey's Dozen to a 53-36 championship-clinching victory over the previously undefeated Jackhammers.

In the women's championship game, the top-seeded Sugar Lips jumped ahead of second-seeded Dead Dawgz early and won a 54-17 blowout.

Sherman struggled in the first half of the men's game, scoring only five points and missing several three-point shots.

However, Duvey's Dozen did get 11 first-half points from Rocco Toppi '08, who played on the varsity team for two seasons before stepping down this year. In the second half, it was Sherman's offensive aggressiveness that proved to be the difference.

"In the first half, we were settling for too many three-point shots, but in the second half, we were going to the basket more," Sherman said.

Duvey's Dozen charged ahead with a 19-0 run in the second half. After Toppi nailed a three-pointer to give Duvey's Dozen a 23-22 lead, Sherman put the Jackhammers away.

He scored eight straight points, including one play where he drove right, crossed back left between his legs and hit a short jumper as his defender went flying by.

"Tate is a great offensive player, and I struggled playing defense against him for two halves," Jackhammers guard Jesse Barglow '07 said.

"It's tough to play a whole game against him because they were setting screens for him, and he's quick going both ways."

While Sherman was scoring in binges for Duvey's Dozen, the Jackhammers were unraveling offensively. They went nearly 10 minutes without a field goal and started to take their frustrations out on the referees.

Early in the second half, Sidney Coren '07 thought he was fouled and was assessed a technical. Later, men's basketball assistant coach Eric McKoy nearly threw the ball over a screen in the gym upon picking up his fifth foul and was thrown out of the game.

"A couple calls didn't go our way, and we lost our head," Barglow said.

When these teams met in the regular season Feb. 6, the Jackhammers won 58-48 as Duvey's Dozen played that game without Toppi.

Sherman said Toppi's presence in this game was key to their victory.

"Toppi was the difference," Sherman said.

"He's Duvey's Dozen's best kept secret."

This season's tournament marked the first time that all three intramural leagues were combined into one playoff format (see column, page 16).

In past years, there were separate playoff competitions for the A-league, the B-league and the C-league. Duvey's Dozen and the Jackhammers are both A-league teams.

Before reaching the championship game, Duvey's Dozen won each of its tournament contests easily.

Their closest game prior to Tuesday was a 63-44 quarterfinal victory over Harbeh Hippos, last year's B-league champion.

In the semifinals, Duvey's Dozen defeated Beantown, last year's A-league champion, when they were named the Human Highlight Reel, 85-61.

Current varsity players Terrell Hollins '10 and Kenny Small '10 starred on Human Highlight Reel last season, but were ineligible to play this season because of their varsity status.

Editor's Note: Justice senior editor Dan Hirschhorn '07 was a member of the Jackhammers.