The intramural basketball season will come to a close Friday after Sig Ep Jam defeated Pike Gold 42-27 Wednesday night to take home the fraternity championship and the Rec Boyz topped Hard Body 55-44 to capture the hall championship.

Friday’s battle will be a match-up of two very different teams. One, a powerhouse No.1 seed and the other, an underdog No. 8 seed that began to click when they needed to.

“We ended up in one of the hardest leagues and we didn’t even have a winning record coming into the playoffs,” said junior Austin Wager from the Sig Ep Jam team. “We got beat up a couple times, won two games, tied one and barely made it to playoffs. But we came out here, got hot and made a little run.”

Wager said the team was not on the same page early on but as the season progressed, the team started playing together and passing the ball around to get more open shots.

“We knew we had a lot of talent on our team, Jordan Miller our big guy was our first guy over 6-foot-4 probably in over three years so I was excited to come in and try to get some stuff done,” Wager said.

After a close first half against Pike Gold, Sip Ep Jam came out with more fire as the second half came to a start and expanded the game quickly.

“We started off the second half I think it was 18-13. Then we went on a little run and got it up to 25-13,” Wager said. “I knew we had a real good chance at winning it from that point but I wouldn’t say I knew it was over.”

On the contrary, the Rec Boyz were a favorite, coming into the playoffs undefeated and given the No. 1 seed.

“Last year we made it to the championship, not the all-campus, I didn’t get to play but we lost that,” said junior Robby Wilburn of the Rec Boyz. “Our expectations this year were definitely to make it to the championship.”

The Rec Boyz jumped out early on Hard Body and never really looked back, leading by double-digits multiple times during the game.

“We have quickness but I mean we have guys that can do everything: Shoot, rebound, run. That’s all we do is just keep running and pushing it up the court,” Wilburn said.

The match-up will be interesting because the two squads have very different styles of play. Sig Ep Jam averages just above 41 points through nine games while the Rec Boyz average 61 points in the same amount of contests.

“We have to play the same way,” Wilburn said. “Don’t let the other team dictate how we play just keep running the court, shoot the ball, rebound and we should be fine.”

Sig Ep Jam is also confident in its abilities on the court and it looks to be a good match-up when the two meet on 8 p.m. Thursday in Lantz Arena.

“Same thing we just got to work hard and play defense just like we did today,” Wager said.

Chad Grimm can be reached at 581-7944 or at