Say Cheese! Funk wins the Michigan Region AZA basketball championship with a victory over Kishon "A" and earns a berth in the sectional tourney this weekend in Milwaukee. STEVE STEIN STAFF WRITER I he Funk chapter is the Michigan Region's rep- resentative in the first AZA basketball na- tional tournament. Funk gained a berth in this weekend's sec- tional in Milwaukee by winning the regional championship Sun- day at the Maple-Drake branch of the Jewish Community Cen- ter in West Bloomfield. A victory in the sectional would send Funk to the national tour- nament in Washington, D.C., in May. It took a hard-fought 48-38 vic- tory over Kishon "A" in the play- off-title game to give Funk its second consecutive regional championship. That's not a bad accomplishment for a 5-year-old chapter which began with just four members and now has 31. "We have a real close chapter. We have a lot of fun, and we do a lot of community service, too," said Funk president Mike Fein- berg. "AZA is a great experience. I'd recommend it highly." Funk's members have done work with the Anti-Defamation League on black-Jewish relations, Yad Ezra, the Walk for Israel and JARC. Several members will be going to Israel this summer to re- new acquaintances with Ethiopi- an Jews they met here. Otto Dube is the chapter's ad- viser. Brian Stern (first vice pres- ident), Ed Berger (second vice president), Steve Lotzoff (secre- tary) and Jeremy Bloom (trea- surer) are the other officers. Tracy Weiss is the basketball team's scorekeeper and Dan Schonberg handles the phone du- ties when members need to be contacted. Including the playoffs, Funk went 9-2 and Kishon "A" ended up 8-3. Funk finished second in the Butthead Division and Kishon "A" was third in the Beavis Division. Funk defeated Butthead champion Marx "A" in the play- off semifinals, while Kishon "A" disposed of Beavis runn.erup Cha- lutzim "A" in the first round and undefeated Beavis champion Herzl in the semifinals. Brian Tobin scored 24 of Funk's 48 points in the champi- onship game, including 15 in the second half. He hit six of his sev- en free throws in the contest. Jonah Amsell, the other half of Funk's potent 1-2 punch, tossed in 16 points. He had 10 in the first half Lee Lazar and Steve Lotzoff both had four points for Funk. Other team members Left: Brian Goldberg finds his path to the basket blocked by Brian Tobin. Below: All eyes are on Brad Lan. Jonah Amsell tries to shrug off Rob Yost. Brian Tobin drives to the hoop. headed to Wisconsin (the Cheese State) for the sectional are Berg- er, Lotzoff, Eugene Greenstein, Alan Tobin, Mike Bagdade, Scott Weiss and Matt Hildebrandt. Brad Lan was the only Kishon "A" player to score in double fig- ures against Funk. He tallied 14 points. Rob Yost had nine points on a trio of triples, Brian Goldberg had seven points, Brian Gurwin had six and Brian Kristall had two. Both Lan and Goldberg made 5- of-6 free throws. Evan Klein, Scott Shapiro, Brad Wachler and Matt Shep- herd, who kept standings and sta- tistics for the league, also were on the Kishon "A" roster. Both teams did well at the foul line, with Funk making 11-of-17 and Kishon "A" canning 10-of-13. "Our kids did a great job in the playoffs," said Kishon adviser Paul Gaba, whose chapter has about 40 boys. "Funk played some great de- fense against us in the champi- onship game. They forced us to take a lot of outside shots, and those shots just weren't dropping." Funk never trailed in the title contest, which consisted of two 20- minute halves. The winners raced to an early 11-2 lead on their way to a 23-14 halftime margin. A spirited comeback by Kishon "A" tied the game at 28-28 with 14:17 left in the second half, but Tobin scored seven straight points and Funk never was ahead by less than four points the rest of the way. Funk scored its last seven points at the free throw line in the final 1:04. Tobin made four free throws, Lotzoff two and Am- sel one in that stretch. CI AZA Basketball Playoffs At A Glance STEVE STEIN STAFF WRITER Here are the results and the leading scorers in the Michigan Region AZA basketball playoff games. All the games were played at the Maple-Drake branch of the Jewish Commu- nity Center in West Bloomfield:. SATURDAY, APRIL 1 First round Herzl 44, Hart 23: Aaron Taub (Heal) 15 points, Jason Freeman (Hart) 10 points. Kishon "A" 45, Chalutzim 36: Brian Goldberg (Kishon "A") 13 points, Ben Ellis (Chalutzim) 12 points. Marx 48, Kishon "B" 14: David Gach (Marx) 18 points, Mark Snyder (Kishon "B") 4 points. Funk 48, Posen 38: Brian Tobin (Funk) 24 points, Daniel Singer (Posen) 12 points. SUNDAY, APRIL 2 Semifinals Kishon "A" 38, Heal 35: Brad Lan (Kistler)" ) 10 points, Michael Gifford (Heal) 17 points. Funk 49, Marx 40: Jonah AnIsel (Funk) 19 points, David Gach (Marx) 15 points. Championship Funk 48, Kishon "A" 38: Brian Tobin (Funk) 24 points, Brad Lan (Kishon "A") 14 points. D L) rn 0, cc 0 91