Coach Kendu recalls great memories from the 2012 championship season
written by Carly Nevis
The 2012 EBC Champions, TNP, aka Take No Prisonaz, did not take long to make their team known at Rucker Park. Greg Marius asked the team to participate in the tournament in 2011. They made the playoffs. The next year, the team came back and won it all.
“TNP has won almost every major summer league in NYC,” TNP’s coach Kendu mentioned.
“We needed a EBC Chip to put on the shelf with all the others.”
TNP gets its name Take No Prisonaz from its well known “press” style of defense, which is highly aggressive and makes teams feel pressured. Although, as Kendu explained, other teams in the EBC tournament in 2012 had more skilled players, the way his team worked together with aggression on the defensive end set them apart from the rest.
That is why his favorite part of being TNP’s coach was, “Watching the other teams stack up with high quality players that can’t produce on the courts because of our pressing style defense.”
This scheme of playing made the championship game a cake walk for TNP. The squad matched up with team “Each One, Teach One.” By halftime, the outcome of the game was already evident. Not even the announcers, EJ the Mayor or Hannibal, could persuade some fans to stay for the longevity of the game.
“You see that score, this game is over,” Kendu recalled a fan screaming.
Yet, Kendu predicted the victory from day one of the season. After reaching the playoffs the previous year, but falling short because his players were split up between EBC and the , TNP was determined.
“We started the season knowing that we were gonna win the EBC championship,” he said. “We told Greg Marius that we only entered two tournaments just so we can focus on winning the EBC that year.”
When asked who the star player was on the team, Kendu was quick to refer to his squad as a strong “program.”
“Any player could have led the team on any night,” the Coach noted. “We had great team chemistry with the vets allowing the young boys to take over when needed.”
But of course, the team did have their go to players in the form of Jason “J-Hi” Mcleish, who won the EBC MVP that season, and Kedar, who Kendu called a “young warrior.”
Like most teams in the EBC, they did bring along an NBA player throughout the season, having Tyreke Evans join the party and “tear the park down” the few times that he came. Evans was in his third year in the NBA that summer, still playing point guard for the Sacramento Kings.
But the most important game of the season did not involve any stars- just the team that worked hard, especially on the defensive end, day in and day out throughout the course of the season.
“The best game was winning the most important game of the tournament, the championship,” Kendu recalled. “Holding that EBC Chip up for all our peeps that supported TNP from day one til’ now.”
