ALIQUIPPA—At the beginning of March, the CJ2K board of directors, consisting of co-founders Joe Kirschner and Scott Alaksin along with board members Taylor Kirschner, Nick Luchini, and Tyler Quinten had a vision of an event bigger than the game of basketball.
On Saturday, that vision for the group came to fruition as the league hosted its first CJ2K Vs. The World Bigger Than Basketball Charity Classic featuring the best talent from the WPIAL and beyond to benefit the Pittsburgh Children’s Hospital Foundation.
“If we would have told people a month ago that we were going to put on an event like this, I think they would have thought we were crazy,” social media manager and assistant director for the CJ2K League Taylor Kirschner said. “We started to plan for this early in March when Scott Alaksin wanted to pursue this. I didn’t know how it was going to pan out having to get all these players in one building. It was a grind, but we made it happen and it was worth it.”
Players from all across the WPIAL including a handful of players from District 10 flocked to the M:7 Shell Sports Complex in Center Township for the VIP Media Event and then to Aliquippa High School for a boys and girls game between members of the CJ2K League “Concrete Jungle” and other top Western Pennsylvania talent on “The World” team.
In the girl's game, Concrete Jungle took the game 75-74 using a late fourth quarter push to defeat The World.
In the boy’s game, The World erased a five-point first-half deficit and dominated in the second half rolling to a 144-101 win over Concrete Jungle.
For Alaksin, seeing the star power out on the floor for the event reminded him of the Dapper Dan games that were put on at the old Civic Arena in Pittsburgh.
“There is a similar vibe today for these games like there was back in the for the Dapper Dan Roundball Classic,” Alaksin said. “Seeing all these great basketball players in one place today, it is nice to see everyone come together.”
The rosters that were constructed featured several players who will be taking their talents to the Division I level as well as Division II and Division III athletes.
While the competition was strong as ...
