20th IS captures intramural hoops crown Published April 6, 2018 55th Wing Public Affairs OFFUTT AIR FORCE BASE, Nebraska -- The 20th Intelligence Squadron completed a two game sweep of the 595th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron to capture the 2018 Offutt Intramural Basketball championship at the Offutt Field House April 5. The 20th defeated the 595th 75-67 in the “if” game after defeating them 58-46 earlier in the evening. “I think what is impressive is that we’re a pool player team,” said Adam Hayes, 20th IS head coach and contractor with the unit. “We have a bunch of guys who never played together and to see how quickly we clicked from the start of game one is impressive.” The 20th IS was the third seeded team heading into the playoffs with an 8-2 record, but was upset in the opening round 45-43 to the 55th Medical Group. The team had to battle back through the loser’s bracket winning four in a row just to get to the finals. “It was a tall order looking at it,” Hayes said. “But we had a strong season. We only had two losses, with one being a forfeit, so I knew we were capable of doing it.” Hayes also credited the fact that his team had basically been playing two games a night since their opening round loss as part of the reason for them having the confidence to take two from the top seeded 595th in the finals. “We have been playing two all week and they hadn’t,” he said. “We were pretty conditioned for (two games) going into it tonight.” The 20th IS led most of the way in both games with the 595th making an impressive run at the end of the first half in game one to take a 28-23 lead into halftime. But it was short lived as the 20th tied it up with 15:45 left in the game and never looked back. In the “if” game the 20th IS jumped out to a 9-2 lead and when the 595th did put on a rally to pull ahead at 17-16, Erik Hernandez, an Airman 1st Class with the 20th, hit two straight threes to retake the lead and once again the intel squadron never trailed. “It felt good,” Hernandez said. “I didn’t make any shots until this last game of the playoffs, so thankfully I found my rhythm tonight.” The 595th was able to cut the 20th’s lead down to four with just under a minute left to play, but the 20th knocked down enough free throws in the end to bring home the title. For the 20th, it was quite an impressive turnaround from their 2017 campaign. “We only won one game last year,” Hayes said. “We had a really good crew this year, a good bench, everyone played and everyone contributed and it was a lot of fun,” he added. The 20th IS was led in the “if” game by John Bone, a major with the 55th Wing Judge Advocate office, who had 25 points, and by Hernandez, who had 16. The 595th was paced by Delante Vinson, an Offutt dependent, who had 23 points, and by Christopher Williams, a technical sergeant with the 595th, who added 21. The 20th completes their season at 14-3, while the 595th finishes at 12-3.