Another day in the park

It’s not going to challenge Rucker Park, the famed New York City landmark that hosts a summer basketball league, in terms of star power and dunks. But College Estates Park in Frederick has something that it should be just as proud of in its own Basketball Coaches Without Boundaries League, which wrapped up its two-month summer schedule with championships on Saturday.

For the record, the New York Knicks won the Senior Division final, rolling to an easy 70-51 victory over the defending champion Portland Trailblazers. Leading the way for the Knicks were Steven Chase (Frederick High⁄Frederick) with 12 points in the final and 11 rebounds, Dwayne Whiten (Frederick High⁄Frederick) with 12 as well and Brad Hickman (Urbana High⁄ Urbana) with 10 points.

But that wasn’t the story of the day. Parents and fans sat around the fence that ran right up to the painted lines of the two courts at College Estates, reminiscent of the cages of chicken wire on which early basketball games were played. Games had begun at eight in the morning and ran until the Senior Division final ended at almost 5 p.m. That game had followed the Junior Division final, when the Stanford Cardinals had survived a spirited comeback by the Kentucky Wildcats led by A.J. Atmonavage to win 37-34.

The fans were there all day. Some sat in camping chairs in the hot sun, others in the shade of the few trees, and still others on the railroad ties holding in the mulch on the playgrounds. Others, more intent on the games and freely giving advice, leaned against the cage surrounding the court, fingers laced through the chainlink. But all these fans — parents, brothers, sisters, young and old — were out and enjoying the day, the fair competition, and having a little fun themselves, playfully needling coaches and refs while still politely applauding at the end of every game.

‘‘It’s fun, it’s a lot of fun,” Chase said after the Knicks had received their trophy and the family picnic was beginning. ‘‘There’s always food, it’s always organized and it’s become a Frederick tradition. We need a league, because we need a chance to work on our games and play.”

The series of games on Saturday concluded with an awards ceremony and a picnic at the park, one in which almost all of the more than 10 individuals honored was still on hand to receive the plaques and pose for pictures. The games were also the centerpiece of a day of family fun and values and being outside, active, on a sunny, idyllic summer day.

Though the courts are small and the coaches are all volunteers, there is a level of skill and a sense of order to the game. Players are encouraged to push the ball up and down the court, and coaches are given ownership over their own teams, usually keeping a group of core players around from one season to the next.

‘‘We’ll have everybody back except two,” Knicks coach Raymond Whiten Jr. said, clutching the two and a half-foot-tall trophy his team had just won. ‘‘The best part of this year was seeing my team not play as individuals but as a team and make friends.”

Whiten, who will be a rising freshman at Allegany Community College, came through the program himself, in part because he is the son of BCWB CEO and founder Raymond Whiten, Sr. His focus and clear passion on the sidelines (referees had to ask him twice to step back off the court) was clear all through the day and was mirrored in the level of play.

If he keeps running his team the way he did on Saturday, no one will ask him to stop.

The Knicks came out of the blocks hot, feeding Chase, a 6-foot-6 mountain in the post and letting him drop-step, turn and get an easy layup. Running the show was his friend and teammate at Frederick High, Whiten, the cousin of his coach. And once football season is over, the two juniors might have to worry a little about Hickman, who will be a sophomore at Urbana but looks to have the skills and talent to be contributing soon at the varsity level.

Leading the way for the Trailblazers was Desmond Pantaja, a rising junior at Frederick High who scored 15 points for last year’s defending champs. While he should take some solace in knowing that the players he was playing against will be joining him on the same team come winter, Pantaja is also taking to heart the message of BCWB that’s emblazoned on all of the jerseys of players: ‘‘Make the right choice. Stay in school.”

‘‘Basketball is my life, and I’m on the honor roll now,” Pantaja said with pride. ‘‘That’s mainly my parents, getting on me about the grades.”

And then as Pantaja drifted off to the picnic and the community that has given the league its strength, and that the league is reinforcing, you could almost tell that the players and coaches couldn’t wait to get back onto the court next year.

‘‘I’ll be here until I pass away,” Raymond Whiten Jr. said. ‘‘They offered to make me a board member, make me the director of the Senior Division, but I can’t turn down coaching.”