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The Altoids lost their first IM game of the quarter against the winter quarter runner-up, a squad

It’s 6:30 on Wednesday evening. Ben Howland, who for the past two weeks has been scrambling to build the UCLA men’s basketball team, hurries outside Gate H of Pauley Pavilion. Inside, two Bruin teams are already loosening up for the season opener.

Yussuf Haid, Ben Lev and Aaron Moore haven’t taken the court together since March 11, when their team – the Altoids – won the Intramural Div. AA winter quarter championship against a team from the Sigma Chi fraternity. In half an hour, the same two teams will inaugurate the spring quarter IM season in what should be a high-intensity rematch.

You wouldn’t know it based on the looks on their faces as the three Altoids lounge casually courtside.

“We need nicknames,” Haid says to Lev and Moore, who are stretching on the sidelines.

Lev claims the title “point god,” and Moore “white wing.”

All of them seem pretty stoked about their new jerseys. A friend of Haid’s who works for EA Sports delivered a box of shirts, with “ALTOIDS” and a number on the back, and the EA Sports logo on the front.

Asion Jackson, Shea Anderson and Eric Flegal, the other three Altoids, show up and put on their jerseys within 10 minutes of game time. Except for Jackson, who will play in a red tank top with WAZZZZUP! on the front and TRUE on the back, the Altoids are fresh with a new-shirt smell.

But as the 6:30 game, a 51-8 B-league laugher, winds down, they still aren’t talking basketball.

That all changes in a matter of seconds once the B-leaguers leave the court.

Without a word or signal, the six Altoids form two lines on opposite sides of the key and start drilling layups like they never left the same court.

On the far side of the court, however, the eight members of Sigma Chi do the same.

The Altoids’ warm-up is synchronized – clean passes, consistent shooting, no missed layups. Lev, the shortest Altoid at 5 feet, 9 inches, leaps and hangs on the rim. Twice.

The ref blows her whistle, Flegal assumes scorekeeping duties on the sideline next to three Sigma Chi guys, and the 10 starters position themselves for tipoff.

The Altoids win the jump but can’t score on their first possession. Sigma Chi gets the rebound and establishes its game plan on its first touch of the ball: spread out their half of the court, move the ball around the perimeter, shoot – and hit – an open three.

With Lev pushing the ball from the point, the Altoids try to counter with a fast-break offense.

Sigma Chi is impressed with his athleticism.

“That little short kid can slam dunk it!” one mutters to another on the sideline.

With 7:14 remaining in the half and the Altoids down 17-12, Flegal subs in for Moore. Moore is quickly joined on the sidelines by a mob of Sigma Chi softball players, just returned from the North Athletic Field to support their basketball brethren.

With the extra vocal support, Sigma Chi starts hitting shots consistently. The Altoids do not, and see the deficit grow to 25-18 at halftime. Their shirts no longer fresh, the Altoids head to the drinking fountain speaking nothing but basketball.

Anderson is the most vocal.

“My fault on that shot,” he walks off saying to his teammates.

The team resolves to create more outside looks, takes a few warm-up shots – Lev leaps and grabs the rim again – then begin the second half with Flegal on the bench.

The Altoids jump out to a 6-2 run, with all of their points coming on acrobatic layups by Lev.

Sigma Chi is quietly impressed again.

“Wow,” says one.

“You think that guy works his legs out?” says another.

The deficit narrowed to 30-26, Flegal comes in for Jackson. But the Altoids let two easy passes slip through their hands and out of bounds on consecutive possessions.

“C’mon! Let’s go!” Anderson barks to his teammates.

With the ball in his hands on the next play, Anderson misses an easy lay-in.

With their momentum slipping and the score 35-26 in Sigma Chi’s favor, the Altoids burn their only timeout with about four minutes to go.

The team huddles to sound off. “We’re putting up shitty shots. Let’s go fast break,” Lev says.

The team catches its breath during the pause and, on its next possession, scores on a tip-in by Anderson.

The very next play, Anderson finds the ball again, lays it up in the lane, draws a foul, and converts the three-point play. The deficit is 37-35 with just over two minutes left.

But on the very next play, Sigma Chi takes back the momentum by sticking to its game plan: the team opens up the perimeter, rotates the ball, finds the open man, and buries another three-pointer.

The Altoids, cold from behind the arc all game, can’t counter. With 1:30 to go, they start fouling and never come back. The final score is 49-41.

The opponents shake hands, then head to drinking fountains on opposite sides of the court. For the Altoids, it’s time for reflection.

Anderson and Flegal sit together on the sideline.

“Damn!” a visibly frustrated Anderson says, slapping a flat palm on the court.

Haid comes over to offer some optimism: “They’re a frat, they play together all the time.”

“Doesn’t matter,” says Anderson.

Flegal is eager for the weekend. Not only are he and Anderson going to the Westside YMCA on Saturday, where they co-coach two youth basketball teams, but his girlfriend is coming to visit from Wisconsin.

Haid, Lev and Moore agree to meet the following evening to play a pick-up game at the Wooden Center. Walking off the court, they try to get the other Altoids to come.

Flegal and Jackson can’t wait – half an hour after game time, they pick up a ball and start shooting around on an empty court.

The Daily Bruin will chronicle the Altoids every Friday for the remainder of the IM basketball season.