MARION — In 2021, co-founders Dylan Cantara of Fairhaven, Michael Pardo of Marion and Andrew Bellemare of Rochester formed the Embargo League as a way to continue playing competitive basketball after high school. 

“We felt like once you graduated from high school, for a lot of people, there wasn’t really a place for people to play anymore,” said Cantara.

Starting out with just 50 players and six teams, the founders established a new basketball community on the South Coast.

Five seasons later, the league now has 14 sponsored teams and approximately 140 players who come together to play at the court beside Silvershell Beach in Marion.

“This is definitely our best season yet. We’ve grown. Our quality of play has been ten times better,” Cantara said. “We’ve gotten real jerseys, had plenty of help from sponsorships and this has by far been our best season yet.”

While the league seeks competitive and skilled athletes, ultimately the focus is on having fun and enjoying the game with the community they’ve built.

“Everyone that joined this year has been competitive and [there are] very minimal on court issues as far as behavior,” said Bellemare. “It’s a great group of guys.”

“We had a lot of good players, some Div. 3 college players, some Div. 1 college players and a lot of good local high school athletes as well to really make the league more competitive,” said Pardo.

The league has also been garnering sponsorships from local businesses, including Buzzards Bay Basins of Marion, Better Way Primary Care of Wareham, Cornerstone Financial and Tropical Smoothie Cafe. 

“It’s great to have the local community and the local businesses help sponsor this and help us run this every year,” said Pardo.

Each team represents their sponsor by using the company name as their team name and having the company name displayed on their jersey. The two teams competing in the championship game on Sunday, August 10 were River Junction, sponsored by the Wareham bar, and All Seasons Services, sponsored by the Acton-based cleaning and painting company.

19-year-old Ajay Lopes, Embargo League Championship MVP and River Junction point guard, said that “everyone is here literally just to have fun.”

The athlete previously played for Wareham High School, where his team won back-to-back state championships during his junior and senior year.

This is his rookie season with the Embargo League, which required him to adjust to playing on an outdoor court which is impacted by wind and sand from Silvershell Beach.

“My mentality is basketball is basketball — you’re gonna play how you play at any court,” said Lopes.

The championship game concluded with a narrow victory from River Junction, who defeated All Season Services with a final score of 66-63.  Lopes was named championship MVP, with a total of 21 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists. Dom Mello led the All Season Services team with a total of 28 points, 5 rebounds and 1 assist.

Bellemare states that the “long term goal” is to build their own Embargo League facility where they can increase their programming to also include youth camps.

“Every year, we’ve gotten a little better [and] a little bigger,” he said.