LYNN -If you liked Lynn high school basketball this past winter, you’d have loved the finals of the Lynn City Basketball League.Going to the Fecteau-Leary School gym Friday evening (rain forced the league’s championship game to be played indoors instead of at Marian Gardens), you would have seen some of Lynn’s finest high school athletes ? some of the competing for maybe the final time in a formal Lynn setting.There were Charlie Rucker and Archie Allen from the Division 1 state finalist Lynn Engish team; Victor Smith, James Brazile and Lorenzo Rivera of Lynn Tech; Miranda Hogan of the English girls hoop team; Trae Weathers from Revere, and Chris Francois of Lynn Classical – just to name a few.There were also a couple of eighth graders, and one seventh grader (Fred Hogan).The league was the brainchild of last year’s Lynn anticrime summit and it was run and sponsored by School Committeman John Ford, Ward 6 Councilor Peter Capano and Item publisher Peter H. Gamage – all of whom were on hand.”It was a great way,” said Ford, “to employ about 70 kids, from all ages, into one building on a Friday night instead of being on the streets.”The teams took their names from their favorite college program. Hence, it was Iowa versus DePaul in the league finals, and the game – like many on the high school schedule went down this past year – went down to the wire, with DePaul winning, 69-55.In its final stages, it looked as if DePaul would run away with the game. With less than a minute left, Rivera – the tournament’s MVP – hit a long-range three-pointer that made the score 60-51. Even Fred Hogan, who served as the director of the league, said over the PA system that the basket was “the dagger.”Only it wasn’t. Rivera’s regular-season teammate, Victor Smith, was playing for the other team, and he heated up, hitting two straight threes, and all of a sudden it was a ballgame.In the end, though, DePaul prevailed.Rivera and Smith weren’t the only regular-season teammates playing on opposite sides. Also on different teams were Rucker and Allen – Rucker playing for the victors and Allen for the runners-up.”He’s a great player,” said Rucker of Allen (they both played major roles in English’s march to the Division 1 state championship last March). “I played against him in practice, so I knew how to defend him ? and he knew how to defend me. It was a lot of fun.”The burly Rivera, who plans on going to North Shore Community College and then transferring to Mt. Ida to play football (“look at me!” he said with a smile afterward), said that, “for three years (coach) Marvin (Avery) wouldn’t let me shoot threes. My last year, he let me shoot anything.”I liked this league,” said Rivera. “I liked my teammates. It was a good thing to do on a Friday night to keep kids off the streets.””I saw a lot of cooperation among the business community, and we gave 70 or so kids a place to go for seven weeks. It was a great seven weeks. And, hopefully, we’ll do it next year too. I plan on doing it next year.”High scorers were the runners-up were Weathers (20), Smith (17) and Brazile (15). For the champions, Francois had 17, Rivera 16 and Ariel Reinoso had 14.The tournament served as the first game of the Hoganz Basketball Classic, which will be held today and Sunday at Marian Gardens. Teams from throughout New England will participate.