A 5v5 MON Week 2 Write-Ups
by Jason on
By Niyati
Game 1 | Hartbreakers (69) - Space & Pace (74)
The Devin Jensen Show Despite the Loss
The Hartbrakers were outplayed by Space & Pace but we shouldn’t count them out for future games. Player of the game was without a doubt Devin Jensen, leading both sides with 31 points. He put up 7 deuces and 4 threes but his defensive game was on fire as well with 4 defensive boards, a steal, and despite being involved in almost all the plays ending the game with no PFs on his name. The score going into the second half was 33-41 with Space & Pace up and it would have been a sight to see if the Hartbrakers could have gotten the comeback dub but hey it’s only week 2 and they’re just warming up.
Jensen did have help with Tim DeMatteo and Tucker Landry to even the scoreboard with DeMatteo having 11 points, and 2 defensive rebounds and Landry notching 9, 2 boards on each end of the court, and a block. Unfortunately the trio could only take it so far with the rest of the bench collecting the final 8 points on their end.
Space & Pace came out guns ablazing winning the tip and sharing the bucket glory as each player earned points on the sheet. Led by #43 James Welch who was too hot to handle with his no look passers he lead S&P with 17 points, 3 assists, and shooting 50% on FTs. As a newcomer scorekeeper, this team seems to have been playing for years together with their fluidity and chemistry on the court complete with no look passes and an impossible to stop around the horn play. Helping Welch and pad the score was a collective effort by the rest of the team. Jason Marino had 16 points, 3 boards, and a steal despite shooting 25% on FTs. Matt Turkington put up 11. Stephen Valacer helped with 10 additional points, going 4/4 on FTs
GAME 2 | Borme’s Disciples (60) - Skelton’s Boys (55)
The Mismatch Mistake by Skelton’s Boys
Despite the deep bench by Borme’s Disciples, the game was tied 24-24 going into the half. The no bench by Skelton’s boys may have aided into the loss as they got tired as the game went on. Though they did connect on backdoor passes and a smart #22 Andrew Yamin going into the second half with 3 fouls in the column. The game really came down to the last few minutes as the game tied 50 apiece with less than 5 minutes left in the week 2 matchup.
SB put up a tough effort with Erik Pettit tallying 14 points but only going 2/7 from downtown. Elijah Henderson went off playing smart stealing the ball 4 times and converting them into a bucket each opportunity. Travis Sinatro had 3 steals as well and 10 points attempting to make the comeback they were desparately playing for.
Even with Borme’s Disciples playing aggressively from the get-go they have to be thankful that SB didn’t capitalize on some of the sloppy passes that earned 12 steals. WIth the mismatch on Sam Holtze, he showed SB that no matter who’s on him he’ll find the way to the bucket, earning 25 points for the night. The play of the game goes under his belt as he made a breakaway layup assisted by #4 Garret Ganley who also had 12 points to get the dub.
Game 3 | Ronin Blood Warrirors (82) - Shooters Shoot (86)
Shooters Shot Their Way to the OT Win
This game was a nail biter as it went into the second half with Ronin Blood Warriors trailing by just 4 points but tying it up to send the game to OT. Despite having two DIII players on their roster, Ronin wasn’t able to keep up with the scoring trio of Hugh O’Neill who had 16 points, Luke Rogers who had 19 points, and David Reynolds who went 6/13 on threes nabbing himself 24 points.
The rest of SS was padded by Ryan Romich who had 12 points, Matt Pattyson who had 8 points and Ryan Fogarty who had 7 points and went 75% on FTs. The team as a whole was 10 for 12 on shots from downtown.
Ronin Blood Warriers put up a hard fought fight with the trio of the Kevins and Isaac Lane. Kevin Nunez had 29 points for the night and went 9 for 11 on FTs, missing both in a crucial time with Ronin trailing by 1 point with 1:30 left in OT. Lane went for 22 points and putting up a show on the glass with 2 O’s and 4 D’s and going 100% on FTs for the game. Kevin Vanderhorst ended the night with 10 points.
Game 4 | MostHated (60) - Team Takeover (66)
Heated Game Ends in Favor of Team Takeover to End Week 2
It almost seemed as if the teams talked trash more to each other than they talked game to their own teammates but nevertheless, it made for an entertaining week 2 final game. Team Takeover dished out just a few more buckets than MostHated could and took the game 66-60.
MostHated was even across the boards for player’s points with Dakari Hannah-Wornum and Steven Chivallatti leading the team with 12 points each. Dandre Lopes and Anthony Barbosa also helped pad their score with 11 and 10 points, respectively. It seemed like all Lambert had to do was just stand near the paint and he’d make his way to the ball either defensively through boards or offensively through scoring the easy layup from underneath. Barbosa seemed to go through most of the game unguarded despite going 2 for 2 on threes and making all 4 of his FTs. Despite all the positives, they could not hit the nail in the coffin even with the lead for the majority of the second half. MostHated’s nail in their coffin was when they called a timeout that they didn’t have resulting in TT going to the line to secure their win.
For TT, Jason Feliciano was the showstopper as he banked 27 points, catching 3 defensive boards, 2 assists, and shooting 75% on FTs. Jared Brown and Christian Higgins supported their man Feliciano by scoring 10 apiece. Despite the chirping from either team, it was a tight game from start to finish and I’m excited to see how both teams respond in the rest of the season.