IR VS Corp " Corp shows they have Soul"

Wise got us cooking right away with a hook, Joel ties it with cut, then adds and 1 5-2. Maloof banks a 3, Skates splashes 3, how about another 3 from Skates, Mazz and 1 it was 16-5. Landon hits big 3, Joel hits 3 Talbot with 4 early assists 16-11. Keith in and steals right away, then gets two off a nice roll, then he goes 2-2. Mazz would get hot here 2-2, then deep 3 yup, then another yup! 26-19 Corp. Djorde gets hook, Joel slashes in, Keith take  it was 26-25. Wise and Mazz beautiful 2 man game. Joel J, But Mazz has unreal drive, DJ gets roll, Mazz 2-2, but Skates ends the half with runner 34-29. 

Skates was red hot 3 ball, Wise window to start half 40-30 Corp up. Game would stay pretty tight , but IR kept chipping away. Keith , Talbot with driving hoops it was 43-43.  Joel goes off window for the lead, but Wise uses the glass himself and 1 51-49. Maloof with one of the biggest plays of the game cuts in for the and 1 54-49. Talbot sneaks in for 2, Keith sick middy 54-53 Corp. Skates with clutch drive in, Mazz 2-2. Talbot drives in making it just 58-55. Mazz came down they doubled him, and he made a great teammate trust pass to maloof, who delivered a huge back breaking bucket. After that it was FT time and the Corp put them away 63-55. 

IR

Talbot-C+- Much better in the 2nd half, but I always expect more of him. 10 assist is insane though. 

Joel-B-) Hustled played good D, If he gets a few more 3's to go this is a very different game. 

Keith-B-) Came in and made an impact right away on the D end, but 5 turnovers is no beuno. 

Djorde-B-) Hustled his balls off with 8 obbs , just needs to calm himself and finish after

Landon-B- Thought he was good in his role, took good shots, was engaged on D. 

Corp

Mazz-A- Not only the scoring but that pass to Maloof was championship stuff, the trust in a big spot shows the positivity of this team. 

Wise-A- Rock solid, dude can score the rock driving hitting middies, snatching boards that corp value right there. 

Skates-A- Chasmania !!!!!!!!!!!! Dude is a ball of energy nailing fireball 3 balls snatching steals, and making everyone look like they are in slow motion, I love it. 

Maloof-A- Maybe one to many 3's but played 40 min of decent D and finished in a huge clutch spot. 

Don’t Be Stupid vs IR “To live and die by the 3-point shot”

This game was a really fun one to watch, it was back and forth all game and truly could've gone either way. It was IR who started out blazing hot. They were running circles around the DBS boys as Filip led the charge with 2 early strip steals leading to easy layups. Filip was driving with ease and sinking deep threes in peoples faces, he looked unguardable. This blistering start for IR simmered down around 8 minutes in, however as DBS, and more specifically Harding, found their groove and charged back. Harding was doing what he does best, hitting tough 3s (3 - 6 in the 1st), driving to the rim and hustling on the offensive glass for some truly incredible finishes. This hard work by Harding brought up the entire energy of the DBS team and pretty soon Vladi (3 3s) and Liam (2 3s) were joining in the 3 point fanfare. DBS were on a tare as they went 8 - 14 from three in the first half. 

DBS looked like they would pull away early until ******** (requested not to be named in the write up to prevent getting Jinxed) hit back to back deep threes that barely even hit the net to bring IRs swagger back. IRs offense had returned to its high octane self thanks to the admirable hustle contributions of Keith, Joel and Djordje. Keith was hustling for rebounds and loose balls with some Hollywood level behind the back passes, Joel was playing both ends of the floor imposing staggering defense and making tough shots in transition, and Djorde was hustling on the offensive boards notching 3 in the first half alone. It was the little things, the hustle, that allowed IR to keep up with DBS’ 3 point shooting. The Half ended with both teams firing on all cylinders trading blows and staying within just a few points of one another. This back and forth brought us to 35 - 36 to close the half with IR in front. We had a great game in our hands.

The incredible three point shooting enjoyed by DBS in the first half would be fleeting for everyone except for Harding. Harding would go 3-4 from 3 in the second half with some incredible clutch buckets but would be the only member of DBS to record a three (and not for lack of trying (0-4)). Harding was incredible from the field going 6-10 from three and 100% from the charity stripe from which he notched 10 of his 34 points. Outside of Harding’s baskets there were only 3 other baskets made from the field by DBS in the second half. Thus It was DBS’ excellence from the freethrow line which proved to be the real difference maker in this game. DBS took 16 trips to the freethrow line in the second half alone and converted on 11 of them as DBS was able to go a collective 17-22 from the freethrow line. DBS both outnumbered and out-shot IR from the freethrow line as IR went a collective 9-14. Cawley was admirable both in getting to the line in the second half (making 4 clutch free throws) and in playing solid defense, proving to be a key player for DBS. While his contributions were felt he needs to shoot more because he gets open a lot but often passes out of easy open looks we all know he can make. 

IR too saw some struggles in the second half as you could tell there was a fair amount of frustration bubbling for IR as they couldn't quite put things together. They were not quite moving as fluidly as usual, and did not seem to be on the same page. Typically IRs ability to score from the midrange is key to their success and this is largely brought on by Filips incredible ability to drive to the hoop and make incredible finishes. In the second half of this one they were getting to the basket less and not finishing nearly as much when they did get there. To add insult to injury they were not sinking from the midrange as a lot of shots were in and out. The frustration was visible after a couple easy buckets didn’t fall. There were shouts of frustration and you could tell IR was on edge. This frustration led them to force the offense which only worsened their shooting woes. They just were not moving as a cohesive unit. Notably, Greg, typically a massive contributor and key distributor  for IR, was shockingly quiet. Despite matching his standard affair of 4 assists and 2 steals he only scored one basket in the entire game, recording 3 points and going 1-6 from 3. As he said “mama said there would be days like this”, it happens and no one expects this trend to continue but they certainly could have used his normal self to close out this game. 

A combination of IR’s forced offense and DBS’ incredible shooting form the freethrow line propelled DBS to a win. From the get go ya just knew it was going to come down to whoever could perform best in crunch time. In this contest it was the DBS boys who were able to outlast and come out on top. It was a real slugfest. It was a much needed win for a group who has been struggling to put the pieces together and finish out close games losing their last game by 6 and the game before that by only 2. In this game they were determined and had more fights than I have seen them have in a while. As for IR they are a great team in which everyone can contribute substantial numbers on any given night, when their offense is cooking it's near unstoppable. This night it didn't quite make it up to a boil. I am sure they will be back into form soon. 

MVP: HARDING 34 pts, 6/10 3pt, 10/10 ft

Key Contributors: 

FILIP: 24 Pts, 3 Stl, 1 Blk, 3 OReb

VLADI: 14 Pts, 2 Stl, 3 3pts, 2 Ast

IR: 

Keith: B - Great hustle for loose balls and great defense but a little quiet on the boards

Joel: B - Defense was stellar but bit of a shooting slump in the second

Greg: C- - Desperately needed him to score but still contributed defensively with 2 steals and as a distributor with 4 assists

Djordje: B- - Good work on the glass but faded a little in the second

Landon: A- - Great shooting from 3 and from the freethrow line but could've been more active on the boards

Filip: A- - Great work on both ends, he is the defensive and offensive heart on the team. He struggled late in this one. 

Don’t Be Stupid:

Cawley: B - Great work overall was a good stable force for the DBS in crunch time. Definitely should take more shots and get more involved as he can get a little lost in the action.

Liam: C+ - 2 first half 3s but sort of disappeared in the second definitely have seen him do more… he can be a real difference maker when he is on

Harry: C- - I have seen him do much more

Harding: A+ - Unbelievable shooting day, willed his team to a tough win

Walker: C - played alright on defense but can definitely contribute more on the boards… also catch the ball

Vladi: A- - Looked energetic in this one… shot pretty good from three in the first and pretty bad from three in the second but played good defense, shot well from the line and distributed well