OVERTIME!!!

We opened this matchup between You Got Tibbs’d and Shoot First Moran with a 3 from Luke Altobelli and a 2 from Remy Baudet. Baudet was hot early scoring on another drive to the hoop and then a three helping YGT jump out to an early 10-3 lead. SFM fought their way back into it and actually took an 11-10 lead after a Mason Gloudemans jumper. The teams mostly exchanged buckets after that including a 3 from YGT’s Andre Cooper, a three from Jamil Ball and a three from Baudet. Ball was super aggressive getting to the hoop and was a perfect six for six from the line in the first half. Baudet and Kunal Chawla helped YGT grab the lead back and push it out with back to back threes to get a 29-22 lead. YGT actually called timeout after that. They only had five guys in this game and needed the rest. That timeout seemed to help SFM, specifically Joe Epperson. Between Ball’s free throws and back to back threes from Epperson, the lead got cut to 35-34. The half time score as 39-36 with the closing play being a nice feed from Ball to Joe Martin. The BIGGEST story from the first half was when Cooper went up to block Ball and landed hard on his back. He pulled himself out of the game. One of our referee’s Mark, filled in the 5th spot so that we could continue play. It was a scary fall and it was clear immediately that Cooper had played his last minutes tonight.

The pace picked up in the second half with Baudet hitting from the midrange for YGT and Charles Bansoro driving to the hoop for SFM. We found ourselves knotted up at 48 after a Luke Altobelli three. But back to back threes from Baudet and Emmanuel Okharedia got the lead up to 54-48. Jamil Ball had back to back possessions going 2-2 from the line to close the gap to 54-52 and then an Epperson drive tied the game at 54. We had ourselves a game! YGT went on a mini 5-0 run that could have gone even further but a timely three from Ball cut the lead to 59-57. Ball scored another bucket to tie the game again at 59. A DEEP three from Okharedia made it 62-59. The game stayed close the rest of the way. But YGT had a 70-68 lead and the ball. Okharedia was fouled and went to the line for two. He only made one of the free throws. YGT was up three. SFM came down and actually came up empty on their possession. But on the inbounds pass with just seconds left, Ball came up with a steal and found Luke Altobelli who hit a three at the buzzer. OVERTIME!!!

Joe Epperson scored the first bucket in overtime and SFM tacked on a free throw to be up 74-71. No more points happened in an ugly overtime and SFM earned a tough tough win.

Another close loss for YGT which is the theme of their season. This team could have the best record in the league if they’d won all of their games decided by four points or less. For SFM they got a hard fought W even without Scott Moran. If Altobelli is shooting like he did in the second half and Ball is playing with a high level of aggression, this team will be a TOUGH out in the playoffs.

Hoompa Loompas Barely Skate(s) By

Week 8 Already!?!??! Here we go! A rematch from Week 1 between the Hoompas Loompas and You Got Tibbs’d. 

You Got Tibbs’d jumped out to an unconventional 2 point lead with the Loompas having two players without a proper jersey a lead quickly erased when Dylan Russell found Angelo Cerbone near the basket for an easy two. The ease of which was facilitated by YGT starting the game a man down and left scrambling playing 4 on 5 defense. Not only was YGT is disarray playing a man down but there was a lack of energy, specifically from Remy Baudet. This lack of energy forced Emmanuel Okharedia to call an early timeout. This early timeout also gave Dan Schwartz (who’d just arrived) a chance to lace up to give YGT a full 5. Now at full strength with an increased level of energy we could really play ball. Thomas Skates got his big night going early, draining a three from the elbow off a feed from Ben Brown (Brown’s passing was a huge factor tonight). But it was YGT who had the early 16-11 lead following a tough fadeaway in the paint by Okharedia over Brown. But the Loompas stormed back, eventually knotting things up after a Chris Jneco three pointer that left YGT arguing about why guys are open. It was nice to see Jenco engaged as the Loompas are at their best when they get these mini bursts of Jenco being the best player on the court, which didn’t happen last week. The big theme of the first half though was players complaining about everything. Either to each other for missed defensive assignments or not passing to an open man but most often at the refs. Seemingly every call was wrong or every non-call was a blatant foul. At one point point the ref asked Baudet “Do you want to go to the line every time you get the ball?” to which Baudet simply responded under his breath “...if there’s a foul”. Honestly, the first half was sloppy between the complaining, people throwing the ball away. And in a half like that I couldn’t have scripted a better ending. Tie at 26 with the clock winding down YGT cleared space for Andrew Cooper to get the last shot. Meanwhile on the Loompas bench, Ben Brown started to do a fake countdown to encourage a rushed shot. Cooper proceeded to score a bucket right as the ref gave Ben Brown a tech for the fake countdown. Cooper then sank both the foul shots and YGT closed the half up 30-26. You don’t see many four point plays like that.

Onto the second half we went! And boy did it feel different right away. The Loompas opened the half on an 11-0 run. A Cerbone bucket right at the basket followed by an and-1 from Skates. Skates then drove to the basket and got another layup that was followed by back to back buckets from Cerbone. On defense Skates and Othniel St-Ulme were hounding the YGT ball handlers and disrupting every idea they had. It wasn’t until Kunal Chawla hit two free throws following an offensive rebound that YGT got on the board. YGT still couldn’t stop Skates though as he scored on another drive on the next possession. Cooper had a nice find to Schwartz who score to cut the lead to 39-34 but Ben Brown scored his only field goal of the second half to push the lead back out to 41-34. Then YGT turned up the defensive intensity, they forced a steal that led to a Baudet and-1 and then forced a turnover that led to an Okharedia bucket. YGT was now within two, 41-39. But a Brown steal that led to an easy layup for Skates followed by a Jenco three pushed the lead back out to 46-39. YGT just couldn’t quite get the lead back. Cooper did his best hitting a three to cut the lead to 46-42 but Jenco hit ANOTHER three to make it 49-42. Another example of a Jenco burst being huge for the Loompas. The lead continued to grow after a couple of Ben Brown free throws but Baudet hit a three to give YGT life. But back to back buckets from Jenco (one off a nice find from Brown) continue his burst gave the Loompas a 10 point lead late in the second half. YGT clawed and scratched their way back and actually got within 56-53 and about 6 seconds left when they fouled Cerbone who went to the line for a one and one. With a timeout in their pocket YGT just needed Cerbone to miss the front end of the one and one and secure the rebound to give themselves a shot. Cerbone obliged with the first part, MISSING the front end of the one and one. However, Skates secured the offensive rebound and the Loompas dribbled out the clock! A fitting end on a night where Skates seemed like he was everywhere.

With the victory the Loompas secured a playoff spot and ended YGT’s chances of one. Doubly meaningful for the Loompas to do it on a night when they didn’t have Kyle Miller. They find themselves as the #1 seed after this win. For YGT’s another close loss where they just couldn’t quite make a shot or get a stop when needed. YGT finds themselves at 2-5 when they could easily be 5-2 considering the three point loss tonight in the Skates game, the four point loss last week in the Dan Barbour game, and one point loss three weeks ago in the Ben Jerome game. The Loompas get Sauce Castillo next week and YGT gets Shoot First Moran.

A reminder that sign-ups for the Spring sessions are live. Check out here for sign-up options.