Blood and Cerbone outlast No-Look Pass in OT
Closing out the night we had the 4/5 game with AO’s Blood and Cerbone and Silva’s No-Look Pass. Both teams were fully staffed so we looked in for a good one. To the action! 

After the fireworks that ended it and pace that the previous game was played at the start of this game was always going to be a letdown. Both teams were throwing up bricks and turning the ball over. Martin finally broke that spell with a triple and Ghost hit a couple jumpers also as Silva jumped out to an early lead. It was 18-11 at the halfway mark, but AO’s team started to comeback as they realized they could run after every miss and generally get easy layups. 

After a three by the Great One with seven minutes left, AO’s squad had their first lead of the game at 23-22. They had a very balanced attack withe everyone scoring in the first half, while Silva’s team was reliant on Martin or Ghost to score on every possession. The good news though of having Martin and Fraher is they are both capable of hitting contest jump-shots and they were in the first half. AO’s team on the other hand was relying on transition layups and offensive rebounds to score as they were really struggling from mid-range. France did hit a pair of threes though to stretch things a little, but Martin seemed to have an answer every time.  

The last five minutes of the half was very back and froth with both teams going on runs. First, Silva’s team jumped out to a five point lead at 29-24, then AO answered with a run to tie it at 29. From there, Silva again went on a 5-0 run, but AO answered with France hitting some tough shots and we entered halftime with Silva holding a narrow 36-33 lead. Martin led the way with 20 and Ghost had 12, meaning 32/36 points came from those two. AO’s team was far more balanced with every player scoring and France leading the way with 13. 

The second half got started with a much needed Silva three. Outside of Martin, his team was 0-7 from deep in the first half, so maybe this early three was a sign of things to come. Angelo answered with a banked in three which he did call immediately after release because everyone could see it was on its way to breaking the backboard right away. The next few minutes were very back and forth with Martin and Fraher continuing to score, but Blood and Cerbone having answered in transition. Alan especially was really getting out in the second half and so was Angelo who also continued to dominate the offensive glass. The highlight play in this stretch naturally came from the Great One who saw Martin attacking the rim and helped off his defender and swatted away a potential layup attempt. 

With twelve minutes left, things were tied up at 49 and the pace finally started to slow. Martin hit a three to give Silva the lead back. Alan’s team answered with a pair of free throws from Angelo and a Josh steal and put back after he blew the initial layup (more of that to come later). Angelo had another put back a few possessions later to push Alan’s teams lead to three at 54-51. Martin went cold during this stretch, which was problematic for Silva as after that initial three from him, the other four players on his squad had struggled to score anything. Another bucket from Angelo pushed the AO lead to five at 56-51, but a huge bucket from Martin ended the drought and than Bauman found Ghost for his only field goal of the half to make it a one point game at 56-55 with five minutes left.

Both teams threw up bricks over the next few possessions, but then Silva hit a huge jump shot to regain the lead at 57-56 with three minutes left. You could tell both teams were gassed at this point, especially Martin who was responsible for so much of the offense. With two minutes left, Angelo had a great block and ran the floor and eventually Joel found him to regain the lead at 58-57. After what had been a quiet stretch, Martin got back on track with a three to regain the lead for Silva at 60-58 with 90 seconds left. 

The teams traded misses on the next two possessions and after waiting for about twenty seconds, Alan finally fouled Ghost and sent him to the line with 30 seconds left. He calmly hit both free throws which gave his team a four point lead. AO’s team needed a quick answer and they got lucky when Joel threw up a brick, but was fouled. He would miss both free throws, however, Angelo secured the rebound and kicked it out to Hanks who nailed a three and made it a one point game with ten seconds left. Martin got the ball and was fouled with a chance to make it a three point game. He hit the first, but missed the second and AO’s team secured the rebound and called a timeout. Joel got the ball on the inbound and drew two defenders and made a perfect pocket pass to Angelo rolling down the lane. He had a wide open layup, but bricked it! Fortunately, the ball came right back to him, but he missed the layup again! Naturally the ball came back to him again and this time he didn’t miss, tipping it in with less than two seconds left sending us to overtime again with the score 63-63!

Martin got us started in overtime with a jumper, but Hanks answered with another clutch three to give AO the lead. The teams traded misses on the next two possessions and after a Bauman miss, France got fouled and went 1/2 to make it a two point game. After missed three for the lead from Martin, France was fouled retrieving a loose ball and had his ankle rolled up on, so he had to leave the game. AO came in to take the free throws and missed it, keeping Silva in the game. Waldman got a good look from three for the lead on the next possession, but missed it and Alan snuck out and Joel saw him passing it ahead for a layup to ice the game. Martin would miss a three on final possession and that would do it as Blood and Cerbone walked away with a 69-65 victory, the third upset win of the night.

Blood and Cerbone
France A-: One of the better games I’ve seen him play this year, hopefully his ankle is alright for next week
Angelo A: Quite the swing for Angelo as if he missed that layup a third time this grade was going in the D’s but instead he gets an A for hitting the game tying shot and great defense and rebounding
Hanks A+: Not the biggest scoring game, but had a double-double and hit two of the three biggest shots in the game in clutch situations
Joel B+: Quiet game scoring, but might have been the best passing game I’ve ever seen from Joel leading to seven assists
Alan B: Quiet first half, but made some clutch plays late 
Great One B+: Made the most of his minutes with a big triple and block 

No-Look Pass
Martin A+: He was the only reason the game was even close
Ghost B: Great first-half, but was invisible for large portions of the second half
People’s Player C-: Rough game for Bauman on both ends
Silva C: Hit a three, but needed more in a playoff game
Waldman C: Active on both ends, but shot wasn’t falling
Ott C+: Solid defense and active on the offensive glass, but shot wasn’t falling