They survived…

Coming into this game I had Golden Fleece (GF) as 25 point favorites.  Was this being disrespectful to #KeepTheChange (#KTC)?  Yes but I was mostly concerned that Cameron Daniels wasn’t playing.  I’m assuming this was a planned absence as GF was missing Cameron Daniel (for those reading along at home these are two different people no typos).

First half:

GF only had 3 rostered guys to start but Pat, the official league fill-in, temporarily played.  #KTC jumped out to an early lead off some great team shooting and stellar defense.  They had various leads for the duration of the half and an upset was looking pretty definitive #KTC was up 34-26 at the half.

Halftime stats:

#KTC:

Tommy Ng 3 pts

Musse Kassa 13 pts, 1 stl, 5 drebs, 3 asts, 1 foul

Xavier “Stat” Holland 4 pts, 2 oreb, 8 drebs, 1 ast, 1 foul

Jay Branch 9 pts, 3 stls, 1 blk, 4 drebs, 1 ast, 1 foul

Adam Gryniewicz 5 pts, 2 stls, 1 dreb

GF:

Jorge Morel 4 pts, 1 stl, 2 blks, 6 drebs, 1 ast, 2 fouls

Casey Tenney 13 pts, 2 stls, 1 blk, 3 orebs, 6 drebs

Colin Gray 4 pts, 3 orebs, 2 drebs, 1 foul

Chris Lynch 2 pts, 1 blk, 2 orebs, 3 drebs, 1 ast

Patrick Blaikie “Fill-in” 3 pts, 1 stl, 2 drebs

Player of the half:

Musse Kassa

Second half:

Just when I thought #KTC would pull off the upset, GF took the lead back and was up 59-55 with 10:25 left in the half.  At the 6:56 mark GF still held a one possession lead up 65-62.  All the way until 23.6 seconds left GF would keep within striking distance down 70-67.  A miss free throw by GF and a score by #KTC made it a 70-69 game.  #KTC had a great shot attempt for the win but it was unsuccessful and GF held on for the 70-69 win.

Grades:

Tommy Ng A by far his best shooting game of the season.  Maybe he can build off this performance going forward.

Musse Kassa A- didn’t shoot awful from three but his percentage dipped in the second half.  Being nit picky he missed a free throw too.  Regardless I loved the game he played and he stuffed the stat sheet.

Xavier “Stat” Holland B I can’t ignore his free throw shooting percentage but did rebound well.  He needed to score more for his team to win.

Jay Branch B I’m gonna assume he got tired as his second half overall numbers were lower across board.  He still did a solid job of stuffing the stat sheet.

Adam Gryniewicz A the best game I’ve seen from him all-season.  Granted he did miss a few shots but overall he made more and was all over the court today..

Jorge Morel A- I can’t ignore his 0fer from three but outside of that he had a fantastic game.

Casey Tenney A I don’t even care that his missed a lot of shots.  He was unequivocally the best player on the court.

Colin Gray B- the 0fer from three can’t be ignored but overall he was solid.  I particularly liked his offensive rebounding prowess.

Chris Lynch B- I didn’t like his three point shooting percentage but he rebounded the ball pretty well

Patrick Blaikie “Fill-in” A played less than a half but still managed to impact the game.  If he doesn’t score it’s possible that #KTC wins.

Player of the game:

Casey Tenney was too good and his team won, congrats.

It’s not how you start but how you finish..

Coming into this game I had Too Small (TS) as 20 point favorites.  To my surprise #KeepTheChange (#KTC) had their entire squad in attendance.  TS was missing Lyman.

First half:

Slow ugly start to this game.  To my surprise at the 9 minute mark #KTC was up 14-10.  As the half continued the offense output just wasn’t great for both teams.  Apparently this was working wonders for #KTC though as they led 24-17 at the half.

Halftime stats:

#KTC:

Tommy Ng 3 pts, 1 stl, 1 dreb

Cameron Daniels 2 pts, 1 stl, 2 drebs, 1 ast

Musse Kassa 4 pts, 1 stl, 2 drebs

Xavier “Stat” Holland 13 pts, 1 stl, 2 orebs, 2 drebs, 2 fouls

Jay Branch 1 stl, 1 blk, 1 dreb, 1 ast, 1 foul

Adam Gryniewicz 2 pts, 1 dreb

TS:

Djordje Vlajkovic 5 pts, 4 orebs, 7 drebs, 1 ast, 2 fouls

Dan Waldman 1 ast, 4 fouls

Joseph Breda 1 foul

Nick Lynch 12 pts, 1 blk, 2 oreb, 6 drebs

Jake Darby 1 ast, 1 foul

Player of the half:

Stat

Second half:

The action picked up some but #KTC was still not ready to give up their lead up 29-25 with 14 minutes left.  Slightly less than 4 minutes later and it was a 1 possession game but TS took the lead and was up 33-31.  Fast forward to 1:08 left in the game and TS was up 51-48 and it looked like the game would come down to free throw shooting.  Jay Branch made an amazing steal and then hit a very tough corner three to tie the game.  Unfortunately for him with the game tied at 51 he fouled.  Yes Nick Lynch missed one of those free throws but #KTC was only able to score 1 more point while DJ ended them with a game winning steal and goaltending dunk (points didn’t count) but TS won 56-52.

Grades:

Tommy Ng C I can’t ignore his three point shooting percentage however he did get some other stats.

Cameron Daniels B- his three ball was off but I did like his improvement in scoring the basketball especially in the second half.

Musse Kassa B- I can’t ignore his three point shooting percentage but he did get some steals and rebounds.

Xavier “Stat” Holland B- his free throw shooting percentage was bad but outside of that he played a decent game.

Jay Branch B- great defensive stats across the board but his three point shooting percentage was low.

Adam Gryniewicz C+ his 2 steals and even his rebounding I liked but I can’t ignore the 0fer from three.

Djordje Vlajkovic A one of his best games of the season.

Dan Waldman C probably should’ve just fouled himself out because when he was on the bench Darby was electric.  That’s actually what saved his grade is that he didn’t for himself back into the game.

Joseph Breda C+ played much better in the second half but this wasn’t his best game regardless.  It was good to see his three point shooting woes in the first half were broken (0-4 vs 2-2) but ultimately it wasn’t his best game.

Nick Lynch A paved himself well and stuffed the stat sheet.  He obviously can and will play better but I’m not mad at his performance at all.

Jake Darby A his stats obviously don’t jump off the website but man talk about taking advantage of your opportunity.  When he got some minutes it seemed like he was making all the right plays.

Player of the game:

DJ they really had no answer for him and he took complete advantage of that.  He’s have a really good season that continued today.

I can give you 44 reasons why this game doesn’t deserve a write-up

I never know the attendance situation for #keepthechange (#KTC).  Without any knowledge I made EJ the favorites by 6.  #KTC actually ended up having only 4 guys and were missing Stat and the rookie Adam.  I most certainly would’ve made EJ a double digit favorite as they were only missing Rob Wood.

First half:

Early on things didn’t seem to be too crazy.  EJ led 22-15 with about 10 minutes left in the half.  About a minute later Musse faked I mean got injured.  Not much changed in terms of the score, EJ was still up but only 24-16 but there was a bit of debate about who could fill in.  Finally Nikko was allowed to play.  Nikko probably should’ve declined as EJ led 49-22 at the half.

Halftime stats:

#KTC:

Tommy Ng 1 dreb, 1 foul

Cameron Daniels 4 pts, 1 oreb, 3 drebs

Musse Kassa 6 pts, 1 dreb, 1 ast, 1 foul

Jay Branch 6 pts, 1 dreb, 1 ast

Nikko Atanasoff (fill-in) 6 pts

EJ:

Erik Johnson 1 blk, 2 drebs, 1 foul

Matthew Starr 6 pts, 5 orebs, 3 drebs, 3 asts, 1 foul

Daniel Fraher 2 pts, 2 drebs, 1 ast

Angelo Cerbone 15 pts, 1 blk, 5 orebs, 8 drebs, 2 asts, 2 fouls

Daniel Barbour 26 pts, 2 stls, 1 oreb, 5 drebs, 2 asts

Players of the half:

Angelo Cerbone & Daniel Barbour

Second half:

Final score 99-55

Grades:

Tommy Ng C he went 0fer from three but hey it happens to everyone (just always remember to keep your emotions in check).  I did like that he got some other stats out there.

Cameron Daniels C+ he did eventually get his scoring going in the second half (hopefully that continues).  He also managed to get other stats but honestly my expectations are too high for Cam so I cannot give him a higher grade in a blowout loss.

Musse Kassa B my guy pulled a J Cole.  I don’t know how he knew what was coming but he quickly sat down and got out the way 🤣.

Jay Branch C the 2 blocks were nice to see however his three ball was off and his assist numbers were lower than what I expect.

Nikko Atanasoff (fill-in) B+ was the best player on the floor for this team.  21 pts, 4-11 from three, 1-1 from the free throw line, 5 drebs, 2 asts.  Luckily he filled in or things might’ve got really ugly oh wait nevermind.

Erik Johnson C+ his team didn’t need much from him so he let them do what they do.

Matthew Starr A dominant game without Stat they had no one to keep him off the glass.

Daniel Fraher C+ excellent rebounding numbers with a few other stats.

Angelo Cerbone A had no answer for him.  Played extremely well.

Daniel Barbour A+ a scoring clinic on full display for Musse, Steve, myself and everyone else who was there.  He still did so many other things than that and they could do nothing with him.

Player of the game:

Daniel Barbour cannot say anything bad about his performance.  I know his dad enjoyed it as he changed seats not once, not twice but three times.  I admittedly left my seat a few times too.