Closing out the first round was the 1-8 matchup between undefeated Chao Bella, led by Frongi taking on Erik’s 2-7 squad. Despite coming into the playoffs as the undefeated 1 seed, health was a major concern for Frongi’s team pregame. League MVP Danny O’Donnell, was nursing an ankle injury and was not sure if he could play. League DPOY Scott Mulholland was also ailing. Not a great look when matched up against the scoring machine of Casey. Upon the tip Danny was ruled out so CB would have to go onwards missing their leading scorer.

Slick’s squad come out blazing and went up to an early 13-1 lead with Erik hitting two threes and Casey and Eth adding buckets. Clarke was able to get some good looks inside off offensive boards to get CB into the game. A frongi 3 cut the lead to 10 and CB was seeing some hope. Late in the first half, Ben Mitchell was injured for Erik and Harry stepped in. EJ held on to a 10 or so lead and went into the half up 31-19.

Etheridge opened the half with a rare three ball. Chao banked in a three as well and Frongi took drew a charge in a tough captain play. Super Sub Harry was repeatedly left open in the corner and made CB pay, cashing a series of jumpers. Glynn hit aa couple threes and some free throws and Frongi nailed a three to close the gap to three. Late in the second half Scott injured his back and was considerably hobbled for the remainder of the game. Casey kept up the attack, getting to the rim and free throw line and CB was never able to get back in the game. EJ upsets the undefeated 1 seed and will face Too Late in the semis

CB

Frongi A played really hard and did all he could

Glynn C ice cold first half but had some key plays in the second half

Chao B big three ball

SMul C- not super impactful, needed to take some of the open shots he normally passes up

Clarke A great game on the galss and his scoring in the first half got CB back in it

EJ

Erik B big first half but cooled down considerably. Had three big blocks

Eth B- the scoring want their but did a great job moving the ball and rebounding

Casey A stuffed the stat sheet

Mitchell N/A get well soon

Harry A big time performance as the fill in

Game 2 of the final week of regular season play was EJ’s last place team taking on Randalls squad who entered the week at 3-5 on a two game losing streak. Erik’s team would once again be shorthanded, missing MJ and Eloi. Randall was missing Luigi, but still had a big size advantage with Murphy and Bohnaker in attendance.

Weinstein and EJ traded threes to open the game. Murphy got a post bucket and Randall hit a pair of free throws. Casey went on a one-man run, outscoring Randall’s team 10-4 by himself. Erik hit a pair of threes and Etheridge got some nice runners to open up a lead. Thanks to more buckets from Casey and Eth, EJ’s team held on to 10ish point lead for the remainder of the first half, and went into the break up 11, 37-26. Casey led all scorers with 20 first half points. Weinstein led Randall’s team with 11 first half points.

Ben Mitchell hit a three to open the half and Casey continued his strong game. Randall’s team was not making shots but was doing a good job of getting to the free throw line to prevent the game from getting out of reach. Etheridge and Casey continued to get through the bigs on Randall’s team and were playing a great two man game, each finding the other for assists off their drives. EJ’s lead expanded to 15, the largest of the game at this point. The lead would never drop below 10 and Erik’s team pulls off an impressive shorthanded win. Not to state the obvious but despite being the last seed, this is not a team you want to match up against in the playoffs if Casey and Eth are playing at this level.

EJ

Casey A+ 35/24/8 if this is a preview of playoff Casey – watch out

Eth A consistent bucket getting and did a great job passing out of doubles

Mitchel B+ solid minutes, the jumpshot isn’t pretty, but it was going in!

EJ B not a great shooting split but got some big ones to fall

Randall

Weistein A cant ask much more from Mike as he comes off injury

Murphy C average game, couldn’t been more assertive

Bohnaker C same as above

Randall D zero field goals made is rough, he will look to bounce back in the playoffs

Marlier C had a nice steal but the shot wasn’t falling

Slick VS Choa “ this game was not fun to watch” 

Civale filling and I was hoping it would up the intensity of this game…..it did not. Both teams kinda sleptwalk through the 1st half EJ/Civale did enough to make the game a blowout as after an EJ finish Civale 2-2 they actually had the lead 20-16. Choa would kick into undefeated gear, and close the half with dany 5-0 run, and Frongi lay up it was 30-24 at the break. 

Choa would open up a lead and never look back, dany had a huge 2nd half 14 pts, Frongi would add 7 and it was too much for the undermanned Slick to overcome despite 10 nice points from him including sexy drives but they go down 57-43. 

Team Slick

Eloi-C+ 12 rbs 6 ast but could not put the ball in the ocean. 

EJ-A-) Did everything he could 

Mitch-B-) Hustled hard

Fill in Civale-B+- Gave them the scoring they needed

Choa Bella

Dany-A-) Excellent 2nd half where he turned on the gas 

S.Mul-A-) Incredible 1st half cooled but did all his other game impacting things. 

Frongi-B- minus the shooitng he gave them exactly what they needed

Glynn-C- quiet day 

Clarke-B+- Very solid passing/rebounding 

Choa-C- alos quiet today took good shots though.