πππ π π’π‘π: The Boys 57 - Saj and Friends 60
In the opening game of Week 5, Saj and Friends took on The Boys in a matchup that featured the leagueβs two top leading scorers, Arron Mollet (25.3 ppg) and Gage Henley (22.8 ppg). However, it was Charles Barratt and Blake Bergesen (team-high 19 points) that led the way for both teams in a tight first half with 16 and 13 points, respectively. SAF built a nice cushion in the second half behind continued hot shooting from Barratt (league-record 31 points on 7 3PM) and Austin Liou (12 points), but The Boys hung around around with scrappy defense (13 total steals) and balanced scoring. In a chaotic final minute, Jesse Holmes hit three clutch 3s to tie the game up, but a scramble for the ball in the final seconds left the rock in Barrattβs hands for the game winning 3.
πππ π π§πͺπ’: 6th Men 89 - Ballerz 76
Our second game of the week featured the Ballerz taking on the 6th Men, the only undefeated team remaining. The Ballerz jumped out to an early lead behind a flurry of 3s from Justin Tzeng (19 points) and Seth Cordts (team-high 25 points), but the 6th Men responded after a quick timeout with strong play from Authman Ibrahim and Tariq Byrd, who had 11 and 14 points, respectively, in the first half. The Ballerz kept the game within reach by mixing up defensive schemes and playing through bigs Calvin Huh (15 points, 12 boards, league-record 4 blocks) and Rob Mohen (11 boards, 7 assists), but a second half explosion from Meek Adam (27 points, 7 boards, 5 assists) and a near triple double from Byrd (19 points, 8 boards, 8 assists) proved to be too much to overcome.
πππ π π§ππ₯ππ: Craft Team 48 - Here For Exercise 50
To cap off Week 5, we had another down to the wire matchup between Craft Team and Here for Exercise. It was tough for either team to sustain a lead due to the choppy pace, but as HFE started building some momentum in the second half behind contributions from Neal Ghosh (14 points, 5 boards) and Kevin Barbour (10 points, 11 boards), Craft Team lingered around with baskets from Jake Crudo (14 points) and key defensive plays from Bakari Ziegler (2 steals) and Mo Halaweh (2 blocks). A late game run fueled by Dezmond Chatman (game-high 25 points) trading buckets with Wade Morgan (17 points) ultimately led to the final buzzer-beating putback from Colin Moore (7 points, 12 boards) to secure the W for HFE.