Brandgenuity 54, TurfTalentNFT.com 50
Despite missing captain Jason Scheff and forward Jonathan Granowitz, TTNFT kept it close throughout this game, though they ultimately lost by four points.

Brandgenuity led by five or so points at halftime, thanks to the scoring of rookie Jeremy Goodman, who finished with a game-high 23 points and four assists. Although ‘Genuity never trailed in the second half, TTNFT never gave up, using their well-practiced defense to stymie ‘Genuity’s shooters.

But as it got late in the second half, Goodman remembered the ice he had injected into his veins just minutes prior to the game, hitting clutch free-throw after clutch free-throw to clinch the victory.

Brandgenuity guard Willie Stern was impressed with his team’s performance. “It was basically an episode of Family Feud, the Sterns vs. the Scheffs,” he said. “And the survey said we won.”

Scott Scheff, who made his triumphant return to the league after missing last season due to injury, scored 20 points for TTNFT, but it was not enough to get the win.

Brandgenuity will take on Accordion next, while TurfTalentNFT.com will play 3G Capital Investments, LLC in what many are calling the matchup of the longest RBA names ever.

Elite Pets 48, Verstolo 39
It was quite the warm welcome to the league for Elite Pets rookie guard Jared Scheff, who led his team to a game 1 victory with 27 points, six rebounds and three assists.

The game was fairly even throughout the first half, with Verstolo holding a slight lead for most of it. But then Scheff took over, and the Pets led at halftime by 18. Verstolo cut the lead to as little as seven in the second half thanks to a zone defense, but could not overcome the deficit.

Verstolo was led by rookie Emmett Stein, who scored a team-high 14 points, and Ben Schluger, who notched a double-double with 12 points and 13 rebounds.

Despite the loss, Verstolo captain Justin Cutler expressed his optimism for the season ahead.

“It’s a marathon, not a sprint,” Cutler said. “We have to take it one game at a time. Both teams played hard. I’m running out of cliches, do you have enough for a quote?”

The Pets play DRG Talent this week while Verstolo takes on Glasenglitter.

Glasenglitter 52, Accordion 45
It seems that as long as a team's jersey says Glasenglitter on the front, or back, in this case, the squad simply cannot lose. Fresh off a championship season, the newest Glasenglitter sponsorees continued their winning ways, taking the first game of the season 52-45 over Accordion.

Accordion came out hot, scoring their first four buckets via the three-pointer to take a 12-1 lead. After a crucial timeout and sips of Michael's Secret Stuff though, Glasenglitter buckled down on defense and rode Max Geller's 20 points to victory. Josh Rappaport played a crucial role in conducting the offense in the middle, often doing that spin move where he extends and stretches his arm going for a layup, like Michael Jordan trying to dunk from the halfcourt line. Classic Space Jam.

Tomer Langer and Daniel Rosenbaum led the scoring for Accordion, who hit all the right keys early. Their defense sang, expanding and compressing to cover threes yet eliminating drives to the basket. With just five players available, though, they eventually ran out of air and could no longer produce music. This, I think, is how accordions work.

Accordion' to the online schedule, Accordion faces bitter rival Brandgenuity next week. Meanwhile, Glasenglitter will meet buddy bunk Verstolo in the late game.

Sherwood Lumber 60, DRG Talent 51
DRG Talent, ironically missing the talents of Daniel Stecker, Michael Krulee and Ethan Silberstein, could not fend off Sherwood Lumber’s fast-break offense, falling to Lumber 60-51.

Sherwood rookie guard Joseph Schnitzer started his RBA career nicely, hitting four three-pointers to open the game, en route to 21 points. He also tallied six rebounds, four assists and three steals, as he and captain Sam Marlowe (24 points) spearheaded the Lumber offense.

DRG, meanwhile, put up a valiant fight despite only playing with five players, thanks to the play of rookie Noah Dunn. Dunn finished with nine points, four rebounds, one assist and one steal, but his stifling defense was on full display throughout the night. David Shepard led the scoring for DRG, putting up 16 points, including four threes.

DRG captain Alex Eisenstein was quick to point out the positives of the team. “We may have lost, but we lead the league in players whose last names end with the same letter twice in a row. You can thank Matan Mann, Noah Dunn and Michael Krulee for that.”

DRG will play Elite Pets this week while Sherwood will play LDJ.

LDJ 63, 3G Capital Investments, LLC 55
Harlan Reiss was nearly unstoppable for LDJ as they rode a hot 2nd half to beat 3G. Harlan scored 33 points, more than half of his team’s total, to lead the league in points in week 1, including 6 3 pointers made. Team captain Yaniv Lusana added 11 points and 6 rebounds on an efficient 5 of 8 from the field. Although the box score may not reflect it, LDJ was relentless on the offensive boards, creating extra possessions which helped them put away 3G.

For 3G, the duo of Josh Wohl and Jacob GA handled much of the scoring combining for 51 of the team’s 55. The 3G Capital Investments crew was just not able to generate enough stops in the 2nd half to stay with LDJ, giving up the highest point total in the first week of the young RBA season.

LDJ will look to stay perfect this week against the also unbeaten Sherwood Lumber squad, while 3G will be hoping to move to 1-1 against the 0-1 TurfTalentNFT.com.