Week 2 Recap
The first two weeks of the regular season are generally a feeling out process in the schedule as teams figure out their strengths and weaknesses. The stories so far are:
• Is team Lennon in the right league starting 2-0 and putting up 97 points last week? Should they move up to the 30+ league? Is Karl this good of a GM? The answer will be coming in the next few weeks but this team is well balanced with size, speed & shooting. It does not hurt that their sixth round pick has more points through two games than all of the sixth round picks combined for all of last year.
• Tim’s keeps winning without their number one pick and former league MVP Steve Ellis. Rumor has it that Steve’s absence could be tied to a bitter contract dispute with Tim. Tim’s is a small market team and does not want to break the bank on one player. Steve’s leverage is dwindling with every win by Tim as he cobbles together lineups and remains undefeated. Expect him to report soon.
• Chris Sadler’s team has yet to gel but has the talent to repeat. Chris is attempting to meld in a couple of foreign players from Hampton ( Grant & Gus) to go with veterans Horgan & Garofoli.
• Magic Mullins had a players only meeting after their game two loss.
Lennon 97- 63 over Buatti
To start off week two the 6:30 Game on the Red court was the shorthanded Lightning missing three players and only playing five guys (not the Burger joint) against the sleeping Bulldogz (ouch). The game started out with the Lightning winning the tap and with no one guarding “The Rookie” (Cusick) he walked right in for the open layup. Believe it or not, those were not the easiest points of the night for him as well as the closest the score would ever get. The first quarter ended with the Bulldogz trailing by 15 ( 25-10) the second quarter the Bulldogz outscored the lighting and pulled within 12 ( 44-32 ) with a half court buzzer beater by Fallisi who ended the night with 9 points. The Lightning with the help of their big man Grasso easily broke the press and poured in a handful of easy baskets, tacking on 32 points in the 3rd and another 21 points in the fourth to end the game with 97. The Lightning had four of their starters posting double figures “The Rookie” who the Bulldogz never covered all night leading the way with 32 points the “lefty” Schott had 26 of his own, Fryer aka “The Hockey Ref” tossing in a career high 20 points and Captain Karl adding 10. For the Bulldogz they were missing the scoring power of Giordano tonight but ended the night with a not too shabby 68 points and never wavered in their effort (sounds a little patronizing since it was also said they never covered anyone). 1st year Coach Buatti was proud to see Big John Walsh diving on the floor for a loose ball late in the fourth quarter when the game was all but over. True lead the way for the Bulldogz with 26 points. Heads up Shockers the Bulldogz will be seeking vengeance in your game next Monday.
Daley 58 – Sadler 54
This was the only competitive game of the night. Without their coach being available for the game, Sandler’s team came ready to play. Jerry Welch had the hot hand with 8 first quarter points and 14 for the game. Sadler had a 10 point advantage after first quarter. The momentum started to swing towards Daley’s squad at the end of the 2nd and at the start of the 3rd. Not sure why Sandler’s team went to a zone after the half but that move backfired. Matt McCaffrey (16) and All Star Todd Santora (24) carried the offensive load for Daley’s team. There were two strange happenings during this game. Matt was called for three straight violations in the 4th. Not sure what he did or said to the refs but at least he didn’t get T’d up. Then Bobby Horgan wasz heard asking his teammates for an explanation as to “how did they get a 4 on 1 break after a miss free throw attempt”, “how does that happen”. Somehow two or maybe it was three of his teammates where on the ground after going for the rebound from the miss free throw. Next time they shot a free throw nobody was in the blocks. Team Sadler had a pretty good distribution of scoring with Grant (13), Garofoli (11) & Gus (10).
Mongrels take down Kingpins 62-48
McGonagle's Mongrels took down the run and gun Kingpins with a great defensive game plan behind Tommy "The Wall" Labrie and John " Big Man" Ganem and play from Tom "It wasn't me" Ferrari. The Mongrels were led by Geff Ketchum on the offensive side of the ball with 13 points followed by John Daley and coach McGonagle chipping in 12 points each (no mention again of Tom Labrie’s double figures). Kingpin's had a solid effort from Dave "Big Play" Snyder 13 points and Charlie Ziegenbein adding 9 points. Mongrels held last weeks high scorer Rob "Give me the rock" Ashe to 8 points and coach John "Catch me" Kalantzakos 8 points. Steve Ellis had another scoreless game for the Mongrel's. When asked about the play of Ellis coach McGonagle said "it's like he's not even here, but the team will continue to try and get him involved''.
Savages get their first win of the season over the Magic 69 to 39
The Savages picked up their first win of the season with a convincing win over the Magic. The Savages played great team defense holding the Magic to 39 points, including just 2 points in the second quarter and 15 points in the first half. The defense was led by Tyrone controlling the interior, denying multiple shots and altering others. On the perimeter Marco, Qian, Bob and Peter had it shut down from beyond the arc allowing no 3 point baskets, a big improvement over last week when Lightning hit eight 3 pointers.
On offense a balanced attack was led by Captain Stevens 23 points and his inside and outside game, hitting three 3 pointers and scoring in the paint and from mid range. Rounding out the attack Jason Conway scored 17, Marco had 14 including four 3 pointers from half court and Tyrone had 12 strong points around the basket.
Magic Mullins was severely shorthanded this week without the Rookie (Dave Rose), All Star Paul Bredzinski & underrated Steve Burns. Scott Manning, Kevin Taz & captain Keith can’t do it alone. We are expecting them to right the ship soon.