It was a great (and heated) first night at the Grown Up Sports Tuesday Night Men’s Basketball league at Lutheran High North in the Heights near downtown Houston. Let’s take a look at how things shook out and who look to be the contenders in the league.
Barberians v. STK
Followers of the GUS Leagues know the Barberians well, helmed by GUS stalwart Michael Barber and his fearless assault on the basket. This season, Barber joined forces with vital members of the J-Crew family along with the mercenary, Earl Robertson and look to be a force. STK didn’t get the memo, powered by a crisp, run and gun offensive attack. With Christian Peterson leading the way with his early offensive attack, the game was tight while the Barberians looked to find their footing (literally). The game really burst open though as Fernando Lugo made it rain from downtown with a pair of threes and a few long twos on the fast break as STK spread the game out a bit. With Andre Wells and Trey Richmond cleaning up the scraps, STK stamped its fingerprint on this game, marking their entry into the GUS leagues with a big W.
GUS Player of the Game: Christian Peterson (STK): 13 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal, 2 blocks
STK wins 64-56 (see Box Score here)
Bounce Pass Bandits v. Real Black
Say hello to the bad guys. Two new teams in the GUS Leagues are ready to make a name for themselves. Real Black (pronounce Ree-Al) has a few point forwards that are set to be a problem this season in Carl Bechter, Jamal Brunn and Roy Young. When their guard play comes around these guys are going to be a problem. The story of the home opener was the crisp well-rounded play of the Bounce Pass Bandits. For those of you in the know, it is reminiscent or Clear Lake/Kingwood basketball. Take from that what you will. Led by Brock “Spread Love, It’s the Houston Way” Breedlove, the Bandits are a group of crisp passing, set shot hitting, slashing guards with a flare for the fundamentals. League Alert: Duo guards, Adam “TABC” Purnell and Mark “Did You Get That Dime? I’m Mark” Mendoza are going to slice the competition up. With Jordan on point and JW finishing around the rim Bounce Pass Bandits are looking to stay near the top of the leaderboard this season. Also, they make a lot of bounce passes.
GUS Player of the Game: Adam Purnell (Bounce Pass): 14 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, 1 block
Bounce Pass Bandits win 54-31 (see Box Score here)
Untouchables v. Guns For Hire/ Swerve
Up next was the battle between the Untouchables and Guns for Hire/ Swerve. Fitting. This was truly a back and forth affair similar to Elliot Ness’ search for Al Capone. The Guns for Hire got out to the early lead behind Paulin “I Pull from Anywhere” Paloma nailing a trio of threes before landing himself into some early foul trouble. With Paloma on the bench, Jr Melo, Manuel Rodriguez and Marlon Trujillo began to do major work from the outside for the Untouchables, it looked like the good guy’s were going to win. But the Guns for Hire wouldn’t go silently into the night as Phillip Louder (see what I did there?) stepped it up on the offensive end in the second half to provide a much needed energy and spark for the team. Along with Ahmad Raheem’s flashy play and Terrell Jones nailing bombs from long distance, the Guns for Hire eluded the laws and toppled the Untouchables for the victory.
GUS Player of the Game: Paulin Paloma (Swerve): 18 points, 9 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal and 1 block
Guns for Hire (now to be known as Swerve for hire) win: 61 – 54 (see Box Score)
Icy Hot v. Ballers
I’m going to call this a game of excellent defense to account for the low score. Excellent, excellent defense. Despite the names, Icy Hot and Ballers started off a little cold. Icy Hot proceeded to heat up when David Guzman took the reigns. If David and Jesse can convert, freeing up some of their other guards, this team will fare better later in the season, especially with big Jay snatching up everything around the rim. On the other end of the court, the Ballers also started off a little cold, perhaps accustomed to their other favorite sport, hockey. I’m making assumptions based on the hockey substitutions they repeatedly attempted throughout the game. The Ballers play best when Brown is draining it from deep with a swag unparalleled in any of the other leagues. With such a deep roster and such high athleticism, the only thing stopping these guys from being early competitors is a little organization and I think we all see that coming over the horizon.
Ballers win 33-29 (see Box Score here)
GUS Player of the Game: Perry (Ballers): 8 points, 5 rebounds, 3 steals.
Trail Mix v. BAMF
This was one of the featured battles of the nights between two teams with championship aspirations in their sights. BAMF got out the gates early, behind the efficient offense of Chris Delange, who seemed to do a little bit of everything. Trail Mix refused to go away, with Kendall Smith and Andre Woods running pick and rolls to perfection and James and Trill doing what James and Trill do, nailing 3′s with regularity. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough, as the real story of the game was Bobby Vasighi. Coming off his hiatus in the GUS Leagues, Bobby picked up where he left off when he was once a GUS All Star, giving major buckets. Bobby started the night nailing shots from downtown and ended the night nailing shots from out of town, going 9/15 from the 3 point line. Of course, all great scorer’s need men to feed them the ball, and Zach Cavender and Cam Anderson proved to be capable of feeding the beast as BAMF solidified itself as the team to beat.
GUS Player of the Game: Bobby Vasighi (BAMF): 37 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist, 4 steals, 1 block
BAMF wins 87-74 (see Box Score here)
Get Buckets v. No Suit, No Tie
The final game of the night was an epic one. No Suit, No Tie sports a team of GUS veterans and new comers alike with Claude Cox and Tony Jones leading the offensive attack. Get Buckets are new to the GUS Leagues but aimed to show the world that they are more than ready to take a shot at bringing home their first GUS Leagues championship. No Suit, No Tie got out to the fast start behind the offensive firepower of Claude. Get Buckets took the shot on the chin, but like a true heavyweight, battled back headed by the offensive fireworks of Courtney who nailed four three’s to give Get Buckets the lead. With Rusty showing off his versatility, scoring some timely buckets from outside and streaking to the basket, Get Buckets took a 5 point lead but almost gave the game away to a late game comeback by No Suit, No Tie. If we learned anything from this game, it is that Get Buckets has the grittiness to win the close games and should be considered a lock to make a deep run in the playoffs.
Get Buckets win 50-48 (see Box Score here)
GUS Player of the Game: Courtney S (Get Buckets): 16 points, 4 three’s, 6 rebounds
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And that’s all we wrote. Remember to Like Us on Facebook to get updates on when the recaps and stats are posted, pictures and other important league information!
-Favor and Joe
