It was another exciting afternoon of basketball in the Grown Up Sports Saturday Afternoon Men’s Basketball League in the Houston Heights near downtown Houston. With 4 one point finishes, lets take a look at a recap of the day’s action.
Goal Breakers v. Old School Yungstas
And we were off. After everyone navigated their way through the traffic jam created by the Houston Avenue lane closings, we had our first game. The Goal Breakers started out strong, dumping the ball down low to Big Body, Can’t Stop Me Reggie Matthews, utilizing his size advantage to score easily on the Yungsta defense. Of course, though the Yungstas may be small, they are scrappy and their full court press defense gave the Goal Breakers fits. In addition to the scrappy, full court defense, the Yungstas showed excellent ball movement, with guards Quincy Durden and Richard Serna finding forward Ken James on the receiving end of a number of pick and rolls to put the Yungstas up.
Struggling, the Goal Breakers pulled together and found a way to break down the full court press for several easy buckets. Forcing the Yungstas out of the press. With the game in a half court battle, the Goal Breakers were once again able to utilize their size advantage. However, the guys in black and white were not on their side, as two of the breakers fouled out with the game close and just over two minutes to play. That is when the game got interesting, as Marquise Brossard quickly scored off the steal (2 of his 12 second half points) on the inbounds pass tying up the game and giving the Goal Breakers hope. With Andre Potts coming back with daggers of his own, the game was in flux. But a huge fastbreak And 1 by Reggie Matthews turned the tide and all but sealed the game for the Breakers as they knocked off last week’s winners for their first W of the season, setting a trend for the rest of the day.
Goal Breakers win 70-69 (see Box Score)
Those Guys v. Unknown Guys
Those Guys proved they aren’t to be trifled with, netting a shutout victory against the dust mites and spirits of Woodland.
GUS Player of the Game: Tony Ma for being awesome
Those Guys win 10-0
Thunderbeards v. Paul Waul’s Ballers
The battle of the Paul’s took center stage next, as “Mr. Thunderbeard” Paul Brewer looked to topple the Ballers. And after a scorching hot start led by Brewer and the self proclaimed People’s Champion, Marcus Babbles, it looked like they might do it. Caleb Carter was in fine form in his first GUS Leagues performance, slicing through the lane to draw the defense and hit the open shooters and Ced Winslow showed why he is one of the best in the game on the boards. The Ballers however, wanted to show the Thunderbeards that Paul Waul was the real people champ. After taking exception to the standard “And 1” calls from Brewer, the Ballersreally turned it on in the second half. Anchored by Santos Mireles’ silky smooth jumper (word on the street is he is Professor Emeritus at Trent McKinney’s School of Shooting) and the energetic play of Jeff Hetzel (19 points, 19 rebounds – wow), brought the Ballers back. But the game changed once Marcus Jones stepped into the building in work clothes late in the second half. He provided an energy spark (and a bench presence) the team had been missing as he quickly came in netting a steal and a bucket. But the play of the day goes to Joe Hearns, who stole the ball as time was running out, tossing the ball back to Santos for the go ahead lay up, awarding the Baller’s a victory.
GUS Player of the Game: Santos Mireles (Paul Waul’s Ballers): 27 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals
Paul Waul’s Ballers win 71-70 (see Box Score)
Westside Connection v. Dream Elite
Westside was looking to bounce back from a thrashing at the hands of the Jets, while Dream Elite was still elitely dreaming about their 2 point stunner against Those Guys. This was a back and forth affair, which Westside seemed to be in control of behind the stellar shooting performance of Juan Arcos (6/11 from 3, many of them from parts unknown) and the springy legs of Sergio del Gado. But Dream Elite refused to go away. Down 7 with less than two minutes left, Dream Elite made its comeback, with long range strikes from Ahmad and Chris Gonzalez and some head scratching shots by WC. With time ticking away and Ahmad triple teamed with the ball, it looked like WC was going to escape the scare with a W. Suddenly, Ahmad throws up a prayer that somehow manages to fall in. At first called a three, it is ruled a two, giving WC a second chance at life. A chance which they wouldn’t squander, but almost did, as up one with 7 seconds left, they opted, instead of running out the clock, to go for the layup to go up three, leading to a turnover and a 2 on 1 break to win the game. But the Dream Elite pass was too high and went out of bounds, ending their dreams of a second straight victory.
GUS Player of the Game: Juan Arcos (WC): 29 points (6/11 3’s, 8/9 fts), 8 rebounds, 4 assists
Westside Connection wins 68-67 (see Box Score)
JC’s Jets v. Uno Uno
After three games with one point finishes, it seemed fitting that the last game would be the craziest game. However, JC’s Jets didn’t get the memo and after sporting a seven point half time lead, blew the game open to go up 15 early in the second half. To paraphrase the fans, that boy Tracy was out there hooping in his shell toes. Uno Uno, though, wouldn’t go quietly into the night as they turned on the heat. “Kobe” Nick Harris has a reputation for hitting the big shots, and did he ever come through, hitting 4 straight threes on the next five possessions to bring the game back to shouting distance. With the tides turning, Uno Uno turned up the heat on defense leading to fast break buckets for Davine and a thunderous slam by Osagie. Taking the lead, Uno Uno stole the ball again, with only JC getting back on defense. This time, Osagie tried to put JC in the rim but took a hard foul instead. This seemed to ignite the Jets, down almost 7 at this point. After a series of buckets, JC’s Jets had the ball down 2. That’s when JC took control, drove to the rack and finished for the And 1, putting the Jets up 1 with less than ten seconds to go. To win the game, Uno Uno put the ball in Josh Davis’ hands. Unfortunately an untimely three second violation ended any chance at a victory as the Jet’s improved to 2-0 and our fourth consecutive one point game.
GUS Player of the Game: Tracy Pratt (Jets): 28 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist
JC’s Jets win 65-64 (see Box Score)
And that’s all I wrote. Remember to check us out on Facebook (Like Us!) to get links to more pictures and keep up to date on all the league activities.
See you all next time.
-Favor