Division 2 Week 10 Sunday - May 31, 2015

The Party 92 Vs. Chill Co. 51

The Party – Matt Madewan 49 points, Ryan Shams and Will Johnson 14 points.

Chill Co. – Jesse Reynolds 17 points, Matt Decker 12 points.

The first game of week 10 would wind up being a more entertaining game than the score would indicate! The Party, who seems to party on a regular basis the night before a game (Hence…The Party team name), came out in better “spirits” then your usual opening Sunday game.

This game would be a special on as a milestone record would be broken! The Party’s Matt Madewan got off to a good scoring start, and it didn’t stop! Chill Co nor the rest of the onlookers knew what was unfolding, but the first half left Matt with 26 points (more than half way to the Division 2 scoring record for a game)!

The even though The Party made it a team effort in their scoring spree, Madewan was just on fire! With 6 made three pointers, Matt capped his record scoring output with a simple layup. 49 points later, we have a new single game scoring record holder! Congrats to Matt Madewan of The Party!

Team Kulinarya 67 Vs. Van Rain 49

Team Kulinarya – Alex Klocek 19 points, Justin Gelera 16 points, Nik Georgiew 10 points.

Van City - Matthew Anza 21 points, Jeff Chan 19 points.

This game was a big game for Kulinarya coming to the end of the season, where the playoffs loom! Van Rain has an outside chance at a playoff spot, but they would have to overcome a motivated foe on the other side of the court.

Jeff Chan and Matthew Anza kept Van Rain in the contest in the first half, only down 6 points at the half. The 2nd half would be too much for Van Rain, as Kulinarya would have four players score in double figures! Matt Anza continued to burn up the nets in the 2nd half but it wouldn’t be enough. Kulinarya now has to wait for a few results to come in later tonight to see if they will sneak into the playoffs.

Livestock 75 Vs. Ballaholics 54

Livestock – Ryan Clancy 24 points, Donnel Baroso 22 points, Karmel Omer 16 points.

Ballaholics – Kingston Chung 19 points, Amed 12 points, Bert and Abdi Mohammed 10 points each.

The winless Ballaholic squad continues to fight as they have all season, but with the playoffs on the line, Livestock did not mess around! Ryan Clancy and David G went absolutely bonkers in this game combining for 46 of Livestock’s 75 points.

With the victory, Livestock still has to hope for a few teams to falter before they know if they will be in!

DIVISION 1 WEEK 8 MONDAY - JUNE 1, 2015

Splash Bros 49 Vs Kings 105

Kings – Dru Creightney 28 points, Nik C 20 points, Igor Dutina 19 points.

Splash Bros – Seemo Elusini 16 points and Tu Le 11 points.

The Kings unit, after a few hiccups, has built a solid win/loss record which was not a good sign for the Splash Bros! Splash was plagued with a few key preseason injuries that has left them toothless in the interior part of their game. While the Splash Bros couldn’t buy an inside bucket, they did live up to their name hitting on nine three pointers in the game. Unfortunately, that was almost matched by one player on the Kings team!

Dru Creightney was cruising through the first half until he heard that the Division one three point record in a game is 8! That would turn Dru’s energy level from 3 to 10 in a split second! Dru would go on to tie the record with 8 made threes, but the Kings would connect on 15 from beyond the arch!

The fight of Splash Bros is undeniable. They just don’t have the firepower to keep up this season.

System 8 Athletics 75 Vs. New Power Generation 67

System 8 Athletics – Clay Crellin 19 points, Simon 15 points and Jermaine Hayley 14 points.

New Power Generation – Tommy Nixon 24 points and Frankie Liu 20 points.

The train that is named “System 8” continues to streak down the Division one league without a loss! New Power Generation has high volume superstars on their team, but seem to not be able to get them at the same game at the same time.

This game didn’t start out as the track meet I thought it would be, but by the second half it all came together for both teams. Tommy Nixon and Frankie Liu combined for 44 of NPG’s 67 points, and that would spell trouble vs System 8! Their non stop running and pressure defense on both ends of the floor usually stymies their opponents, and it would do the same in this matchup too. NPG ran out of gas and couldn’t keep up with the flood of points System 8 is known to put on their opponents.

The question was asked before, but now is officially answered. “There is a new sheriff in town”, and their name is System 8!

Douglas 75 Vs. Stallions 85

Stallions – Elliott Mason 24 points, Mike Berg 21 points and Jit Lochan 13 points.

Douglas – Kristian Hildebrandt 17 points, Andrew Morris 14 points and Malcolm Mensah 10 points.

This game looked to have both teams score in the 100s! The fast pace was going to be a score keepers nightmare! It did not disappoint. The Stallions tested out their young foes with their infinite veteran experience, feeling out the different ways to attack and stop the young Douglas squad.

The Stallions usually find small cracks in the armor of an opponent, and exploit them in a big way in the 2nd half of games. Douglas did well to not let the game get out of hand, and consistently try to get the game within striking distance. Douglas’s leading score Malcolm Mensah had an off game with 10 points, and Douglas would fall by 10. A good showing for the youngsters, and don’t be surprised if they pull and early round upset!

DIVISION 2 WEEK 10 SUNDAY - JUNE 1, 2015

Sofa King Good 63 Vs. Core 43

Sofa King Good – Eddie Fan 20 points and Amritpal Bath 12 points.

Core – Sukha Hear 14 points and John McCarthy 8 points.

To reference the old clique “Peaking at the right time”, SKG looks to be in championship form! With new additions and most of their team not on vacation, SKG may be looking for another crown. Core on the other hand has had an up and down year. They at times look like a team fighting for the playoffs, even though their roster would indicate that they are title contenders.

This matchup through the last few seasons have been electric to say the least. The first half would start out like a chess match! Each team nearly as deep as the other, the back and forth was intense but precise.

The first half would end in a virtual tie, but SKG would promptly take over this game and run away with it. That trademark “Sofa King Good Zone Defense” was in full effect! In holding Core to 16 points in the 2nd half, SKG went on to win by 20!

The playoffs look to be exciting all way down to the to the lowest seeds!

Still Ballin' 56 Vs. Flight 35

Still Ballin' – Donovan Britten 19 points and Liam Phaguara 9 points.

Flight – David Katz 11 points and Jermaine 9 points.

In a game that may determine who gets into the playoffs and who will be on the outside looking in, both teams were hoping to capitalize on week 9 wins!

Both teams played like their playoff lives were on the line, and dueled to a 22 point tie in the first half. Donovan Britten would take over the 2nd half for Still Ballin’ scoring 12 of his 19 points in that half! The Flight team was “Grounded” in the 2nd half! A power outage that I have rarely witnessed from Flight, and it eventually led to a 2nd half blowout loss!

Not only that, it puts Flight below Still Ballin’ in the playoff race! We will see how this shakes out.

YMCMB 53 Vs. Bricklayers 39

YMCMB – Jack Ho 14 points and Reggie Catubay 13 points.

Bricklayers – Sharya 11 points, Ryan Szeto and Christian Ho 9 points each.

I joked to YMCMB that I thought they were going to “miss the playoffs”. Little did I realize, YM had 2 losses early in the season but have 8 in the Win column! In my defense, a lot of their games have been on “distant channels” (eluding to their lack of court #1 appearances).

The Bricklayers still had hope of sneaking in the backdoor for a playoff spot, but this would be one of their hardest tests of the year! It didn’t help that they almost forfeited the game to start! Luckily they had some key players to start, and looked to pull the slight upset in the first half. YM led by 3 at the half, and unfortunately for the Bricklayers is that we play 2 halves in basketball!

YMCMB put on a few surges to create a semi safe lead, but the Bricklayers kept coming back. In the end, YMCMB used their “championship experience” to close the game out and take away a valuable win that the Bricklayers needed!

Ball So Hard 69 Vs. Nift Team 37

Ball So Hard – Brandon Hoyem 19 points, Mike Ironside 17 and Darryl Wong 11 points.

Nift Team –Kyle 18 points and Alex 11 points.

As I look at the Team Nift take the floor every week, they remind me of how much they embody a lot of what Vancouver Metro is all about! No age limit, energetic, full of comradery,, and competitive! They always give maximum effort, and win or lose, you are always going to see something new.

BSH needs no introduction! One of the highest scoring teams in Div 2 history takes the court with confidence, and when the ball goes up, Ferocity! BSH started out fast, but Nift did too…at least part of Nift started strong. Kyle #4 ran off 11 of Nift’s first half 21 points, but Ball So Hard blitzed their young opponents with a 37 point first half.

Even with a strong 2nd half, Nift couldn’t stop the race car in the form of BSH!