WALK ONS - 49  BALL SO HARD - 67

WALK ONS -  Gerard Gore 22pts 3rbs 3stls 

BALL SO HARD - Brandon Hoyem 16pts 10rbs, Cole Faminoff 16pts 5rbs

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After a tough loss to last season’s champs of Vancouver Metro “The Stallions”, Ball So Hard looked to bounce back against the Walk Ons.  This game looked to have track meet written all over it!  Both teams were stacked with talent, but the only thing is that one team is new and the other were former league champions!  Unfortunately for the Walk Ons, they were facing another league champions!  The flow of the game started out timid like a deer in the headlights, but that only lasted for a minute or so.  Ball So Hard went to work on dissecting the defense from inside out.  The front line of Brandon Hoyem and Alan Hogan were active as usual, but they were bolstered by newcomer Cole Faminoff!  Gerard Gore and Trevor Casey hit on a few early threes for the Walk Ons, but the BSH defense would not allow any inside scores.  Their opponents were walled off like the “Great Canadian Wall”....(think about it)!  Ball So Hard would take a 14 point lead into the half, and would not look back!

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BSH defense was all over the place, and intensified by the blocked shots and smack talk by Alan Hogan (three blocks in total).

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G2 - 50  SHOCKWAVE - 00

DUNCAN DONUTS - 50  SOFA KING GOOD - 59

DUNCAN DONUTS - Noah Levy 19pts 11rbs, Will Huang 11pts 10rbs

SOFA KING GOOD - Alex Koong 15pts

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In the ever changing world of the Van Metro from season to season, Sofa King Good has also gone through an evolution in their lineups.  The Bath brothers (JJ and Amritpal) who were staples of the squad, may be phasing themselve out of active roster due to new “family commitments”.  Even with a few new faces, SKG still stands as a team to always be wary of.  Duncan Donuts knew of SKG’s reputation, but cared less about it and came out in full attack mode against them!

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Just like always, the world famous Palmer zone was in full effect!  DD had trouble trudging through the mud that is the living breathing “Zone defense”, just enough for SKG to take advantage.  Both teams had shot a low percentage from the field, but SKG would take a 10 point lead into the half.

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SKG was in full “tug of war” mode with Duncan Donuts in the 2nd half as they would maintain a double digit lead, even though it wasn’t has convincing as they usually make it look.  DD would score nearly 30 points in the 2nd half, only to see the veteran experience of SKG close the game out in comfortable fashion.  

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ACADEMY - 73    TTP - 71

ACADEMY - Tyrone Asenoguan 27pts 6rbs 4stls, Josh Kagande 15pts 6stls

TTP - Dan Maczkov 13pts 5rbs, Matt Yue 14pts , Mike Capara 13pts 4rbs

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The presence of “Youthful Exuberance” in the air as the Academy hit the floor.  TTP looked to be all business, as they would jump all over the younger, quicker counterparts.  It was all bad for Academy, as their mistakes were turned into “Basket Gold” on the other end.  It was lucky that there was a time limit on the 1st half, because it looked like a big snowball rolling down one of the mountains in Whistler….getting bigger and bigger the further it rolled!  

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TPP seemed confident coming out of the half up 22, with not a care in the world.  Somewhere in the 2nd half, the youngsters woke up and attacked! 

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The energy level was through the roof in the 2nd half, as the 22 point depict became a 3 point lead late in the game!  Tyrone and Josh put Academy on their backs and dragged them to the finish line, with not only offense but timely steals and hyper aggressive defense.  Josh had a lightning quick steal that aided in completing the comeback, but needed missed the first of two free throws that instantly put a panic on his teammate’s faces!  He was able to hit the 2nd free throw to seal the biggest comeback in Van Metro history in this short season!

STALLIONS - 103       TWO FIFTY CREW - 73

STALLIONS - Prince Carino 30pts 4rbs, Brody Greig 7pts 7rbs 14asts

TWO FIFTY CREW - Zach Usherwood 30pts 4rbs 2asts 2stls, Lewis Hurst 18pts 2rbs 2asts

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The unofficial “investigation” into the Stallions has been a behind the scenes affair, with rumor after rumor flying around.  The rumors of the Stallions losing a step, and the competition catching up to them, has started to grow legs and take a life of its own.  Even some of the competition they face are becoming confident of their demise!

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Two Fifty Crew had that same mindset going into this game, and at the beginning of this matchup they both came out firing!  Both teams traded two three point makes each, and the trash talk started early!  The only problem with the trash talk was that it triggered the natural competive drive out of the multi time champion Stallions!  Every last player on the stallions raised their game to a level that Two Fifty Crew had not seen in this early season!  Led by Prince Carino, the Stallions would leap out of the gates like Stallions on the open plain!  Prince would bomb 5 three pointers in quick fashion on Two Fifty Crew!  The young talented squad had no answers for the sustained, fast breaking veteran attack of the Stallions.  They would race off to a 25 point lead at half and would not look back!

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Everything TFC tried only worked for a possession or two until the Stallions would make another run led by Brody Greig!  Brody would push the break time after time resulting in a number of high percentage scoring opportunities.  Mark halfnight looked like a shot blocking maniac, as he would block shot after shot from TFC, almost totally breaking the offensive rhythm of TFC.

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The rumors of the demise of The Stallions was just that...RUMOR!  They would go on to win by 30 and look forward to next weeks action!

SONIC BOOM -  52  FIRE SQUAD - 58

SONIC BOOM - Terrell Kinch 15pts 5rbs, Joel Kibangula 12pts 3asts

FIRE SQUAD - Reade Bentz 23pts 3rbs 2stls, Ahmed Mohamud 19pts 5rbs

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Sonic Boom had a number of fresh young faces, including the son of the founder of Sonic Boom!  He was in full Sonic Boom uniform, and ready to deploy!  Sonic Boom is hard to read from game to game.  While their roster levels have been far from the dangerous 5-6 players in uniform, their performance are harder to predict than a teenager in a department store shopping spree!

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Fire Squad took it to Sonic Boom early and often, and their was no doubt they came to win against the veteran team.  The first half was nip and tuck as both teams took advantage of each others mistakes.  The first half was a 1 point advantage for Fire Squad, and the 2nd half was more of the same struggle for both teams.

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Sonic Boom missed on a number of layup opportunities which would come back to bite then in the end.  Fire Squad reign 3 pointer after 3 pointer down on Sonic Boom that would give them the advantage over SB in the end.  With the missed opportunities and the lack of three point shooting to combat Fire Squad, SB would surcome to their opponents with a disappointing 8 point loss.  Post game conversations from SB, was that fatigue had set in and their best three point shooter was out for the night.  

SWAT - 77  AGAVEROS - 70

SWAT - Rashaun Broadus 17pts, 3rbs 4asts

AGAVEROS - Oscar Salvador 15pts 3rbs, Bruno Ferreira 14pts 3rbs 2ast

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Back in action tonight for SWAT was Rashaun Broadus, of the St.Johns Edge of the NBL of Canada who was once again in mid season form. Rashaun was smooth with the ball, calm, cool and collected throughout the game as he put up 17 points almost effortlessly, However the the true turning  wheel being SWAT is there standout forward Evan Southgan - who went for a modest 5pts and 3rbs but impacted the game in ways that were certainly noticeable to the staff and even more noticeable to his teammates! 

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Throughout most of this game SWAT maintained a solid 10 point cushion, although Agaveros original Oscar Salvador was constantly pushing the pace and lighting a fire under his team to cut the lead to 5 at multiple points in the second. As oscars points tarted to total up, so did his teammates Bruno Ferreira who seemed to be going back and forth and the team's primary option. 

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If you have never seen an Agaveros game, you’ll know the gritty, back to the basket style of game the squad loves to play. Unfortunately the pace of Rashaun and Elvis from SWAT were too much in the dying minutes as Agaveros couldn't complete the comeback

PLAYER OF THE WEEK 

Prince Carino 30pts 4rbs

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Prince simply couldn't miss. Going 70% from behind the arch is no small task, especially against a solid squad like the Two Fifty Crew! It didn’t matter who was in his face as he received perfect pass after perfect pass from his teammates and continually knocked down his shots. Most of which coming in the first half, Price broke the game open into a deficit that his opponents didn’t stand a chance to recover from. 

Year after year Prince shows up and doesn't disappoint or show any signs of slowing. The question is, who will be able to stop this man in Week Four?