MEN'S DIVISION 1
Vancouver Native 68 – Blues Basketball Club 73
Blues - Cordell Parker: 21 pts, Chris Loreth: 16 pts
All Native – Gene Wolff: 24 pts, Sean Holland: 17 pts
This game was packed full of action from start to finish! Another matchup of youth vs veterans in this one. All Native led by the Wolff Brothers (Richie and Gene) and Sean Holland, who looks to be getting back into his 20+ points per game form from several Metro league seasons ago. The Blues are the “finest” prospects, looking to make a dent in their first Metro league venture in several years.
The young squad started out quick, taking advantage of fast break points and turnovers by their opponents. All Native, once again, had miscommunications on offense and defense in the first half that stopped a lot of their momentum. The 2nd half would see All Native take off from the gates, hitting on seven 2nd half 3 pointers. All Native, once again, had a chance to capture the win but had a few miscues down the stretch. Give the Blues some credit on their late game defensive hustle to make each shot a tough one for their opponents.
Toonsquad 80 – Stallions 100
Stallions – Brody Greig: 34 pts, Nick Toews: 23 pts
Toonsquad – Vartan Tanielian: 26 pts, Sheldon Derton: 19 pts
The Stallions came into this tilt against the upstart Toonsquad, who were missing a few key players. While the Stallions would welcome back their founder and captain Roger “I was on the Kobe Farewell Tour” Sheung! Even with missing their leading scorer in Elliot Mason, the Stallions are always ready to play.
The first half would catch the stallions off balance, and it came in the name of Vartan Tanielian! Vartan laced the Stallions for five 1st half three pointers! It kept the game close in the first half, but the “MVP” would have something to say about that! That MVP’s name is Brody Greig! There was a voice that yelled out “the record is 12” after Brody made his 3rd three pointer of the game in the 2nd half. The official record for most three pointers made in a game is 12! The flood gates opened for the Stallions after that, and they would go on to break the century mark in the victory! Greig finished with 8 made three pointers “unofficially”!
UBC 72 – SB Battle 67
UBC – Conor Morgan: 23 pts, Pat Simon: 13 pts
SB Battle – Demitri Harris and Kadeem Willis: 16 pts each
In another “Game of the Night” matchup, the reigning Metro League Champions SB Battle would face the CIS Heavyweights in the UBC Thunderbirds. Both teams downplayed the seriousness and implications of this game, but everyone knew that this game was important to both teams! Each team was missing a key component to the successful runs of their teams, but they both had more than enough to get the job done!
As advertised, both teams hit the ground running! The title of this game should have been label “Ride or Die”, but I’m sure there were more down to earth titles we can come up with for this game. The back and forth was a given, but the strengths of both teams came out in this game. SB Battle is a deeply stacked team, but one of their best traits is finishing at the basket! SB “unofficially” leads the league in “and 1” plays, and they had nearly a handful of them in the first half! UBC does a great job of movement in the half court, and excellent fast break passing to the open man! SB would take a 3 point halftime lead, but the action didn’t stop there!
The second half was more intense than the first! The “Rhetoric” was high, and flying back and forth from each bench! Made for a more intense game for sure! SB would get the upper hand on UBC midway through the 2nd half, but UBC would put together a few good runs to recapture the lead late in the game! SB missed some crucial free throws down the stretch, and had a few wild turnovers not indicative of their play this season! UBC takes the victory, which will definitely be remembered in the upcoming playoffs!
Underwater Squad 100 - Hilltoppers 0
Sonic Boom 100 - Coquitlam Boys 0
MEN'S DIVISION 2
SoulGood 51– Ball So Hard 54
Ball So Hard – Devon Carney: 13 pts, Brandon: 8 pts
SoulGood – Adi Baybay: 18 pts, Alan Hogan: 15 pts
With the playoffs right around the corner, SoulGood needed to pick up some quality wins to position themselves in a good place. Ball So Hard have been playing well this season, and looked to build on their own position in Div 2.
Both teams came out battling from the opening tip down to the last plays of the game. It became real sloppy at the end with the game on the line, with a number of turnovers and missed free throws. BSH wold pull it out in the end by a small margin. Indicative of how close the playoff competition in Div 2 is!
The Party 66 – YMCMB 68
YMCMB – Jack Ho 33 pts
The Party – Chris Loreth: 19 pts, Chris McAlpine: 14 pts
The potential for these two teams has been high for a few different reasons. YMCMB are former champs, and can never be counted out. The Party has had great potential almost since their first season in Metro League years ago.
This game did not disappoint! Like the game before, this game was up for “Game of the Week”! The Party battled like they usually do, but YMCMB’s Jack Ho could not be stopped! 33 points was the league high this week, and YMCMB would need every last point Jack put in. YMCMB snuck away with a hard fought victory, keeping their playoff hopes alive!
Team Flight 59 – Stepbrothers 37
Flight – Matt Anza 23 pts, Stephen: 16 pts
Stepbrothers – Steven: 14 pts, Ray: 6 pts
Team Flight needed a win desperately to keep their slim playoff hopes alive! The Stepbrothers had yet to win a game, and would have another tough test with the former Title Game Finalists!
The first half was more of a battle than expected, with the Stepbrothers keeping it close in the first half. The 2nd half was all Flight! They picked it up on the offensive and defensive end of the court! Flight would run away with this game, and look forward to starting a win streak next week.
Emperors 71 – Western Union 76
Western Union – EJ: 25 pts, Al: 19 pts
Emperors – Kevin: 18 pts, Jacky: 14 pts
The Emperors are coming to the crucial part of the season, where they have to start getting some wins under their belts. Losing a few tough games in the last few weeks, is dragging them down in the standings. They would not get any help from one of the top teams in Div 2 in Western Union! Western Union is in a great position to get one of the top playoff seedings, but they would have to keep up their good play to achieve it!
Western Union jumped out to a good lead in the first half, only to see the Emperors take over the 2nd half! Both teams were jockeying for a late game victory, and Western Union would make three free throws down the stretch to put the game away!
Core 52 – B2B 66
B2B - Fung: 21 pts, Will Chiang: 13 pts
Core - Ivan: 14 pts, Tyus Batiste: 13 pts
After coming off a dramatic win last week, Core was looking to start a string a wins to get them back in the thick of the playoff picture. B2B is still hard charging towards the top of the Div 2 ladder, and they were ready to get going in this matchup.
Core had a good start to this game and looked to challenge the juggernaut squad. The 2nd half would be all B2B, and the difference between the two teams was evident! Even if Cody MCormack could have made the game, I don’t think Core could have won this game. B2B is near the top of their game, and it is looking interesting at the top of the standings!
Sofa King Good 69 – Cloverdale Brodies 55
SKG – Kevin Rasmussen: 20 pts, Kyle Rasmussen: 16 pts
Cloverdale Brodies – Vik Sahi: 14 pts, Harsimran Gill: 11 pts
Little by little, the Sofa King Good team is getting their rhythm back along with their teammates. Even with no JJ “No Knees” Bath and Eddie “Madman” Fan, SKG would see Amritpal Bath come back to make a contribution. Bath would nail two 3 pointers in the game, on the road to getting back into game shape.
The Cloverdale Brodies have yet to come to a game, and not give maximum effort. They would definitely keep up with that trend, but the former Metro League champs would not let them in this game.
WH 75 – B.O.B. 95
B.O.B. – Andrew Morris: 23 pts, Graddy Zubaidi: 22 pts
WH – Ben Samy: 17 pts, Brandon: 16 pts
B.O.B and WH have established themselves as two of the top teams in the league, and this matchup was bound to be full of fireworks! The problem with these two teams is not the offense, but the defense! With two good offensive minded teams, it looked like it would come down to who had the ball on the last possession of the game.
Like a title fight, the first part of the game was “nip tuck”. Fastbreak points, 3 point shots, and lot of hustle described this game to a “T”! B.O.B. would flex it’s muscle and go on a big time run in the 2nd half to win by 20! Almost hitting the 100 mark on one of the top teams in the league is impressive! I’ll have to check the standings, but this may be a crucial tie breaker down the road!
COMMUNITY
