Division 2 Week 6 Sunday - April 27, 2015
Nift Team 48 Vs. Van Rain 63
Van Rain - Guy Ostrovsky 21 Points, Matthew Anza 15 Points, Simon McCintosh 9 Points
Nift Team - Alex Koong 15 Points, David Vap 10 Points, Sylvain Istifan 9 Points
Both teams showed up to this Sunday matinee short-handed. The major loss would belong to Van Rain, as they would be missing their leading scorer in Jasmin Demirovic! Van Rain seemed to have a remedy for that, and his name is Guy Ostrovsky!
Guy would score 18 of his 21 in the first half for Van Rain! Nift seemed to be stuck in the mud without their usual roster. They struggled to get to 19 points in the first half, while Van Rain ran off to a 16 point halftime lead.
Van Rain continued to “reign” over the young Nift squad, even with the 2nd half 15 point effort from Nift’s Alex Koong. Van City’s 15 point victory was a good victory for van Rain, without their leading scorer who may be out for an undetermined amount of time.
The Party 57 Vs. Ball So Hard 59
Ball So Hard - Devon Carney 23 Points, Brandon Hoyem 17 Points, Vic Karra 9 Points
The Party - Ryan Sham 17 Points, Matt Madewan 12 Points, Akeem Pierre 10 Points
This time last year, this game may have been a blow out with about 2 or 3 technical fouls called. This season, you can anticipate a high scoring affair between two of the leading teams in the league! The first half was hot and cold for both teams, but mostly cold on the Party’s side of things.
Even with Ryan Shams and Matt Madewan combining for five made 3s, they still found themselves out dueled by Ball So Hard’s Brandon Hoyem and Devon Carney’s 23 first half points. Carney found some extra energy in the 2nd half as some of the on the court “banter” began to heat up! As Devon heated up, so did the Party! They battled back from a subpar game in the second half to tie the game, and had a chance to tie or win the game with .7 on the clock.
Madewan came from the baseline to catch the ball from the inbound from about 35 feet out. He turned and fired over a late covering defender, but it hit off the left side of the rim and out! BSH escaped with a hard fought game throughout, but The Party had a good showing and will be showing more in the future!
Still Ballin' 66 Vs. Livestock 64 OT
Still Ballin' - Munraj Sundar 21 Points, Brandon Chancey and Trey Milton 11 Points each
Livestock - Kernel Omer 18 Points, Ryan Clancy 12 Points, Chad Abalos 9 Points
“The Custodian” was visibly absent from the roster today, but Still Ballin still had a decided height advantage. Livestock never cares about a height advantage, they just go out and get the job done any way they can.
The first half looked like a feel out period as both teams found it hard to drop the ball in the bucket. Still Ballin is known for their slow starts, but Livestock followed their lead in the low scoring affair. Both teams hit a few open three pointers, but the game points total was under 60 points for both teams.
The second half heated up gradually as both team found success on offense and defense. It turned into a chess match late in the 2nd half. Trey Melton lined up a shot from the top of the key with the game tied at 52, and hit it. Turns out it was a three pointer! Very rare for Trey but it was timely because it put Still ballin up 3 points! That lead would be short lived has Livestock would tie the game late again! The final possessions were at a standstill, which eventually led to…OVERTIME!
In OT, both teams continued to jockey for position. After a Trey Melton layup and a clutch corner three pointer by Donovan Britten, Still Ballin would earn a hard fought win vs one of the top team in the league!
Division 1 Week 4 Monday - April 28, 2015
Stallions 110 Vs. Splash Bros. 67
Stallions - Jit Lohcham 29, Roger Sheung 27, Elliot Mason 22
Splash Bros - Semmu 25 Points, Nedim 14 Points, Patrick 10 Points
The stallions came into this game in 2nd place not too phased by their upset loss to Douglas which seems like years ago now.
The Stallions didn’t have too much of a sweat in this game. Even with missing 2 of their exciting players not in attendance, Jit Lohchan absolutely went bonkers in the first half! Scoring 22 of his 29 points in the first half help make this game an exhibition early on!
The second half would be run by The Stallions Roger Sheung and Elliot Mason who combined for 37 of the Stallions 58 second half pints! The loan bright spot for Splash Bros was Seemu #3 hitting a team high 25 points.
The Stallions look to be “biding time” until the playoffs start like the San Antonio Spurs! It was a good showing without two key players being in the lineup.
Douglas 74 Vs. New Power Generation 79
New Power Generation - James Lum 36 Points, Frankie Liu 29 Points, Dan Tesuie 6 Points
Douglas - Andrew Morris 17, Omid Toussi and Sheldon Derton 10 each
I liked this matchup for one simple fact. Tommy Nixon was not in the lineup! I was curious to how they would respond vs a young high octane Douglas squad led by Malcom Mensah. New Power Generation’s Frankie Liu would make his presence known early and often, but Douglas had Andrew Morris go basket for basket with him!
NPG would hold a 3 point lead at half, but the game looked far from over! Douglas continued the 2nd half with their balanced attack, but NPG had an answer for them in the name of James Lum! Former Standout player from Charles Tupper, introduced himself to the people that may not have heard of his exploits! Lum scored a game high 36 points including 25 in the 2nd half and overtime!
If it was not for the performance by Liu and Lum, NPG would surely have lost this game!
This was a good win for NPG with one of their key players not in the lineup.
System 8 Athletics 62 Vs. SWAT 59
System 8 Athletics - Simon Pelland and Glenn Gravengard 14 Points , Tyler Lutton 12 Points
SWAT - Demi Harris 17 Points, #14 Kadeen 13 Points, Gabe Gibbs 10 Points
This matchup had the potential for a 90 point scoring extravaganza for both teams! You would not have imagined that in the first half, as both teams barely scored over 20 points each in the first half! Very peculiar to me seeing the talent that ran up and down the roster on both teams.
The second half would be a different story! Both teams raced up and down the court like Greyhounds! It became a rough and tumble matchup midway through the 2nd half, which made the game even more intense. Late in the 2nd half, Gabe Gibbs received a pass near the free throw line and was able to drive hard for a layup and the foul! With the game tied with about 15 seconds left in the game, Luke Wera came off of a middle screen and nailed a wide open three pointer to give System 8 a three point lead.
Gibbs had a chance to tie the game in the end, but missed the three on what appeared to be contact on the shot.
System 8 would stay unbeaten in Div 1 play, while SWAT loses its 2nd straight game.
Kings 96 Vs. Sonic Boom 76
Kings - Nik 32 Points, Dru Creightney 25 Points, Matt 17 Points
Sonic Boom - Justin 26 Points, Andre Grant 22 Points, Ian Pierre-Louis 13 Points
The Kings team seemed to be finding their way in Div 1 with a win last week, but they were missing a ton of players for this game. Luckily for them, Sonic Boom was too (which has been their M.O. this season).
The game was fast paced as I thought it would be, but a few things started to develop that could not be ignored. The Vancouver Metro record for three pointers made in a game is 10 “unofficially held by current Stallions member Prince Carano). King’s Dru Creightney decided to challenge that record! He ended the first half with 5 made 3s, which was 2 three pointers shy of the 1st half league record for threes made at 7 (unofficially)
The kings held an 11 point lead in the first half, and would d not look back! Sonic Boom put up a fight late in the 2nd half, but the game was over by then and the Kings didn’t let off the throttle.
Sonic Boom finds themselves near the bottom of the standings, while the Kings make their way up the ladder!
Division 2 Week 6 Monday - April 28, 2015
YMCMB 64 Vs. Cores 60
YMCMB - Jack Ho 25 Points, Kelly Low 10 Points, Paul Um 5 Points
Core - Alex Thierman 13 Points, Michael Cheung 12 Points, Sukha Hear 11 Points
In one of the Matchups of the season, a resurging YMCMB would face off against the always dangerous Core team.
Kelly Low looked “Spry” in warmups, and that is always a good sign for YM! Low give YM their inside outside edge on offense and defense. The engine that makes YM go is Jack Ho! The strength of Core is their size, strength, and the fact that one player can never beat them!
Core started out with their trademark inside out game and had YM on their heels early, but Jack Ho’s shot was on early, which gave YM a fighting chance as the rest of YM was ice cold! Jack’s 12 first half points kept YM close to Cores at the half only behind by 4.
The second half would see YM’s defense look like their championship defense of old! YM would use their quickness to get to lose balls and give themselves 2nd chance points. Cores couldn't buy a bucket in the 2nd half! Seemed as if there was a “Lid on the Rim, with a pad lock”!
YM was able to get small two possession lead, and on the back of Jack Ho’s 3 late game free throws, YM pulled off the upset of the night!
This was a big win for YM, who looked to be headed for a high seed matchup In the playoffs. Core will need to regroup from this loss, but I have a strong feeling they will.
Chill Co. 51 Vs. Bricklayers 69
Bricklayers - Shaurya 25 Points, Doug Cheung 13 Points, Jerry Ku 11 Points
Chill Co. - Harman Dhillon 18 Points, Jeff Daton 11 Points, Marcus Pannu 5 Points
The Bricklayers are an unpredictable bunch. The name sometimes fits their performances, but they have plenty of fire power to be better than the record they hold.
Chill Co is still trying to find their footing in the Vancouver Metro league, and they to have some fire power on that team but not nearly enough to make a number of mistakes.
Both teams had good success on offense, knocking down shot after shot on each other. The old saying “the Cream Rises To the Top” definitely applied in this case as the Bricklayers Shaurya #85 went off in this game! Shaurya went for 25 in the game connecting on five 3 pointers in the game.
Chill Co kept it close at the half, but had no answer for the “awakening“ of the Bricklayers scoring barrage!
Ballaholics 64 VS. Flight 76
Flight - Omar 34 Points, Dave W 14 Points, Jermaine 13 Points
Ballaholics - Malcolm Lee and Ahmed Mohammd 13 Points, Kingston Chung 12 Points
This even matchup seemed to have a fast paced look to it with both teams having a running mentality.
The balloholics interior defence seemed to stifle Flights inside attack, while they would almost score at will in the first half! The lone bright spot for Flight was#10 Omar! Omar raced off to a game high 17 point first half!
If it wasn’t for Omar’s hot shooting, Flight would have been down by double digits, not the 6 pints that it ended up being. The 2n half would see the entire Flight team join Omar in the scoring barrage!
The Balloholics continued to fight the onslaught to keep the game close, but Omar would blitz the Balloholics for another 17 points in the 2nd half! Flight would make an 18 point turn around to win by 12!
Flight doesn’t quite look like the title game team they were a few seasons ago, but they are on the right track for now!
Sofa King Good 81 - Team Kulinarya 66
Sofa King Good - Amritpal Bath 22 Points, Eddie Fan and JJ Bath 10 Points each
Team Kulinarya - Nik 21 Points, Justin and Alex 16 Points each
Sofa King Good is hard to gauge this season. We know how good this team is when healthy and “in town”, but they have yet to be healthy and in town for games. Kulinarya comes off an upset victory last week and looked to go for more.
That wouldn’t be a problem tonight, as SFG picked up where they always leave off in good games…Hot! Even though Kulinarya scored 33 points in the first half, SKG scored 48 off of seven 3 pointers!
Kulinarya would keep up their steady pace scoring 33 in the 2nd half too, but couldn’t make up ground on SKG who went on to win by 15 points.
Side note: JJ Bath seems to be fitting into his weight gain program finishing the game with 10 sneaky points. Kevin Rassmusen is out with an injury, and Eddie “Mad Man” Fan is still mad!
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