By Eric Poe/sports editor
The series of NE basketball league games March 2 saw Team Four continue its poor run with its fourth loss of the season, Team Five lose its first game of the season and Team Two push itself into the championship picture with two wins.Team One and Team Four started the day off. Team One dominated in all facets, winning 62-29.
Team Four, yet to win a game, led 5-2 after five minutes of play. That would be the last time it would lead as Team One went on a 30-6 run the rest of the first half to lead 35-8 at the break.
David Reid/The Collegian
Team Four was plagued by turnovers and poor shot selection, and Team One was happy to turn those into points. With the outcome not in doubt at halftime, both teams went through the motions the last 18 minutes.
“We should have scored 80 [points],” Team One shooting guard Yasmen Pickens said.
Team One point guard Donovan Baker said Team Four’s ball retention problems made the game easy.
“They had 30 turnovers at least,” he said. “It would have been better if it was close, but it was fun. We just got to mess around. We tried to get off at least 60 shots.”
Team Five went into its game undefeated and looked like shoo-ins for the championship. Team Two had other ideas and came out as 46-41 winners.
Team Five started the game firing on all cylinders, jumping to an early lead on the back of Yancey Davis’ clutch three-point shooting.
Team Five led 26-15 at halftime. Team Two came out of the half like gangbusters, eventually tying the game at 37 with nine minutes left and with key contributions from Theodore Udume and Donovan Curry. Team Two constantly broke down Team Five’s zone defense by getting to the rim and finishing.
With 16 seconds left and Team Two holding a slender 44-41 lead, Davis was fouled on a three-point attempt, resulting in three free throws. With the chance to tie the game, Davis missed all three. That sealed the nail-biting win for Team Two.
Team Five point guard Cameron Armstrong said he didn’t expect to lose after holding an 11-point halftime lead.
“That went a lot different than I thought,” he said. “They caught us on the fast break, and we stopped hitting our shots. If we play them again, we’ll beat them.”
Curry said Team Two’s halftime team talk shifted the game in its favor.
“We said we had to step up our defense,” he said. “Our full-court press rattled them up, and we started playing pretty good defense.”
Team Two didn’t have time to revel in its win as it was slated to play back-to-back. Going up against Team Three, who had lost both of its games the previous week, Team Two continued where it left off in its first game, winning 46-34.
The first half was a defensive battle with Team Three leading at halftime 16-15. Team Three point guard Courtland Williams set the tempo for his team. Not long into the second half, though, he pulled up lame with a hamstring injury.
With Williams out, Team Three surrendered the lead and the game. A clutch three-pointer by Team Two shooting guard Juan Gonzalez with nine minutes left put his team up 30-24. That set the tone for the rest of the game as Team Three had no answer.
Team Two pulled away and ended with a commanding 12-point victory.
Gonzalez said there was a huge momentum shift in the last quarter of the game even though his team was tired.
“It was the snowball effect,” he said. “One of our players gets hot, and it amps up the team. Fatigue was a factor only in the beginning. But we didn’t get a second wind. We got our third wind.”
Team Two point guard Edgar Guereca said his team turned it around in the second half.
“We started off shaky,” he said. “But the last two games, we have gotten comfortable together. We just played team basketball, and we all really wanted to win.”
