Commish Corner – Fall Season Quarterfinals
Top News and Questions
1. Could the Wildcats move on to the semifinals? NO!
2. Could the Grippers send the defending women’s champions Angels home? YES!
3. Would the Blades and the Xmen take one more step towards the dream Elite league final? YES! But it was harder than it should have been for one of those teams….
4. Could Cinderella make an appearance in the B league quarters? NO!
5. Register for the Winter League! http://www.playlegendsbasketball.com/Register.htm
6. Register for the Legends Annual Party! http://www.playlegendsbasketball.com/registerparty.htm
FanCam!
The Blades’ cheering section likes what they see!
Men’s Game of the Week – Blades vs. Jackals (Elite League Quarters)
The winless Jackals gave everything they had to the Blades in a thrilling quarterfinal game. Both teams had very balanced scoring and the game went to and incredible overtime before the Blades barely escaped with a 65 to 61 OT win. Barber scored 17 for the Blades while Hale added 14 and Noel added 11. For the Jackals Hay scored 18 while Fraser and Toler each scored 13. The newest Jackal Hay almost turned the winless Jackal’s season into an incredible story, but it was not to be. The Jackals looked like they had the number 1 seed Blades out, as they were up by 5 with just a couple minutes to go. One more free throw would have iced the victory, but that stubborn rim would not give way! To the Blades’ credit, they never gave up even when stud Chris Melton fouled out.
Ladies Game of the Week – Grippers vs. Angels (Quarterfinal Game)
For a team of veteran Legends players, the Grippers have had a rough season. However, in this quarterfinal game, they used their veteran experience and a killer defense to stifle the Angels and ensuring there would be no repeat champions. In the 45 to 33 victory, Newbold had 12, McIntosh had 11 and Kainth had 8 for the victors. Barkalow and Wilkinson each had 7 for the Angels.
Legend of the Week – Don ‘The Rock’ Robinson (RimRockers)
After a season where he was totally underutilized, Don passed out copies of Keyshawn Johnson’s book ‘Just Give Me the Damn Ball’ before the RimRockers quarterfinal game against the BadaBings. His teammates got the hint and he erupted for 26 points in the RimRockers stunningly easy 90 to 57 victory. To be fair, the BadaBings were hurting, as their superstar Zenker went down to injury last week.
“The Rock” starts his drive!
Other Stars in No Particular Order:
1) Hay (Jackals) – see above.
Lou Hay corrals the rebound.
2) Posey (RimRockers) – Posey also had 26 points for the RimRockers in their win against the BadaBings.
3) Robinson (Assassins) – A different Mr. Robinson, this one scored 16 to lead the Assassins in their 53 to 38 victory over the Kings.
4) Pruett (Gladiators) – In a game where both teams played great defense (read, neither could hit the side of a barn) Pruett scored 16 to lead the Gladiators to a 28 to 24 victory over the Hoosiers in a B league quarterfinal game.
Ladies Legend of the Week – Newbold (Grippers)
See above
Well, Newbold missed “Picture Day”, but here are her teammates McIntosh, Lindmuth, and Kainth!
Highlights
1. / Xmen / With Nguyen scoring 17 and Upson and Julien each adding 10, the Xmen cruised into the Elite League Semi’s with a 59 to 40 win over the Sharks.2. / Sharks / Fisher had 13 and Lambert chipped in with 12 in the loss.
3. / Blades / See above.
4. / Jackals / See above.
5. / LittleLeaguers / The LittleLeaguers took care of the Elders, winning 50 to 41 as Crowder scored 16 and Arnoile added 10. “I new the Commish was right in asking us to move to Elite,” stated “Average Player of the Year”, Nick Kourtesis.
6. / Elders / Smith and Waldron led the way with 14 and 9 respectively. This may be the first time the Elders have been eliminated so early in the Legends tourney. They initially won the first 4 seasons of Legends before other teams finally developed a plan to take them out. It was particularly difficult this season as one of their top superstars was out all season – Kyle Rice. “We are anticipating his return in the winter, and we are also looking to get another old guy to join us for our inevitable resurgence…some guy named Shaq,” coach Styers stated.
7. / RimRockers / See above.
8. / BadaBings / Morgan led the way in the quarterfinal loss with 16 while Finlay and Lamm each had 13.
9. / Mantua / Sharman had a great game with 24 points as the Mantua moved on the A Semifinals, defeating the Ghosts 67 to 53. Hawley threw down 21 as well.
10. / Ghosts / Blanken’s 22 and James’s 20 led way for the Ghosts.
11. / Assassins / See above.
12. / Kings / What happened to the Kings? The Kings clearly abdicated their throne at the end of the season. Schroeder had 10 and Torres had 9 in the loss.
13. / GreyThunder / The GreyThunder weaseled their way into the Semi’s by giving the Stallions the swine flu and forcing them to forfeit the game. “Hey, we made it to the semis, and we will take it any way we can get it,” coach Ipsan explained.
14. / Stallions / Oink Oink.
15. / StrongArms / Upset special – the StrongArms took it to the one-loss Wildcats and handily defeated them to advance the A League Semifinals with a 46 to 34 win. Donnelly had 11, McLeary had 10 and Razem had 9 in the win.
16. / Wildcats / A disappointed Wildcats team was led by Wharam’s 14 and Twyman’s 9 in the loss.
17. / Grippers / See above.
18. / Angels / See above.
19. / Islanders / The Islanders had no trouble with the Zephyrs winning 45 to 33 as R. Havlovick had 15 and Sethi added 12.
20. / Zephyrs / Marshall had 9 and Diamantidis had 8 for the Zephyrs.
21. / Gladiators / See above.
22. / Hoosiers / Michalski had another good game in the loss finishing with 13 points.
23. / Terminators / The Terminators held off the Khanmen’s upset bid winning 37 to 34 as Tannenbaum had 10 and Fred Rucker added 8.
24. / Khanmen / Miller and Khan led the way with 12 and 10 respectively.
25. / Showtime / Thanks to 14 from Fries and 8 from Maynard, the Showtime defeated the Killers in a consolation game 52 to 50.
26. / Killers / Thomas had 21 for the Killers in the defeat.
Semifinal preview:
1) Can Don Robinson lead the RimRockers past the #1 seeded Blades or will destiny prevail??
2) How about the showdown of the Xmen and LittleLeaguers? This author would not want to have to face Crowder!
3) Will the GreyThunder be able to upset the mighty #1 seed Mantua?
4) Can the StrongArms continue their magic? They will have their hands full with the deadly Assassins!
5) Can the Thangs finally make it out of the semifinal round after many disappointments?
6) Who will advance between the Gladiators and the Terminators? We guess it depends what model of Terminator will be sent back in time…
7) Will the Thunder and the Lightning game go to 5 overtimes?
8) Can the Grippers continue to play inspired ball and take down the #1 seed Wolves?
Too much excitement to handle!
Story by Mr. Thang
Pictures courtesy “The Commish”