WixHigherEd!__Wix-SB-UK-Dec2120195746
top of page
Writer's pictureJohnny Besecker

Week 4 Recap (Javion's Edition)

Week 4 of the BBAL regular season was arguably the most electric week this year! Every game kept fans on their toes and made their time worth it. From upsets to unexpected events and more! Let’s dive into this deeply anticipated rivalry week!


Our scheduled prime-time game between the Bullies and 8 Balls ended up being our leadoff game and boy… It did not disappoint! Despite the Bullies not at full strength with Marquel Wansley and Kobe Gantz being out, they impressed fans including myself with a stellar performance. On the other hand, the 8 Balls finally at full strength had something to prove after last week’s tough upset loss. For the 8 Balls, Jason Kuntzelman showed promise of dominance in this game early on. Momentum was one-sided carried by defense and transition buckets especially for Jason and Julian. The Bullies struggled as we expected without two of their top guys, but Desean McFadden kept light to their darkness with a plethora of threes.  They were still in it thanks to him, in fact after their guard Erik Goldbach’s injury timeout, they scored 5 points in ten seconds at the end of the first to lead 44-43 at half. Opening up the 2nd half, the 8 Balls came out with usual defense and transition buckets that the Bullies simply couldn’t keep up with, especially with most Bully production being McFadden. The following theme occurred throughout the rest of the game. 8 Balls production came from Julian Collazo, who had quite the bounce back game with 31 pts, 10 rebounds, while shooting 81% from the field, Jason Kuntzelman with a solid return scoring 19 pts, but with a more impressive 6 steals! Although, he was nearly ejected with a technical foul and multiple chirps at refs to risk an ejection, hopefully we’ll see him having his team on the back of his mind and preventing techs even though you could blame the refs. As for the Bullies realistically, Desean McFadden was their only bright spot with 27 pts on 40% shooting despite taking 25 shots. The 8 Balls finished with ease and started rolling once again, winning 83-71 as there are no more undefeated teams left!


Game 2 was definitely a game of the week contender with the Dragons and Titans facing off! This was the first time we witnessed the Dragons fully healthy while the Titans were missing their early season MVP candidate Ant Pinkard. The Titans new addition, Makai-Ortiz Gray via trade with the Gremlins made his Titan debut however. Both teams were trading buckets to start and it was looking like must-see TV! Chase Yarberough was carrying the majority of the buckets in the first for the Titans, while the Dragons had several guys contributing including the “clumsy janitor” being their hype man. This game was a constant back and forth dogfight. As the game in the second half was neck and neck, it came down to the final seconds. Although, for the Dragons Elijah Terry being their leading scorer with 15 pts and 46% from the field, the game for them came down to Joey McCracken. With the Dragons being down 66-64 under 10 seconds left, Joey makes a cold-blooded and-1 to put his team ahead 67-66 with 7 seconds remaining. However, the Titans leading scorer Chase Yarberough with 20 pts and 56% from the field, the game for them however came down to Darnell Booth. The Titans being down 66-67, Rob Footman found Darnell for a trip to the line with 2 seconds remaining… The Dragons were loud on the sidelines hungry for this upset for their chance to prove their legitimacy and it worked… as Darnell missed both and the Titans fell to the Dragons, 66-67 who now have reached .500 after a slow 0-2 start!



Next, we had the Tropics against the WoodPeckers. The Tropics like the Dragons were at full strength again this week. Meanwhile, the Peckers have still managed to stay riding along the win-column despite sharpshooter Danny Bomberger being absent since week 2. Early on, Tyler Crespo for the Tropics was scoring with ease and for the Peckers, Devin Atkinson and Elijah Eberly showed flashes of later domination. Again, yet to have a blowout up to this point, this game was relatively close with the Peckers maintaining the lead majority of the game but the Tropics hanging around.  The Peckers started to pull away mid to late 2nd half as Aleer Gonzalez, who struggled in the first half started connecting and defense for the WoodPeckers came alive. After a Peckers timeout late, it seemed that this was the wakeup call with 3:45 to go was their cue to pull away. Tyler Crespo had a great game with 19 pts and 10 boards, same with Tyrell Melendez who scored 20 pts on 42% from the field although trade rumors escalated for him after his verbal frustration post-game with his team. The Peckers were led by stretch five, Aiden Sands scoring 21 pts on 67% from the field, Devin Atkinson with a near double-double scoring 19 pts while dishing 9 assists, Aleer Gonzalez with 18 pts, majority coming from the second half as shots finally dropped, and even Elijah Eberly with 16 pts and 4 blocks. WoodPeckers cemented themselves as a top team in this league finishing the Tropics 87-70 as Devin and the guys won the “Battle of the Atkinsons!”




Lanc Show and Gremlins up next served us our first blowout of the night and a very unexpected event! The Lanc Show after trading for Nassir McFadden from the Gremlins had something to prove with Ajani Simmons facing off against his former team. The Gremlins however, no one expected much. They’ve traded everyone and are in search of a major rebuild as we have yet to receive an explanation for these moves from Captain Tony Cruz.

Early on, the Lanc Show looked dominant as they did the whole game up 16-6 in less than 10 minutes. Tony Cruz and Andrew Williams, who the Gremlins received from the Nassir deal, were their only bright spots in the first half and honestly throughout the whole game. Ajani and Nassir looked dominant throughout the whole game but, Ajani’s scoring pace seemed on pace for the record books. As the Lanc Show dominated the first half, the Gremlins low morale seemed to get to them as teammates Samir Gordon and Jah Greaves squared up and made the history books in the BBAL with the first fight let alone friendly fire as my understanding is Jah’s lack of transition defense. After this, the game continued to turn upside down as Ajani captured a season-high in threes made with 9 and a 40 bomb! Luke Pierson, also dominated on the glass to help Ajani’s second chance points with 15 rebounds. I sure did call Ajani’s dominant home-coming performance last week and he delivered in a fun way dancing after nearly every three and drilling half court threes. The Lanc Show dominated and set a season-high in points with a remarkable 109-66 victory!



To finish out week 4, the Huskies and CherryPickers served us our 2nd consecutive blowout!

The Huskies I could tell were looking to give the Pickers a taste of their own medicine from last week after the Pickers blew out the Tropics and I certainly believed it with Kurt Goldbach making a comeback and his presence felt on the bench as a hype man. The CherryPickers however looked to continue their dominance from last week scoring nearly 100 but could they excel out on the Sport Court? Early on, it wasn’t looking good for the Pickers as the Huskies drilled 3 threes to start and were up 9-0. Their defense was elite and many threats were active offensively. Most notable was Elijah Wahington as usually when he struggles, it’s been an occurring theme that their team does. Last week, the Pickers got hot and weren’t missing, history repeated itself against their favor this time. This game was really a blowout from start to finish. The Huskies production came from Elijah Washington’s 20 pts, David Kamwanga’s 17 pts on 86% from the field, Timmy Edward’s 16 pts on 64% shooting, and even Isaiah Valentine’s 11 pts and more importantly three 3’s which solidified their efforts of team basketball and sharing the ball. The CherryPickers struggled mostly from start to finish all around. Although Devin Kabasele’s 20 pts on 73% shooting was notable, everyone else offensively disappointed. John-John with 9 pts, KJ Brownlee with 8 pts, Joe Chupick also with 8 pts and once Matt Mcleary struggled with 3 pts as a total script flip occurred throughout this game. They went from a dominant offensive performance to flat-out awful. Without being said, this resulted in a 79-60 victory for the Huskies to wrap up week 4 and give us a blowout in the prime-time game!


Week 4 is behind us but certainly won’t be forgotten! Many great games and must-see performances and events! Look ahead to week 5 and more of what BBAL basketball has to offer in the coming weeks!












63 views0 comments

Comentarios


BAL_MASCOT_BASKETBALL_COLOR_1_HIGH_RES.png
bottom of page