W14a: Gay Fish, Mack Attack win tight games to advance to championships

by Chuck Martin

Monday, July 12, 2010 – San Francisco CA – Last Thursday was the appetizer, a single first-round playoff game that saw High Tops (& Bottoms) edge Passion Posse for a trip to the A Division final. Tonight was the main course: six teams in action, only three earning the right to go on to the delectable dessert, the league championship games. And two of the main course games turned out to be tremendously exciting, tense, taut affairs that went right down to the wire. In the only A Division game of the night, Gay Fish trailed for all but 37 minutes and 30 seconds, but led when it counted most, when the game clock read 00:00, edging Team Jacob 42-41. While it can be said that Mack Attack led most of the way in its B Division game against Defenders, the leads were never large, and it was only some late defensive brilliance that led to a 41-35 win. In the final B Division game, City Swishers overcame a sputtering start to dominate Moonlanding and win 44-25.

Mack Attack and Defenders both finished the season 4-5, and both wanted to win to get the opportunity to take on the division juggernaut that is City Swishers. Mack Attack opened its playoff push with a 7-0 run in the first couple of minutes of its first-round game against the Defenders. Defenders returned the favor, responding with a 7-0 run of their of their own, and then Mack Attack hit again just before the five-minutes-in mark to retake the lead at that point, 9-7. Defenders came back to hit two quick buckets, and Mack Attach hit an inside jumper to make it 11-11 with 12:15 left in the first half. It was becoming a back-and-forth game, and with 10 minutes left, Mack Attack held the barest of edges, 14-13. However, at about 9 minutes left, the game stalled at 16-16, and remained there until Defenders hit with an off-balance 18-footer with 4 minutes left, a five-minute stretch of scorelessness. Mack Attack scored the last 5 points of the half to take a 21-18 lead into the break.

The second half started as a mirror image of the first: Defenders scored in an early run, theirs 6-0 to go up 24-21. Mack Attack hit the next bucket though, and then tied the game up at 26-26 at the 5-minute mark, and then went on a 7-0 run over the next 1:30 to take a 33-26 lead with 13:30 left. Mack Attack extended the lead to 12 points with 7 minutes left. Defenders made a late push, closing the gap to 38-33 with 2:45 left, due in part to going to a man-to-man defense and creating Mack Attack turnovers. Defenders scored again with 1:30 left to trim the lead to 38-35. Defenders tried to trap, but fouled, sending Mack Attack to the line. They missed the front half and Defenders got the rebound, but turned the ball over themselves with 1:10 left. Defenders had to foul, putting Mack Attack on the line with 1:00 left and a one-and-one. Mack Attack missed the front end again and Defenders got the rebound and brought the ball down court. But they turned the ball over again with 40 seconds left, and Defenders had to foul. Mack Attack was in the double bonus, yet they hit neither of their shots. Defenders took a timeout with 35.5 seconds left, basically giving them last possession with the shot clock virtually off, down by 3. Mack Attack stole the ball in the front court and took it in for a layup to make it 40-35 with 30 seconds left, then got the ball back again and was fouled. They missed both again, Defenders brought the ball down quickly and took a three, but missed. Mack Attack grabbed the rebound and was immediately fouled with 12.7 seconds left. This time–finally–they made one (of two), and won 41-35 to go on to the finals.

Team Jacob and Gay Fish came into their first-round game with opposite records, 6-3 vs. 3-6. Both Gay Fish and Team Jacob hit quick inside shots and three pointers early in their first-round playoff matchup. Even so, defense ruled early, as Team Jacob was the only team to hit another shot in the first 5 minutes, to lead 7-5 at that point. Over the next 5 minutes, the only points Gay Fish could scored was from 2 foul shots, and Team Jacob had more than matched that to lead 12-7 at the 10-minute mark. Scoring then came to a screeching halt, the defenses really taking hold, until Team Jacob hit a foul shot with 4:30 left to make it 13-7. Gay Fish finally responded with a a basket of their own with just over 2 minutes left, after a more-than 8 minute drought of their own, to make it 13-9. The two teams traded scoring to leave Team Jacob leading 17-13 at the break.

Team Jacob opened the second half the same way hey opened the first, with a quick jumper and a three, to take a quick 22-13 lead. Gay Fish responded with a couple of baskets of their own to cut the lead to 22-17, but a nice putback by Team Jacob extended the lead yet again. Gay Fish hit their own three to make it 24-20 on their next possession. Really, though, it was Team Jacob;s rebounding, especially their offensive rebounding, that was keeping them in the lead. They hit one more basket by the 5-minute mark to lead 26-20 at that point, Gay Fish had edged it back up to 26-23 with 11 minutes to go when a key event happened: they committed their 7th foul, putting Team Jacob in the bonus. Team Jacob made both foul shots to push it back to 28-23, yet Gay Fish hit back quickly at the 10-minute mark to make it 28-25. Team Jacob continued to be aggressive inside, drawing a foul again with 9 minutes left, making the first, missing the second, getting the rebound, and making a layup to take a 31-25 lead with just over 8 minutes left. With 5 minutes left, nothing had changed. The lead was still 5, the scores were just a bit higher, 35-30. Gay Fish hit a layup and was fouled with 4:20 left, and made the free throw to cit the lead to 35-33. Team Jacob missed, and Gay Fish hit a layup and was fouled again. This time, they missed the free throw, leaving the game knotted at 35-35. They were able to secure the rebound, giving them another possession, where they hit a three, to give them their first lead of the game, 38-35, with 2:30 to go. Team Jacob hit their own three with 2:00 left to tie it back up. Gay Fish drove for another layup, made it, and was fouled again. Again, they missed the foul shot. Team Jacob got the rebound, but then turned the ball over. Gay Fish turned it right back over, giving Team Jacob the ball trailing by 2 with 1:30 left. They missed a three and Gay Fish got the rebound. They were fouled, but missed, leaving Team Jacob with the ball and 65 ticks on the clock, still trailing. They took another three, but was short, and got the rebound and was fouled. Being in the double bonus, they had two shots, but missed the first and made the second. Gay Fish turned the ball over with 18 seconds left and Team Jacob drove for a layup with 10.2 left to take the lead back 41-40. Gay Fish brought the ball up from the end line against a press by Team Jacob, and got an out-of-bounds with 4.9 left. They were fouled on the ensuing play, sending them to the line for a one-and-one with 3.8 left, making both to take the lead back 42-41, and Team Jacob could not get a final shot off, leaving Gay Fish, at 3-6, the upset winner going to the finals.

B Division-leading City Swishers got a slow start in its face off against Moonlanding, who was looking to be the second 3-6 team of the night to pull a playoff upset. But it wasn’t long before City Swishers asserted themselves, especially on defense. And it was that defense that trumped even an offense that finally clicked, holding Moonlanding to a single-digit first half, while more than doubling up that total to take a 20-8 lead into halftime. The Moonlanding offense finally got on track in the second half, but City Swishers were still better, winning the half 24-17 and the game 44-25.

The final games of the season are this Thursday, July 15. First up, at 7:30pm, the B Division championship pitting City Swishers and Mack Attack. Then, at 8:45pm, the A Division championship, with Gay Fish taking on High Tops (& Bottoms). All games are on the Mark Bingham court at the Eureka Valley Recreation Center, 100 Collingwood (behind Delano’s IGA), and are free for the public to view. And view the league schedule and game results here.