FALL 2021: B2 5v5 League Champs: Jared & The Hartbreakers

Jared gives Soup-A-Stars the heartbreak
Soup-A-Stars 56 Jared and the Hartbreakers 60

Hello B2 South, you must be wondering why you're getting a headline and a real write-up today. Well, you're in for a treat, because King Harry is here to bestow his coverage abilities upon you. I noticed one team, Soup-A-Stars from Wednesday B2 or at least most of the team. What I didn't know, is that this team had the superstar on it. I didn't notice anyone on the other team though. Apparently, team Jared knocked off the 1 seed last week and Soup-A-Stars is the 2 seed. Should be an interesting one, TO THE ACTION! 

The game got off to a rough start, for me, because I forgot how damn hard it is to score when you don't know anyone's name. Then of course this stupid CAC scoreboard has the home and guest buttons on the wrong side, so home points show up as guest on the outside of the scoreboard. What a shitshow, anyways to the actual game. JATH came out hot out of the gates behind some strong 3-point shooting from Oliver, who was stroking from around Steph Curry distance early on. He wasn't alone though, as all for of his teammates also knocked down a 3. I liked how their offense worked, Sam would work in the post and inside the paint, while everyone else spread out on the outside looking for their jumper. I am a fan the 1 in, 4 out spread offense and it was working early on. 

On the other end of the floor, I got a taste of Soup-A-Stars new big time player as Jordan (no relation to Mike), was gliding up and down the floor for bucket after bucket. There didn't appear to be a plan on JATH's part, who I'm sure has seen Jordan before, so Jordan kept lighting up their defense. Jordan, had 24 first half points. I guess the defensive plan was to let him do his thing and stop everyone else, which may have seemed like a good idea before he had a quick 24 points in the half. 

The first half was a back and forth grind, with Soup-A-Stars taking a 1 point lead. Soup-A-Stars weren't happy with the physicality going on as Nick picked up a technical foul. You have to expect the physicality to pick up in championship games, not a good idea to pick a T. That led to 4 free throws for JATH and they got the ball back, but they didn't complete the normal 7-point possession. BACK TO THE ACTION!

If I already didn't pick on it, the start of the second half reinforced the fact that Jordan was either going to win this game for his team or he wasn't. The rest of Soup-A-Stars really struggled to get their shots going. The whole combined to go 0 for 10 from 3 in the second half. Everyone named Jordan combined to score 6 second half points. I feel like they didn't get enough looks down low to Tom or Neil in the second half, who are capable of some buckets. 

JATH started to pull ahead a little bit as the second half moved on. Their scoring was much more balanced as they did a better job of moving the ball around and finding open shooters. The Soup-A-Stars bench was imploring their guys not to double the post, but the call was going unanswered for the most part. Sean/Oliver/Tucker all combined to go 4 for 15 from 3, which is great, but a lot better than was happening on the other end of the court. They were able to make just enough shots.

It was 50-50 with 7 minutes to go before JATH, hit a couple shots to make this a three possession game, before Soup-A-Stars started to unleash the ball pressure. Their constant ball pressure full court led to some turnovers and before I knew it, the game was tied 56-56 with 2 minutes remaining. Soup-A-Stars had 7 second half steals. However, JATH would answer that run with a top of the key jumper for Tim, giving JATH the lead back 58-56. Soup-A-Stars couldn't answer the following possessions and Tim went to the line after being fouled and iced the game for his squad. 60-56 Final. 

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