Spring 2013: Corporate 5v5 League Champs: Autotegrity

Commentary by Ross...

Sons of Liberty 48  Industrial Economics 50

Game winner at the buzzer!

The first round of the playoffs got off to a great start. The first game off the playoffs was Industrial Economics vs. Sons of Liberty. This was a great match up that had two all-stars on both teams. This game was a battle and you felt and knew that this was going to be close all the way to the end. This first half was all about defense and execution and whoever preformed the best was going to win. Derr got off to a great start, he got down low in the post early determined to score no matter who was guarding him. He would grab offensive rebounds but also played fantastic defense. Silton was quiet on offense because he was being heavily guarded by Sydorko. I haven’t seen both players being locked down like that all season.  What a match up to see. Kase is always a funky player but in this game, he attacked the basket hard by putting his head down like a bull trying to draw fouls. Things started to get chippy between Kase and Dollard. This started a lot of complaining to the Ref’s about foul calls not being made. I think the only person on the court that didn’t complain about a single foul was Jennings. Jennings played great defense in the first half, he locked down whoever he was guarding and he stole the ball three times. McAuliffe was an animal when it came to scoring, without any hesitation he would pull at least two feet behind the three point line. He also has his funky crossover moves that allows him to get an easy lay ups. He really lead him team when it came to scoring and playing defense. Although this was a low scoring half, both team played phenomenal defense. The halftime score was Industrial Economics 20, and Sons of Liberty, 20. In the second half, I still heard a lot of complaining about foul calls by Dollard. I thought he was the most vocal person on the court, complaining about foul calls, when he should have forgotten about that and focused on helping his team score. McAuliffe continued his scoring streak but he got into early foul troubles as he picked up two fouls in the second half. This limited him in his scoring and defense because he could not draw one more foul without being out of the game. Finally, Sydorko started to score and attack the basket. In the second half, he scored all of his 12 points while getting to the line at least 14 times. Although Jennings wasn’t scoring as much as he normally does, he was assisting his teammates for easy baskets. Both teams in the second half kept trading baskets for baskets making for a close game. Derr continued his scoring streak as well, scoring down low with ease by grabbing a ton of offensive rebounds. Smith also contributed with the rebounding on offense and defense. The game was close all the way until one minute left. With Sons of Liberty being in early foul trouble, Industrial Economics attacked the basket as hard as they could trying to draw a foul. Sons of Liberty were down by 2 with 30 seconds to go and with some pressure defense, were able to tie the game. Coming out of a time out, there was 9.6 seconds left on the clock and the ball was in Silton’s hand. He got the ball and went around a pick and was heavily guarded as he threw up a mid-range shot to win the game. The final score was Industrial Economics 50, and Sons of Liberty 48. What a great game!

Autotegrity 62  Initech 56

Auto-win

The second game of the night was Autoegirty VS Initech. This matchup was interesting because this was a #1 team VS a team that thought they didn’t make the playoffs. Initech was missing two of the Holt brothers and by the looks of it, it seemed like this game was going to be long for Initech. Right of the start, Johnson was relentlessly scoring the ball and it seemed like he didn’t need his teammates. He was playing defense, rebounding, assisting, and scoring all at once playing like an MVP. It seemed like Autoegirty was playing 1 VS 5 based off of Johnson’s game play. Johnson scored 21 points in the first half by attacking the basket down low. Initech knew that they had a challenge but they were up for the task. D. Holt was really the leader for his team as he coached his teammates to shoot the ball and communicate when it came to defense. I was surprised how well they shot the ball and in the first half the entire team scored most of the points by hitting their 3 point shot. They were 6/11 in the first half from deep as a team, and this is what kept them in the game. The halftime score was Autoegirty 33 and Initech, 26. In the second half, of course, Johnson continued to score, but Initech found a way to slow him down. As they did this, Mcaveeney started to pick up the scoring. He got to the line 7 times and he was 7/7 from the free throw. Everybody on Autoegirty had a bucket to help contribute to their team’s scoring. Without having Johnson at the game, this would be a tough game on both ends. Initech, as well as they were playing from deep, was having a tough time shooting their own free throws. As it seemed, they were 6/16 as a team at the free throw. That really hurt them throughout the game. Davis came alive in the second half with his 3 point scoring. He started to make his baskets, and got his team in close distance to tie the game.  Durfee is a sneaky player when it comes to playing defense, but he was able to dish out 6 assists to his teammates, but more towards Davis and his 3 point shooting. Initech tried to make a comeback and surprisingly, they almost did, but the overpowering scoring by Johnson and his teammates, made it too much for them. The final score was Autoegirty 62 and Initech 56.