Spring 2016: Saturday Draft League Champs: Return of the Dojo

We knew the title matchup between Return of the Dojo and Bust a Kap would be quite the slugfest, but it was Dojo that emerged victorious, leaving Bust a Kap bloodied and on the runner-up mat with a 57-48 win to take home the SDL S16 title.

The first half of this one would have fit perfectly in the 90s NBA (Heat and Knicks anybody?) as Return of the Dojo held a 21-19 lead at the break.

The Bust a Kap offense really struggled late in the first as they scored just six points over the final 10 minutes of the first. Surprisingly, before their drought, Bust a Kap held a 13-8 advantage thanks to a long Kap 3-ball at the midway point of the first.

Matt Roberts took home MVP honors thanks to his 21-point, 13-rebound performance, which featured 13 second-half points, including 7-7 from the line to ice it over the final 1:05.

He wasn’t alone for Dojo though.

Eric Haudel, who was held scoreless in the first half, scored six points and added a sweet behind the back dish to a cutting Evan Kodra during a crucial 13-1 Dojo run that saw them erase a 25-23 Bust a Kap advantage and go up 36-26 with 12:40 to play. Crucial indeed as they would never look back.

Tobi Adebanjo continued his hot shooting from beyond the arc and scored a game-high 11 at the break on 3-5 from deep. Sure one triple was a backboard-shattering banker to put Dojo up 21-13 with about three minutes in the first, but the box score doesn’t reflect that. Tobi had an unbelievable game on the defensive end too as he finished with four swats and two swipes.

Evan Kodra scored eight of his 10 points in the second half and hauled in 12 rebounds, all the while playing some stifling defense, especially early on where he took to harassing Kap at the 3-point line.

And then there was an injured Waldo, who was rooting his teammates on from the sideline and even called a random timeout in the first just to feel like he was part of the action. JJ got a nice sweat going.

This was a weird one for Bust a Kap. They never seemed to click on offense. Kap scored six of his 15 in the second half, but finished with an un-Kap-like one assist for the day. He also found the iron to be somewhat unkind from deep as he hit just 3-13 from deep. Dave Cox, who finished with a team-high 16, did his usual battle on the boards (15 boards), but had just four points at the break. Keith Leven was pretty solid, while chipping in with 12 points and a team-high four dimes.

We may have seen the last of Haudel, who is en route to D.C. as of my writing this, but he will live on forever in the form of SDL S16 sweatpants and after a championship banner is put up on the Wall at CAC. Oh wait, scrap that second part. Hey, there’s always the sweatpants though.

Kap (high bounce and in) and Tobi (off a Kodra offensive board and kick) traded 3-balls early in the first, but Tobi one-upped him and drained another for an 8-7 Dojo advantage nearly six minutes in.

Kap’s second bomb of the first pushed the lead to 13-8 at the exactly the midway point of the first, but then Roberts took over and singlehandedly highlighted an 8-0 run.

-Post-spin.

-Dish to a cutting Kodra for the hoop.

-Then a David West midranger off a Haudel inbound.

-Mix in a tough drive for the Minotaur and just like that it was 16-13 with five and change to play in the first.

Some notes at this point: Cox had just one FG (15-footer), but he was doing work on the boards with 9 rebounds. Roberts had 8-6. Nick Altschuller had a game-high three dimes. No lie.

A Cox jumper would cut the Dojo lead to 21-19 with 1:20 left in the half.

Roberts continued his dominance down low with a Big Al post-score to open the second, but Altschuller, now officially ‘the Novelist,’ dialed long distance after Cox’s 1-2 from the line to knot things up at 23-23.

From Steven Adams to Steve Novak, I guess.

Cox snuck in for an offensive rebound between two defenders and put it home to give Bust a Kap a 25-23 lead, but Haudel decided it was time to do some swishing and dishing as he capped a game-changing 13-1 run with a stop-on-a-dime pull-up J (his first FG), a behind the back dish to Kodra for the contact-score (And-1?), an offensive board and score, and another dish, this one a perfectly placed Stockton bullet to Roberts (his Malone) for the score.

Haudel just happened.

Kap found nylon on a trey to cut the Dojo lead to 38-33 with six to play, but Dojo decided to expose a mismatch as Tobi posted up Mike Rousselle to the tune of a post-score and 1-2 from the line for a 42-35 lead with 2:45 to play.

Tobi came up with an even bigger play down the other end as he came up with a block on Cox from behind.

Two more Tobi freebies pushed the lead to 47-39 with just over a minute to play, and despite late triples from Cox and Leven, Dojo hit 10-10 from the stripe to seal the victory.

Congrats to Return of the Dojo on the title. Nice way for Haudel to go out.