Evergreens 120, Jet Sets 100
The league billed this game as a huge match-up in a burgeoning rivalry. Unfortunately for the Jet Sets and viewers at home, Jeff Regensburg missed the contest as he was in Ireland. If David Stern ran the league, he’d bring the hammer down for not putting their best team out on the field (e.g. the Spurs back in November). Without Regensburg, the Evergreens manned up on Stephen Vandenburg and Sets captain Matt Parsons (game-highs 26 points, 8 assists) placed himself on the outside rather than his customary position in the middle of the field, opting to take on more of a scoring role. The move payed huge dividends early on with Parsons scoring at will from the flex area, finding teammates for backdoor dunks, and even adding a transition four into an empty net. On the other side of the ball, Evergreens rookie Harold Bolton (19 points) was on fire in the first period. Aside from more traditional flex zone goals, Bolton also both threw and kicked ring shots through for four points apiece. The Evergreens held a 41-38 advantage after one period.
Then, fans witnessed a Kronum first as Evergreens wedgeback Vince Rota (7 points, 6 saves on 13 attempts) spiked the second period prime rush into the chamber for four points before the opposing wedgeback could get back into position. The Evergreens used that momentum to build upon their lead, going up by as many as 14 points. The Jet Sets came roaring back though, behind 4-point cross shots from Don McCall and Ryan Skinner. Stephen Vandenberg (8 points on 4-8 shooting)had his best stretch of the game, as he was finally able to shake his man-mark to get a few open shots in the flex area. After a Parsons flex shot at the buzzer, the Sets had closed the deficit to 81-77 after two periods.
Unfortunately for the Jet Sets, that play late in the second period did not carry over into the final stanza, with the offense going ice cold. As he had all game, Ryan Maley (team-high 23 points, 7 assists, 10 saves on 18 attempts) was all over the field, coming up with huge saves and serving as the catalyst of the Evergreens’ offense. The Evergreens team as a whole continued to punish the Sets in the goal zone (16 goal zone points for the game) and the lead steadily grew. With the Jet Sets fouling them down the stretch, the Evergreens successfully converted on their penalty shots (led by Joe Petrino’s 3-4 on the game), to deny any potential comeback effort.
The victory all but locks up the 2nd seed and a first round bye for the Evergreens; they hold a 1.5 game advantage over the Urban Legends in the standings and own the tiebreaker. Ryan Maley rebounded nicely from a couple down performances against the Nimble Jacks and Night Owls and the rest of the team picked up the slack for what wasn’t the best game from Joe Petrino (19 points on 4-17 shooting). The Jet Sets really missed Regensburg in this contest; no player other than Parsons tallied more than 11 points. Their team’s identity is too tied up in a high-powered offensive attack to go without the perennial league-leading scorer. With the loss, they’re essentially locked into the middle of the playoff field in both directions. Their remaining games should be used to fine-tune things on both ends if they hope to earn a marquee victory over the higher-seeded teams in postseason play.
Night Owls 112, Throwbacks 104
By all accounts, Kyle McGrath has always been a Philadelphia-area guy: Springfield, PA native, West Chester University graduate, so on and so forth; you’ve likely heard it all before from McGrath himself. However, with 5 Night Owls regulars missing the game (Chris VonTanhausen, Brett McGlensey, Jay Klein, Bill Zane, and Dan Geroit), the Owls’ captain was forced to take a page from another league’s star and go ‘back to his Cleveland days’. McGrath terrorized the Throwbacks in all facets of the game, racking up a league-high 48 points on just 22 shots, while also leading the team in assists (5) and recording a league-high 4 blocks. He did miss surpassing the 50-point threshold for the second time this season when his final penalty shot clanged off the post. Better step it up next time.
McGrath got started right away, hitting two cross shots in the game’s opening minutes, while also hitting an additional cross shot and a ring shot from the flex later in the period on his way to a 20+ point frame. Initially, the Throwbacks’ offense was able to go blow for blow with the Owls, looking sharp in scoring from the flex, wedge, and goal zones. As is their style, the Throwbacks featured a balanced attack with Ryan Kirby (16 points) getting into the teeth of the defense in the wedge area, Steve Fariss (18 points) playing his efficient game in the flex zone, and Steve Botta (18 points, 11 saves on 21 attempts) doing a little bit of everything. The Night Owls held a slim 45-42 lead after one period.
On the first play of 2nd period, McGrath picked up right he left off, converting a 7 point play after being fouled on a successful cross shot and draining the ensuing penalty. After a subsequent Throwbacks rally, the Night Owls really began to pull away behind a big period from Brian Concio (18 points), as the rookie took advantage of the additional available playing time to have his best professional game. Although the Owls did not have a great overall save percentage as a team, two wedgebacks really stepped up as Bob Zane (11 saves on 17 attempts) and Chris Custer (8 saves on 13 attempts) locked down their quadrants. The Owls’ lead swelled to 87-70 after two periods.
To their credit, the Throwbacks fought back valiantly, as they really buckled down defensively in the final frame. Jim Bradley (12 points on 6-7 shooting, 11 saves on 21 attempts) did a nice job on both sides of the ball and captain Joe Ferrigno (game-high 10 assists) orchestrated the offense to get his team back into the game. The Throwbacks would close to within 5 points with less than 2 minutes left but were unable to complete the comeback.
The Night Owls have to be ecstatic with this victory given the fact that a third of their team was missing in action. Their majic number to clinch a playoff berth is now one (either one Owls win or one Throwbacks loss. Defensively though, the Owls still have some things to work out, as excluding Zane and Custer, the team only saved 14 of 63 shots (22.2%). For the Throwbacks, this was another instance of the team not having enough offensive firepower, as they failed to record a single point from either the cross zone or via penalty shot in this contest. They now find themselves on the outside looking in for the final playoff spot.
Work Horses 134, Urban Legends 123
(Portions of this article will also appear on the official Kronum League website. Be sure to check out the site for additional Week 8 coverage and statistics).
Most people have heard about the blockbuster trade this past offseason that brought the Work Horses two of the top five scorers from last season in Phil Cavalcante and Luke Dougan. It wasn’t exactly the Lakers adding Dwight Howard and Steve Nash in the offseason but expectations were certainly high coming into this year. Unfortunately for the Work Horses, the results were similar to those early-season struggles for the purple and gold; the offense has been largely slow, stagnant and one-dimensional throughout the season. Until, that is, Round 8 rolled around and everything finally seemed to click for what became the team’s coming out party. These new and improved Horses are running in the fast lane.
The action was all high-powered fireworks from the jump. Mike Small (team-high 28 points) fired lasers into the chamber, Luke Dougan (18 points) got things rolling, and Dave Slusser (24 points, league-high 17 points) had his best all-around performance controlling the action for his squad. Phil Cavalcante (23 points) enjoyed the open space efficient afforded him by the on-again, off-again face-guarding tactics of an Urban Legends team that used to playing that style of defense. However, the Horses were not as efficient on the defensive end as the Urban Legends did their usual work in the wedge zone, led by Greg Ermold, who was a perfect 9-9 shooting for 18 points. Kevin Glover (game-high 32 points) drilled a flex shot through the rings on their last possession to make the score 50-41 going into the first intermission.
After the teams tread water in the second period, the Urban Legends entered the final frame down 11 before finally got things going from the cross zone; Mike Ragan (22 points) sank two, Kevin Clark (18 points, but on 5 of 28 shooting) fired in three of his own, and Glover sank another ring flex shot. The Legends pulled within two on a couple occasions but Dougan caught fire down the stretch, hitting from the flex zone and a huge four to extend the lead back to double digits. With the score 128-117, Legends captain Scott Anderson made a rare 6-point ring on a penalty shot (12 points). However, two penalty shots from Cavalcante and Slusser put the game away.
The crucial win moved the Work Horses ahead of the Throwbacks for the final playoff spot. If they can maintain the type of offensive balance they showed in this contest, the Horses should be able to earn another win or two down the stretch to maintain that positioning. Regarding the Legends, this level of defense wasn’t what people have come to expect from them. As a team, they saved only one-third of shots faced and only collected two steals. Hopefully for them, this performance was just a bump in the road and not indicative of their level of play going forward.
Week 8 Leaders:
Points – Kyle McGrath (48), Kevin Glover (32), Mike Small (28)
Assists – Dave Slusser (17), Joe Ferrigno (10), Ryan Yaniak (9)
Saves – Zach Van Fossen (13), Dan Vignola (13), 4 players tied with 11
Blocks – Kyle McGrath (4), George Price (3), Alec Jadacki (3)
Steals – Ryan Skinner (2), Matt Urglavitch (2), Mike Quintans (2)
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