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BIG Comeback Win to open up the Winter Season!
By VI Administrator | December 11, 2009
The Village Idiots Basketball team took to the Urban Pro court for the first time in 6 months last night and faced off against the last team they played those 6 months ago… the Grizz. The VI were definitely looking to make a statement.
Things certainly didn’t start out well for the Idiots, as their shooting arms had clearly gathered some rust over the break. To compound the troubles, the usually smothering VI 2-3 zone was not nearly effective against the long-range attack of the Grizz… the result was an early 22-5 deficit for the VI!
The injured Aubrey Brown, acting as coach, called a timeout and gathered the VI on the bench, challenging them to switch to a man-to-man pressuring defense to get back in the game! It was exactly what the team needed as they definitely had the athletic edge over the Grizz. Some in your face pressure by Chris Boccioliatt led to a pair of steals and some easy conversions for the VI on the other end. Alex Davin, who has returned to the VI squad after a few seasons off, joined in the pick-pocket party and created some additional buckets for himself and Edwin Caceres, who began to punish the Grizz defenders in the post! The focus on Caceres allowed Mike Rausch to expose the overmatched defense and he created some buckets for himself and Mike Zec. The re-energized Village Idiots cut the deficit to 26-17 at the half…
The trend continued in the second half, as the Idiots kept the Grizz out of synch and forced a number of turnovers that kept them in the game while their shooting arms were warming up. Those arms showed up just in time! Rausch began the assault, as he buried two triples to bring the Idiots within 5 with 6:00 remaing. The Grizz still had their sharpshooter out there as well and he managed to slip open enough to answer with a number of big three-point baskets of his own. But, where the Grizz had one, the Idiots answered with 4, as they supplemented Rausch’s buckets with 3-balls from VI veteran Dan Knipscher and Boccioliatt to take the lead at 58-57… the Grizz came back and answered with a 3-ball of their own to regain the lead at 60-58, but Davin showed that 4th option from behind the arc by answering quickly to give the Idiots the 61-60 advantage with a minute to go!
The Idiots defense stood and Davin went to the line after grabbing a rebound… up by a point with 28 seconds remaining, Davin had a 1 plus 1 coming… the first shot was a bit strong and as it bounced off of the rim, it looked like the Grizz were going to have a chance, but Knipscher wiggled his way under the loose ball and quickly snatched it before dribbling to the corner to start the keep away game… he tossed back to Davin who was hacked again and given another chance to put a safe distance between the Idiots and their exhausted opponents. This time Davin nailed both free-throws to extend the lead to 3-points!
The Grizz were given no room to breathe with only a few ticks left on the clock and their desperation 3-point shot was deflected by Boccioliatt and Rausch scooped it up before getting fouled with 5 seconds left… Rausch sealed the game with the front end of his one-and-one, putting the VI up 64-60, and it was all over but the shouting!!!
The VI Hoops Squad take their 1-0 record to Baruch Simon High School (20th St & 1st Ave) to face the Piranhas next Thursday at 9:00 pm!
Topics: Hoops |