Headlines
Subscribe to our NewsletterWeek 6 is in the books and two games were blowouts while the other two were nailbiters (both involving Orange). Shoutout to Charlotte Seiden (my daughter) for helping me with the stats for the two Orange games...her big takeway was, "wow Bryan really gets a lot of rebounds." The stats for these two games are unofficial and that is why they have not been posted on the site yet (I'm apparently much looser with crediting players with assists than Matt is so for consistency reasons he handles all official stats - that's his department - all stats-related complaints should be sent to his email). So without further ado, let's get to the game recaps:
Green 76 - Black 50: Green was coming off their first win of the season and was looking to build on their momentum. For team captain Pete Strauss he took the building part a bit too literally as he has begun building his team on the fly. Green had Adam Bendik replacement Kabba back in the lineup as well as the guy being replaced, Adam Bendik himself. If you were one of the teams to have faced Green in the first four weeks consider yourself lucky. Because apparently every week Pete will be adding a new player in hopes of creating the perfect roster (future add-ons include Jim Korn, Brian Schiller and Tommy DeCataldo) though he assures me that no two add-ons will be on the court at the same time (I'm curious to see how he'll make that work). But in all seriousness, Kabba is Bendik's replacement when Bendik is not playing but the two cannot both play going forward (remember if you see something...say something). Back to the game...though it ended in a 26-point Green victory, the game wasn't as bad as the final score would seem to indicate. Green did lead by 10-15 points for most of the game but pulled away late. Green was led by Kabba, who utilized his rare combination of speed and strength en route to 24 points, 8 rebounds and 4 assists (on an extremely efficient 11/13 shots). Black seemed to have no answer for him. But Bendik was there to remind everyone of the massive talent he possesses as well, adding 21 points of his own (including 5/6 from three). One of the fun stories of this season has been the three-point shooting of Josh Goodhart (4/7 in the game, 12 points). Goody was noticeably frustrated by his performance last season but has gotten into better shape, refocused and is shooting and impressive 57.1% from deep on the season. Dan Amsellem, league leader in rebounds, added 16 boards on the night. For Black, all but 3 points were scored by their big three (though Alex Fisher was absent hoping to build on his basket from last week - also missing was Shane Calendar and Justin Chodos for Green, who hopes to return soon but minutes will be tough to come by with all the added star power). Siri Carpien led the way for Black with 18 points, followed by Damian Jackson with 15 and TJ Farrell with 14 (who made it clear that he's still bombing away from downtown with 14 attempts). Gary Levine was the only other player on Black to score (3 points) but also strangely had all 5 team assists (bring it up with Matt). The win brings Green's record to 2-5 while Black drops to 4-2.
Green vs Black Highlights 1/6/2025
Orange 65 - Gold 61: Gold entered this game having lost their previous four contests and would be without the services of 2 of their 3 leading scorers in Michael "neighbor" Huberman and Steve Bachman. This meant that there would be a lot of shots and complaining needing to be made up by the remaining 6 players. Jake Granoff tried his best to fill the void with the shot attempts by launching 17 shots but unfortunately only making 3. The rest of the team did shoot much better (excluding Andre Lewis from the FT line - 1/6 on the night and now 3/18 on the season. They have since reached out to 80-year old Rick Barry for assistance).
This game was a very tightly contested battle with multiple lead changes right up until the final moments. Gold jumped out to an early lead thanks to the red hot shooting of Jason Narod (17 points/5 rebs/5 assists). And any time he missed Bryan Minasian was there to grab the rebound (14 total to go along with 13 points including the three seen below which he seemed very proud of).
Rounding out the scoring for Gold were Jake with 11 points, Andre with 12 and Cory with a very efficient 9 points. Orange was paced by Ben Huber who seems to find a way to get it done weekly with his wde array of post moves and midrange jumpers. Ben had a double-double with 24 points and 10 rebounds. Team captain Jake Lillie scored 18 points including a crucial three pointer late (one of four he made on the night) which put Orange ahead for good. Rory Schulman added a 13 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists. It was a quiet game for Michael Gerstein basketball-wise but his on-court facial hair transformation from clean cut to his upcoming reprisal of the 1985 Michael J. Fox classic Teen Wolf is quite impressive (yes I'm old and look it up if you don't get the reference). I'm not sure we'd have allowed Jake to quietly add him to his roster if we knew this was coming. Orange led by 3 points with 8 seconds remaining but Jason Narod's three point attempt clanked off the rim and Orange secured the win. Fortunately for Jason, his Baltimore Ravens advanced in the playoffs setting up potential in-fighting between Jason (Ravens fan) and Bryan (Bills fan) this upcoming weekend. The win brings Orange's record to 4-3 while Gold is alone in the cellar a 1-6.
Orange vs Gold Highlights 1/6/2025
Red 57 - Orange 54: This was going to be a tough test for Orange having to face Red on just two days rest. These teams met earlier in the season and Orange gave Red all they could handle in what would be a 58-55 Red victory. Red came in well rested and focused early in this game jumping out to an 27-8 lead just 10 minutes into the game. I think most people expected this one to just be a runaway victory for Red but Orange managed to cut the lead to 37-24 at the half. Adam Hynes was hitting everything early and Colin Neff was moving at a different speed than everyone else on the court. Adam finished the game with 21 points while Colin added 11 points and 10 rebounds as well as several steals. Red takes the fewest three-pointers of any team but hit 6 in the first half. In the second half, Red came out playing very sloppy basketball (commiting too many turnovers and not playing normal Red ball) and Orange took advantage. With 10:00 remaining Orange cut the lead to just 2 points (49-47) behind a very balanced scoring effort. Ben Huber again led the team with 11 points followed by 10 by Jake Lillie, 9 by Michaael Gerstein and 8 by Alex Schosheim (who had the crowd cheering Air Schosheim again but this time for making his shots). It was a very gritty effort by Orange (like Gerstein's beard with two more days growth - if only my Nutrafol did as good a job of covering up my thinning hair). This game would come down to the final 2 minutes and it was a very exciting finish. Here's how the final 2:00 played out:
- Gerstein drove and got fouled and hit both FTs to give Orange it's first lead of the game (54-53 Orange)
- Colin got the ball and just backed down Graham and hit a layup to take a 55-54 lead.
- On the ensuing possession Colin blocked Huber's shot attempt and Adam got the rebound.
- Red was killing the clock but with 21 seconds remaining Adam got what he thought was too good a look to pass up for a baseline three and potential dagger but missed
- Gerstein got the rebound and passed to Rory who got fouled on a drive and went to the FT line for two shots
- Rory missed both FTs and Adam grabbed the rebound and was fouled.
- Adam hit both for a 57-54 lead
- Jake came up short on game-tying three as the clock expired
Red got solid contributions from Ben Carr (9 points/5 rebounds and 5 assists) and Gabe Berkowitz had two big threes and several nice assists. The win brings Red's record to 7-1 (and comfortably in first place) while the loss drops Orange to 4-3.
Red vs Orange Highlights 1/8/2025
Grey 68 - Blue 36: Grey was looking to move past their loss from before the break and they came out as focused as they've been all season. Blue was playing without David Kobiashvili who is still recovering from a hamstring tweak in their last game while Grey was missing Alex Stone. Grey went with a zone defense which is not something they often do. But on this night it helped Grey jump out to a 20-1 lead while creating a lot of turnovers early. The story on the offensive end was the big man, Mike Hughes, dominating in the paint. Blue did not have anyone big enough to handle Hughes in the post and he took advantage to the tune of 20 points and 11 rebounds (on 8/11 shooting). Not to be outdone, Matt Ceccarelli added 18 points and 12 rebounds making several tough shots especially early in this contest. Shamar Mason added 13 points and 7 assists for Grey. Blue socred only 36 points (16 of which were scored by Jon Ackerman) and made just 11 shots for the game. Phil Romero did contribute 10 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 blocks but this is a game that Blue is looking to forget and move on from. And for that reason I will make this game recap nice and short. Grey is now 4-2 while Blue is 2-5.
Grey vs Blue Highlights 1/8/2025
The stats are not all entered into the system yet so no leaders this week.
Games this week:
Blue vs Gold (aka the battle for the bottom)
Grey vs Black (aka the battle for second place)
Red vs Green
Black vs Orange (possibly the second battle for second place)
Good luck everyone
