#1 Morningwood vs. #4 Washed Up
The predicted “IBL Classic” was all but a classic in the end. Morningwood dominated a shorthanded Washed Up team who lacked half its roster for the entire 1st quarter and half of the second. The result a 101-59 Morningwood win. The sad thing about this situation, is that we will never know how the game would have been if both teams had their full roster.
Morningwood jumped out to an early 25-5 lead and never looked back. Washed Up tried shooting themselves back into the game but with the missed jumpshots they only dug a deeper hole to get out of.
Rich Cobarrubias led the defending champions in the scoring column he finished with (26 Points,3 Rebounds ), Diahnte Pickett (21 Points,2 Rebounds) was the second leading scorer for Morningwood who finished with all 5 starters in double figures. Dewayne O’Neal finished with (14 Points, 14 Rebounds), Andrae Lockett had (17 Points, 2 Rebounds), Derrick Pickett finished with (13 Points, 9 Rebounds, 6 Assists) and Marcus Pringle rounded out the top 6 Scorers with (10 Points, 2 Rebounds).
Tony led all Washed Up performers with 26 Points, 5 Rebounds and Michael Earl finished with 15 Points and 6 rebounds, those were the only two Washed Up performers to finish with double figures.
#1 Morningwood will take on the #3 Knicee in the Finals.
#4 Washed Up seemed poised to make a strong run at the championship but after this game many questions will have to be answered.
#2 STAT vs. #3 Knicee
With a trip to the championship on the line, Knicee pulls an upset over the higher seeded STAT team. The game could have went either way but the resilient Knicee team proved to have a championship pedigree and pulled out all the stops in this 60-55 win.
STAT got off to a hot start with G Jimmy Nguyen (9 Points, 3 Rebounds) hitting 3 of their first 4 shots, all from 3-point range. Every thing seemed to be clicking for STAT in the first quarter. When the second quarter got underway Knicee’s guards Jesse Jimenez (17 Points, 5 Rebounds) and John Dang (14 Points, 6 Rebounds) went to work.The pair of guards had too much foot speed for the STAT guards to handle and strung together a run fueled by multiple lay-ups.
Anthony Cockrell (21 Points, 6 Rebounds) led all scorers for STAT, Jimmy Nguyen (9 Points) was second in command in the scoring column, Brandon Kinard finished with 8 Points and 3 Rebounds to round out the top 3 scorers for STAT.
The story of the game was Knicee’s ability to connect with the proverbial “counter-punch” they countered every move STAT made, responded to every run and down the stretch made crucial hustle plays, that is what won them this game.
Knicee was led by Jesse Jimenez who finished with (17 Points, 5 Rebounds), John Dang was second in the scoring column and finished with (14 Points, 6 Rebounds) Odell Howard (12 Points, 15 Rebounds, 7 Assists) rounded out the top 3 scorers for Knicee.
Knicee advances to their 2nd Championship game in the teams short existence, they were dominated in the Season 2 Championship game by the same team they will take on this Sunday the defending champs Morningwood.
STAT bows out in the semi-finals for the second consecutive season, last season STAT lost to Morningwood who became the eventual champions. Rumor has it they will be pursuing Restricted Free-Agents Jaime Villalobos, Ralph Chavez and Desean Collins to fill the void of [PF] Anthony Fitzpatrick (Released) and [C] Danny Longmire (Retired) for Season 6.
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+ Game Previews, recaps and write-ups are articles written by Nathan Apolonio.
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