You Surely Received An Unfortunate Draw jumped out to a 2-1 lead against No. 1 U Got A Bad Draw in this matchup of celebrities and knock-off namers, but the former champions rallied for a 21-10 victory Tuesday night at the Bookstore courts.
The scrappy Unfortunate Draw team used good ball movement to create open shots and, despite its height disadvantage, played strong post defense, employing a strategy similar to "hack-a-Shaq" against the taller players of Bad Draw.
Unfortunate Draw quickly committed the seven fouls and sent Bad Draw to the line. Bad Draw sank just one of five baskets from the charity stripe and held only a four-point lead at halftime.
The game attracted a huge fan turnout, most cheering for the underdogs, subjecting the Bad Draw players to constant heckling. Frustrated at their lack of success in the first half and the way they were being tormented by the fans, Bad Draw members came out aggressively in the second half, using their size to grab offensive rebounds and increase their scoring opportunities. Unfortunate Draw was ultimately unable to overcome the deficit.
"The other team definitely came out to play," U Got a Bad Draw's Eric Laumann said. "They had crazy fans. It was a good matchup and a good game to play before heading into the final 16."
With the win, U Got a Bad Draw advances to the Sweet 16 beginning Thursday.
You Surely Received An Unfortunate Draw was no doubt happy to have played so well against the top seed, but was perplexed at the loss.
"We kept it close," Unfortunate Draw's Fritz Shadley said. "They were big guys, and they had three Division One athletes and one potential NFL star in Dave Fitzgerald."
"We've been conditioning, so we thought we could outrun them," Unfortunate Draw's Eric Cherney said.
"We thought we were more athletic, but they just came out here and beat us with fundamentals," Shadley said.
No. 20 Huggie's Place 21, No. 10 Hannah's Storm 11
Huggie's Place - made up of four O'Neill Hall residents and an NDSP officer - upset Hannah's Storm's five athletic department employees to make it to the round of 16.
The two teams traded baskets to start, with Huggie's utilizing an effective fast break offense and the Storm hitting shots from the outside to even the game at four.
Huggie's won most of the battles in the post, and scored seven consecutive buckets after the early tie to take an 11-4 halftime lead.
The Storm endured harassment from opposing fans but battled back in the second half on the strength of Allen Greene's outside shooting and post defense. But the team was unable to overcome Huggie's inside offense, which drew seven fouls on Storm defenders. Huggie's Tom Martin converted on the foul shot from the seventh foul to give his team a 19-10 lead.
Martin finished the Storm off a few possessions later with an alley-oop layup.
"They outplayed us," Storm's Matt Tallman said after the game. "They knew what they had to do. They came to play and we didn't."
For Martin, the victory offered true satisfaction.
"We came out ready to play," he said. "We've lost the past two years, so it's great to win this year."
Martin also credited his opponents.
"They really stepped it up and played a great second half," he said.
No. 13 Rocco's Pizza 21, No. 20 Sparkle Motion 18
No. 13 Rocco's Pizza erased a six-point second-half deficit with an 8-1 run on its way to a 21-18 victory over No. 20 Sparkle Motion Tuesday at the Bookstore courts. Rocco's win advanced the team to the Sweet 16.
With his team trailing 14-8, J.P. Lichon spearheaded Rocco's charge with seven second-half points.
With the score tied at 18, Rocco's tallied the final three points on two baskets from Lichon, who finished with eight total, and the game winner from Ted Christopher, who tallied four.
"We shot well in the first half," said Sparkler Dave DiLorenzo, who led his team with seven points in the losing effort. "They were on fire in the second half."
Rocco's shot 7-for-37 in the first half, but turned in a 14-for-28 performance in the second stanza. Sparkle Motion shot 11-for-32 in the first but just 7-for-36 in the second half.
In the first half, Sparkle Motion's disciplined 2-3 zone limited the effectiveness of Rocco's quick ball movement and kept Rocco's out of the paint, forcing them to take most of their shots from the corners. But in the second half, Rocco's got some transition baskets and their outside shots began to fall.
"We weren't hitting anything in the first half, but some shots started to fall in the second half," Rocco's Kern Creevey said. "It was a gutsy performance."
Rocco's also played a 2-3 zone, except for a brief period in the second half when it switched to man-to-man. Rocco's defense, which rotated between a box-and-one and straight zone at times, forced Sparkle Motion to take a slew of perimeter shots - the same effect as Sparkle's zone.
Rocco's just hit those outside shots when they counted the most.
"We got some unlucky bounces, some shots went in and out and they got some easy buckets," Sparkle Motion's Chris Merino said.
His teammate Zach Ortiz agreed.
"There wasn't enough sparkle in our motion," he said.
The game was the last Bookstore contest as undergrads for four of Sparkle's members, who played together all four years and went 14-4.
"I'm disappointed [to see it end]," Sparkle senior Ian Ward said. "We had a lot of fun."
No. 9 Bad Boyz 21, No. 24 League of Shadows 10
Despite a self-proclaimed advantage in strength, No. 24 League of Shadows fell to No. 9 Bad Boyz 21-10 Tuesday night the Bookstore courts.
"We definitely had the strength advantage. They just scrapped it out," League player Mike Tallarico said. "I'm sure we can beat them in a pushing contest."
Bad Boyz had the maximum quota of three football players on its team, while League of Shadows had none.
Pat Kuntz led the Boyz with nine points and Derrell Hand added six.
In the early going, the Boyz failed to break open the game, giving the League a glimmer of hope by keeping the score close at 6-4.
But the Boyz went on a 7-0 run to make the score 11-4 at the half.
The second half saw more of the same, as the Boyz tried to show off their "mad skillz" for the crowd. The No. 9 team took a 15-8 lead and closed on a 6-2 run to finish off the League of Shadows.
"We're kind of sad it is over, but we are very happy that we got this far," the League's Brian Moy said.
Moy led League of Shadows with six points.
During the game, League players hit several shots from outside the arc, but could not take advantage of their 3-point shooting, as all baskets are worth a single point.
"If they were counting twos, we probably would've only lost [by] six or so," League guard John Roche said. "The refs definitely robbed us of the game."
The Bad Boyz were unavailable for comment after the game.
