With a crowd of almost 150 people cheering them on, the Bolsheviks converted a late field goal but ultimately fell to No. 1 seed U Got a Bad Draw 21-3 Tuesday.
The Bolsheviks reached into Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis' bag of tricks for inspiration, as they pulled off their blue Keenan shirts to reveal green jerseys they were wearing underneath.
"To be honest, we were really intimidated when we saw the green jerseys," said U Got a Bad Draw captain Brady Quinn, reminiscent of the Irish football team's Oct. 15 game against USC.
Ultimately, the boost the green jerseys gave to the Bolsheviks was not enough to make up for the talent disparity between the two teams. U Got a Bad Draw scored 10 consecutive points to open the game before Kevin Baker finally hit a jumper from three-point range to give the Bolsheviks their first point of the night.
You Got a Bad Draw was able to get inside consistently with Chris Devitt and Eric Laumann, who accounted for 14 of the team's 21 points. When they weren't scoring down low, U Got a Bad Draw was usually attempting alley-oops, and one highlight moment came when Chinedum Ndukwe found Quinn for a backdoor slam.
Quinn's alley-oop was one of the only times that the crowd cheered for U Got a Bad Draw. The largely pro-Bolshevik crowd erupted for every Bolshevik basket and heckled U Got a Bad Draw throughout the game.
"We did our best to block the crowd out," Quinn said. "We ignored the comments, especially to David Fitzgerald. He's good at ignoring being heckled."
One of the lone bright moments for the Bolsheviks came on their second basket when Baker found himself with a one-on-one fast break opportunity. Baker spun away from Quinn and hit a fall-away jumper as the crowd went wild.
"I saw a one-on-one opportunity, and I clearly had the athletic advantage so I went for it," said Baker.
B-3 Ballerzz 21, Asparageese 10
The all-freshmen Fishermen of the B-3 Ballerzz, led by an infuriated Arthur Sherry on the defensive end, and red-hot Ben Whiting and Andy "soft-serve" Whalen on the offensive side, defeated Asparageese 21-10 at McGlinn courts Tuesday.
The Ballerzz used their airtight 2-3 defense to keep Asparageese on the perimeter and force them into making bad passes.
"This may have been a loss, but I think we set a record for turnovers in a Bookstore game," Asparageese senior Joe Blatt said.
Sherry, who played as if somebody shot his dog, occupied the middle of the 2-3 zone, forcing out anybody who dared enter the paint.
Whalen had five points, despite a bloody face, and even won a quarter on a bet from a heckler in the crowd, who thought the big man could not nail a jumper. Asparageese then went to a box-and-one on Whalen to try and shut down the Ballerzz, but Ben Whiting stepped up with five second-half points, finishing with seven.
Sean Reen added a pair of buckets, including the game winner, with the crowd chanting his name.
"All those times I practiced in my driveway dreaming of the day I would get to win a Bookstore game with the crowd chanting my name finally came true," he said.
But even if Reen had missed the shot, the Ballerz probably still would have won.
In addition to the desire to win a Bookstore game, the Ballerz drew inspiration from another source.
"We tried to get [one of our R.A's] Nathan Origer to shut up," Whalen said.
Origer was on the sidelines with the Fisher crowd rooting on the Ballerzz, yelling out insults such as "You dribble so much you don't need a bib," that did not make sense and were not found funny by the crowds or players.
"The rest of the guys were motivating," the Ballerzz' Brian Blacker said. "Nate was not."
The Equators 21, Godspeed John Glenn 7
Greg "Deal With It" Belatti led The Equators with seven points and six assists in their 21-7 defeat of Godspeed John Glenn at McGlinn Courts Tuesday.
The Equators used a 2-1-2 zone in the first half to keep Glenners out of the paint while Belatti dashed and dished his way through the Glenn defense to hit his big men, senior Chris "Jesus Freak" Bachner" (eight points) and senior Mike "Big Papa" Scully, (four points) down low to jump out to a 7-0 lead.
"Our deadly shooting, quick feet and high-tempo style of play carried us," Bachner said. The Equators turned up the heat with man-to-man action in the second half, keeping Glenn at bay while they sealed the deal.
"We played tough enough for the ladies, but not tough enough to scare them away," Bachner said.
Belatti had similar gender-biased sentiments.
"We played man-to-man in the second half because sometimes men have to be men," Belatti said.
Tom "Jolly Rancher" Scrace led Glenn with four points.
"Shout out to Tom and his beard," Neander-Dan Fanuele said. "He carried us today.
Despite a failed attempt by some Glenn members to distract the Equators by wearing revealing, spandex shorts, Glenn still felt a sense of accomplishment.
"McGlinn courts are a little sexier now that we have played here," Ryan "Big Baby" Downie said.
Rule #76 21, 1021 We Got Robbed 6
In outdoor games where precarious conditions can change in a moment, Bookstore veterans can attest that it's harder to win when a team falls behind early - especially 15-0. 1021 We Got Robbed suffered that fate and failed to surmount a threat to Rule #76 despite matching them 6-6 on the game's final 12 points.
The bigger, stronger, faster Rule #76 swarmed 1021 with pressure defense, forcing turnovers and converting transition points en route to their 15-0 charge.
"We pushed the ball, got a lot of fast breaks and easy steals," Rule #76er Jay Dolezal said.
Like Willis Reed and the Knicks in Game 7 of the 1970 NBA Finals, Rule #76 was inspired by the gutsy play of Dolezal, who suffered a flesh wound early on when he tumbled to the pavement after a drive to the basket. Thanks to the alertness of tournament commissioners/amateur medics and a textbook tape job to his hand, Dolezal's resilience embodied Rule #76's "No excuses, play like a champion" motto as he went on to score six points, including four after his injury.
"I got some good medical attention," he explained.
Brandon Beck scored Rule #76's first two baskets en route to a game-high seven points.
1021er Vik Deendyal was happy with his team's overall tournament performance, but he said his squad was outmanned from the start of Tuesday's game.
"We played well the first game because the size matchup was closer," he said. "This game was unfair - they were just so much bigger."
No. 6 What Would Jeremy Crouch Do? 12, No. 7 Castle Point 10 (Exhibition)
After the opponents of two seeded teams failed to show up to their scheduled games, No. 6 What Would Jeremy Crouch Do? and No. 7 Castle Point treated onlookers to a sneak-peak of later round games to come as the two tournament favorites battled in a competitive exhibition. Led by point guard Thad Lenkiewicz's four baskets WWJ(C)D? squeaked by Castle Point 12-10 in a back-and-forth game that was within one point until the last shot. After Nicho Wohrle scored his team-high fourth point to push Castle Point up 10-9, WWJ(C)D? ripped off three straight buckets - the games biggest streak - capped by big man Bret Diskin's third jumper of the day, a turnaround runner that banked squarely off the center of the backboard and through the iron.
The contest was one of many between members of the two teams throughout the year, and the friendly respect between the players was only matched by the quality of play for two teams that played like it was the championship game.
"It was just for fun," Wohrle said. "But we were going 100 percent. We love these guys."
WWJ(C)D? senior Dan Carey said he hopes to eventually play their original second round matchup.
"We will do our best to reschedule," he said.
Castle Point may not be as forgiving, as according to Wohrle, Tuesday's scheduled contest against Team No. 267 was already rescheduled once before.
Castle Point senior center Bob Morton (who moonlights as a center and guard on the football team) was frustrated at their opponent's absence.
"A lot of teams who think they're going to lose in the first round are surprised when they win and forget about the second round," he said, regarding possible reasons for a no show.
Whoever each team plays next, Castle Point senior captain Paul Pogge, pretending to be WWJ(C)D?'s Carey, said he is tired of playing teams whose seed requires two hands to count, calling out numero uno:
"We want Brady's team in the next round."
