Hallelujah Holla Back defeated a resilient and talented Kramer Properties team 21-17 Monday night to move onto the final game of the Bookstore Basketball tournament.
Early in the game, Kramer and Hallelujah traded baskets. Kramer was leading 9-8, relying mostly on jump shots. The game changed when freshman Joseph Fauria dunked over Kramer's Joe Marnell to tie the game and fire up his teammates.
"I, Joe Fauria, had this monstrous dunk on Marnell," Fauria commented after the game. "If anybody wants to bring a picture of that 'posterization' to me in St. Ed's, I will sign it for them."
Hallelujah lead 11-10 at halftime, and was never able to open a lead greater than four the entire game. A free throw by Dayne Crist sealed the game for Hallelujah as they moved onto the finals.
Fauria went on to compliment all of his teammates efforts in the game, including fellow football players Dayne Crist and Jonas Gray, as well as Pat Kelly and Griffin Naylor.
"We all played well," Fauria said. "We're bringin' gangsta back to Catholicism."
Kramer captain Joe Marnelo attributed Hallelujah's size to some of their success.
"They were a lot bigger than us," Marnelo said. "We also just went cold from the field in the second half."
Hallelujah will move on to play in the championship game tonight against Main Street Pub at 8:45 p.m.
Main Street Pub 21, The Delivery Boys 11
Main Street Pub proved why they are the top team when they handily dispatched The Delivery Boys 21-11 Monday night.
As the rain drizzled on and off, the undeterred crowds packed the bookstore courts in anticipation of the tough match up. The two teams began play, clearly favoring mad skills over fancy matching uniforms.
The game started out roughly and intensely. Main Street Pub's defense forced The Delivery Boys to take off-balance shots and miss key offensive opportunities.
Main Street Pub's offense seemed unstoppable, scoring the first 10 points of the contest, including two steals, two break-away lay-ups, and going 2-2 from the line.
"This was a tough game, they really came out quickly at the start," said Delivery Boys captain senior Gary Burke. "We came out of the second half with a lot of adjustments, and managed to keep pace with them, but it was just a little too late."
After being run over for almost the entire half, The Delivery Boys managed to get a basket on a skillful tip-in, but Main Street Pub quickly answered to bring the half to a close at 11-1.
The second half opened as the rain continued to intensify. The ball and the court became slippery, leading to several dropped passes, lost balls and scraped knees.
Main Street Pub struck first once again, but The Delivery Boys answered back.
The Boys put together a 4-2 run early in the second half, but Main Street's offense was too dynamic to control for long, as they threatened from all over the court.
"This has been a great season so far, a really great tournament, these guys were a great team and we had a lot of fun playing them," said Pub captain senior Alex Klupchak. "We have played some tough matches in this tournament, this match and tomorrow's are no exceptions, I just hope we get better weather."
The Delivery Boys pushed the score up to 13-5, but that was the closest they would pull in the second half. Main Street Pub attempted some NBA Jam-esque plays late in the half, but after The Delivery Boys continued to gain momentum, Main Street Pub put the final nails in the coffin and finished the game off 21-11.
Main Street Pub will face Hallelujah Holla Back in the open bracket championship tonight at 8:45 p.m. at the Bookstore Courts.
