Air Force 1 51, Uptempo 63

Billed as the game of the week by my blog-brethren Lucian, this game quickly turned into an old western shoot out (Or a gangs of New York brawl? There weren’t any women with metal teeth running around but, you get the point). Jason “I’m kinda like a big-deal” Burke went down low with his patented NRF’s best footwork and scored the game’s first field goal. Not to be out-done, Scott Williams who answered with a tre-ball.  Ryan Fisher had the dual pleasure of guarding the league’s top scorer and running the offense for his purple compadres. But it was Brandon Smith who brought the limited edition Gilbert Arenas pistols with him, hitting three-three’s in the first half. Burke and Brandon combined to drop 17 in the first, but the team struggled with what Ben Detrick said were simply a lot of missed shots. Williams, however, didn’t miss shots and put his team on his back scoring 21 of his team’s first 38 points and helping Uptempo take a 12 point lead into halftime.

Uptempo’s active trapping zone gave AF1 fits to start the second half. Things didn’t look good for the purple posse, as Uptempo captain Terrence “Even better first name” Chin (eight points, seven rebounds) hit the corner jumper at 14:43, to help maintain the lead. With 10 minutes to play, Smith (12 points) gave a great bounce pass to Fisher (14 points, four assists, four rebounds) for the layup and then finished the 5-0 run with another three, cutting Uptempo’s lead to nine (48-39). Burke (14 points, 12 rebounds) got busy on the low block again with a late game and-one but couldn’t convert on the free throw. Jarek “iWrek” Carethers (nine points, seven rebounds) made a dope pass to a cutting Williams (33 points, four rebounds) in the lane to cap a 4-0 run and seal the 63-51 win for Uptempo. After the game Williams said this win was important for the team’s morale heading into the playoffs.

“We just need to keep winning,” Williams said. “I’m proud of my teammates because we’re stepping up when it matters. Nick will be back next week and hopefully we’ll be able to keep things rolling.”

While Uptempo knew coming in that Nick Blatchford was still designated to the IR list, Detrick says AF1  was counting on his presence.

“We game planned for Blatchford and when he didn’t show it threw us off,” Detrick said. “Bring him out and we’ll win by 25.”

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