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I won’t go as far to say that beating Huarache has been impossible but obviously, it hasn’t been done this season. Hyperflight showed everyone what they’re capable of with their true starting five, when they took out the veteran crew of Generation last week. While the Wu’s Kung Fu has been better than everyone else’s, the long layoff between games is something they’ve been worried about. If the Hyperflight ever had a chance to pull an upset, this was the week to do it. Unfortunately for the Hypemen, they didn’t show up-literally.

Huarache played the game with a 5-on-4 power play advantage and Terance Takyi (nine points) showed no mercy, nailing a three to start the game. Jamaree Pinkard (seven points) stayed aggressive and made his way to line early to get his crew on board. But the true story of the first half was how well Hyperflight’s box-and-none worked on Huarache. In the best defensive stand all year from the Kool-Aid red squad, Huarache was held to eight points in the first eight minutes of the game.

Along with Pinkard, Bobby Jones (eight points) made his presence felt from the mid-range, keeping the game close. Despite trailing by a slight margin, Hyperflight was in good shape until Billy Dodson opened up the game from long distance, connecting on back to back shots and giving Huarache a 23-13 lead with 9:25 left in the half. The lead would remain at 10 until LeKeith Taylor hit Roscoe (12 points) on an outlet pass for a 31-15 lead. Dodson (20 points) would continue to torment Hyperflight from deep by closing out the half with 16 points, giving the Wu a 38-20 lead.

Things only got worse for Hyperflight in the second half, when even their efforts to get to the rim and stay aggressive we met with sayonara swats on the defensive end from Taylor (nine points, 11 rebounds, six assists, three blocks), which led to fast break points for Huarache. LeKeith showed Le-Lift again, closing out the game with an invitation for Niko Klansek (11 points, nine rebounds) to his block party. Hyperflight managed to keep the score respectable and lost by a final score of 56-40. Beating Huarache wasn’t going to be easy but it certainly wasn’t going to happen with only four players.

“We didn’t have our full squad,” Jones said. “Last week was our first time having the real starting five and when you look at the last two weeks, it’s definitely a microcosm of our season. We can play at a high level when we’re all here.”

Wu-Tang front man, LeKeith Taylor says even he was disappointed in only facing four guys last night.

“We would have been in good shape if they had all five but they only had four. It would have been a lot more fun and competitive because once we saw they only had four guys, we knew we had the win,” Taylor said.

“As for next week, if we come out and play Huarache basketball we’ll be fine,” he added.

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