Uptempo 72, Hyperflight 42

And back to your regularly scheduled program… Either the Orlando Magic playing at the Garden was a big draw, or guys didn’t know that it was only one week off, but when the game started, Hyperflight only had four guys in uniform. While the rules state that Hyperflight could have picked up another player for the game, the only stipulation is that Uptempo had to agree to it. And for whatever the reason (see Kevin Wildes’ post-game interview) they declined.

So after Uptempo won the tip, leading to an easy Stalley (17 points, 5 assists, 4 rebounds) lay-up, it appeared the onslaught had begun. Trapping at center court with 2-4 guys to make the entry pass almost impossible, Uptempo was taking no prisoners. But at the same time, with a shorthanded win or go home attitude, Hyperflight didn’t let the 5-to-4 advantage get them down.

While it may have been mentally tough to get up for a game against a winless opponent, after seeing that opponent with only four players, it seemed like Uptempo had a hard time playing at full strength. But after 10 minutes, Uptempo only led 14-9, causing one fan to exclaim, “Uptempo should drop a spot in the Power Ranking just for not blowing them out.”

From that point, after what seemed like an endless array of missed jumpers by Uptempo (and "rebounding stat stuffing" by David Jacoby), with seven minutes to go in the half, the ragtag crew of Jose Carlson, Lou Miguel, Andy Furgeson and Ricardo Viramontes cut the lead to one, 16-15. It was at that point that Mike Won (16 points, 4 assists, 3 steals) and Scott Williams (28 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists) woke up and went on a tear to close out the half with a 33-23 lead.

When the second half started, it seemed like Uptempo finally realized they were only playing against FOUR guys, and pushed the lead to 42-25. Led my Wildes and his one-man S.W.A.T. team (which included a couple blocks called as fouls), Uptempo finally found their swagger. After one block that Wildes thought was clean but was called for a foul, he said to the ref, “That fucks up my salary! I’m trying to get blocks on the stat sheet.” Elaborating on this point after the game, Wildes (who one fan said got his socks from the Freddy Krueger Collection at Macy’s) explained that when you’re not a keeper, every year is a contract year and every game counts. Point well taken.

Final score: Uptempo wins, 72-42.

	1	2		T
Uptempo	33	39	-	72
Hyperflight	23	19	-	42

Box Scores

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