Air Force 1 46, Uptempo 58

After the Big Apple Miracle the previous week, you knew that Air Force 1 was going to have to play their best basketball to defeat the NRF’s top team. Although they had swept Uptempo on the season, in playoff basketball and with all five starters in uniform, it was going to be tough.

Early on, it was clear that Uptempo came ready to play. Executing on offense and banging on defense, it was a physical game and that worked to their advantage. As coach Terrence Chin said after the game, it was their plan to attack Air Force 1’s shooters, and by closing out on them everything else would fall into place.

With hardly a deep bench, Chin did just that and was reluctant to take out his starters early. The same thing was happening on the other side of the court as Air Force 1’s 10-man roster was not being utilized to their full potential in playoff basketball. Rather than running them out the gym and bringing in fresh legs every couple minutes, Air Force 1 seemed like they were constantly playing from behind in the first half, always having to persevere as opposed to getting out and playing their style of basketball.

By halftime, Uptempo had pushed the lead to 10 and was in complete control. Not only was this deflating to Air Force 1 as a team, but the fact that at least 2/3 of the fans at Seward Park High School were cheering for Uptempo only added salt to the wound. Midway through the first half, Paul Rivera had tweaked his thumb on the back of someone’s jersey, so with him hurting, the offense and distribution was going to have to come from elsewhere.

But as much as Brandon Smith and Eric Raymundo looked to push the tempo, as well as exploit the mismatch of David Jacoby on Chris Dowling, the in-you-shorts defense and fastbreak offense from Mike Won, Stalley and Scott Williams was too much to overcome. Every time it seemed Air Force 1 was within striking distance and had the lead down to seven or so, Uptempo would get a quick bucket on the other end and it was back up to 10.

In the end, Uptempo just came out and took it. They played harder, smarter and knew exactly where to get their shot attempts and how to stop their opponents. And you could just tell that they wanted to make it back to the Garden for Coach Chin who’s been sidelined with an injury since midway through the season.

	1	2		T
Air Force 1	18	28	-	46
Uptempo	29	29	-	58

Box Scores

---

---