Air Force 1 51, Dunk 46

On paper, you'd have to assume that this game was going to be a blowout. But looking at Air Force 1 last night, their All-Star reservations should be put on hold. Playing tenacious defense from the start, Dunk couldn't even get into their offensive sets. At this point it was like watching the varsity play the JV.

Early on, Paul Rivera connected with a down-court pass to Brandon Smith for three. All I could think was, "I've seen this before..." Dunk, playing without their No. 1 pick Dan Solomito as well as keepers Bobbito Garcia and Ryan Kearney, looked undermanned as well as undersized from the jump. But that didn't stop Steve Halo's squad from rallying.

Perhaps the most impressive player on the floor was Stalley though. Somehow, after winning a championship with Uptempo and earning a First-Team All-NRF Rookie Team nod, Stalley's gotten better. How he's not a keeper and able to drop to the No. 4 pick in the draft is crazy! It was like V for Vendetta out there - but instead of a mask, it was a beard.

With 5:00 minutes to play in the first half, Dunk lead 22-12 in favor of Air Force 1. But Dunk rallyed back. With a spin move from Halo that included dribbling off someone's back, and a ridiculous block by super athlete Will DuBose where he went up and ended up cupping the ball, you saw the tides turning.

In the second half, things got interesting for the crowd on hand. With 13:00 minutes to go in the game, Air Force 1's lead had dwindled to 31-28, as Bang Takenouchi was playing in a third dimension. (Did he spend the summer on tour with AND1?) Before you knew it, two minutes later Dunk had taken the lead, 32-31. Takenouchi was dropping dimes left and right, that he probably left close to $3.30 on the floor. Meltdown? Chernobyl? These were words circulating through the stands as this madness ensued.

But then one of the new members of Air Force 1, Christian Grant-Fields, stepped up and took a huge charge on Takenouchi as AF1's lead was now 35-32. Although he couldn't make a free throw to save his life (seriously), Grant-Fields' inspired play on the block and on the boards was the difference in the game.

From that point, Air Force 1 woke up and started to look like the team we all thought they'd look like this season. Despite sloppy play to finish the game with turnovers left and right, there was one sequence where Chris Dowling had three (maybe four) blocks in a row - causing the gym to go nuts. Final score, 51-46, as Air Force 1 took home the W.

	1	2		T
Air Force 1	28	23	-	51
Dunk	20	26	-	46

Box Scores

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