Uptempo 70, Air Force 1 61

Before this game even started, you knew it was going to be a long night. Why? Not because it was Jason Burke’s first game in an Air Force 1 uniform going up against ultra-competitive Scott Williams, but because there was a total of 11 players in uniform. With a starting lineup of Brandon Smith, Lucian Dickson, Corey Hogan, Ben Detrick and Burke for Air Force 1, and DJ Reason, Mike Won, Nick Blatchford, Terrence Chin and Williams for Uptempo, the two timeouts per half just weren’t going to be enough.

But tonight was a statement game for both teams. Uptempo, after losing a close game the week before, had to come out and prove something to themselves, while Burke wanted to make a statement that the reigning MVP was worth trading two starters for. It was only fitting then that the two basketball thoroughbreds guarded one another.

From the jump, it was a very physical game. At one point, Dickson was knocked to the ground, but still managed to deliver the dime to Smith for the open three. As each player seemed to have their own running commentary with the refs as kind of a Director’s Commentary playing over the game, these guys just needed to play ball. And they did. The score was tied 9-9 with 11:30 left in the half.

I don’t know what happened next, but after a Williams to Won to Blatchford for three combination occurred, the game was over. Blatchford proceeded to make back-to-back-to-back threes, followed by a sweet dime to Won, and all of a sudden, Uptempo led 40-11 at the half.

Clearly deflated and tired as hell, as the second half got underway, Blatchford continued his unconsciousness from beyond the arc. (Joe Branch started calling him Jon Scheyer after his sixth three.) But Air Force 1 didn’t give up. After a nice hustle play from Smith the resulted in a three, and a Hogan finger roll circa 1972 – followed by one of his patented no-look passes for the bucket – Air Force 1 was able to cut the lead to 62-51 with five minutes remaining.

Despite the fact that Smith cut it all the way down to 65-57 with 1:45 to play, the game was just simply out of reach. With Uptempo’s big three all dropping over 20 points – Blatchford (22), Won (22) and Williams (20) – there was no real way to kill the three-headed monster.

Final score: Uptempo wins, 72-61.

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