4th grade remains undefeated, while 7th grade takes first loss

Today the 4th grade had the entire team clicking, and it resulted in one of their best victories of the season.

Jonathan led the team with a game high 21 points. Not only did Jonathan score his share of the points, but he did a great job getting his teammates involved. Jason had 6 points and Justin, for the second straight week scored, and had a career high 4 points.

When the 4th graders can get scoring contributions from everyone, it makes them all the more dangerous.

Ryan, even though he didn't score, was able to grab a lot of rebounds, and their defense was very key in igniting their fast break offense.

They were up 18-10 going into the fourth and put the game away early, extending their lead to double digits and never looking back.

Ryan and Jason had some great outlet passes, setting up Jonathan for his breakaway lay-ups.

They improve to (5-0) on the season and sit in first place of their division.

7th grade loses for the first time

The 7th grade fell behind midway through the first quarter 7-0 and never recovered, and ended up losing 17-11.

They shot 1-for-10 from the free-throw line and missed countless lay-ups, that would've changed the entire complexion of the game.

Jason was not his normal self, and played very tentative around the hoop. For a big man, he needs to be stronger in finishing, as he left at least 6 points on the board.

Anthony Shem made his first shot of the season, which started the 7th grade comeback.

Down 17-5 to start the fourth quarter, the 7th grade (4-1) was able to cut that lead in half to 17-11 with about two minutes to go, but they got no closer.

Their press and sense of urgency was there at the end, but that slow start, missed lay-ups and poor free-throw shooting were too much to overcome.

Sometimes a loss can serve as a wake-up call to show teams they are not invincible, so it will be interesting to see how the 7th grade reacts following a loss.

Raymond scored his first point of the season on a free-throw in the first quarter.


Red Team prevails
Miles scored only 8 points, and it was still enough for the Red Team to win their third game of the year 39-35.

The Red Team actually had a decent start today, but it was the turnovers and poor defense that kept their game closer than it should've been today.

They shot the ball particularly well from long range as Jeremy and Michael Ng both hit two 3 pointers.

After the game, both Miles and Justin complained they weren't at full strength and were dealing with stomach trouble, and that affected their play this morning. 

Jeremy had a CYO career high 18 points, and had that extra step in him today, which was missing in the last few games. With Miles not at 100%, Jeremy stepped up at just the right time.

Michael Ng, whose defense has been criticized throughout his playing career has taken a turn for the better since last week. He is now boxing out, and not moving too far out of position like he has in the past.

However, the same cannot be said about the defense as a whole, as the other team played monkey in the middle in the key today. They were able to pass the ball below the free-throw line like it was practice.

Worst of all, they ran one out of bounds play the entire game, and every single time, the Red Team could not stop it. Their center would walk down the aisle untouched and he'd get the ball every single time. For whatever reason, the team just couldn't adjust and it made for a very tenuous morning.

They held a one point lead heading into the fourth and even fell behind at one point, but a Justin jumper put the 8th grade back out in front.

Justin, limited to just two quarters of playing time, played a solid fourth quarter and had 5 points.

Up by a point 36-35, with less than 30 seconds to go, Miles grabbed a rebound and ran the fast break and found Jeremy cutting to the basket for the final field goal of the game.

The other team then missed a three and Miles was fouled, sending him to the free-throw line, where he hit the first shot of a one-in-one, to seal the game.

Michael Fong scored for the first time this season with two free-throws in the third quarter.

It might have been a blessing in disguise the Red Team didn't play last night, because they probably wouldn't have had any energy today to pull off win number three.

At (3-1), their next date is against the undefeated division leader.