Week 3 of the Men’s Spring League wrapped up on Thursday evening with its share of upsets and near-upsets. This season is shaping up to be a heated battle in the standings with the results of this week and heading into Week 4.
Game#1: Twisted Willow Studios 55 – Dave Ralla 77
The evening’s slate of games kicked off with an early upset. Twisted Willow Studios entered Week 3 previously unbeaten, while Dave Ralla entered the game with only 5 players and a 1-1 record of uneven performances. Throughout the first half, fans were treated to a back and forth tilt with six lead changes and three ties.
In the second half, however, late Ralla teammates arrived and the game began to tilt decidedly into their favour. A 21-9 early second-half run created too great a gap for Twisted to overcome. Dave Ralla produced a surprising upset (22 point beatdown) of the formerly undefeated Twisted Willow. Dave Eamer and Adam Yaerdic led the charge for Ralla with 28 and 24 pts each, while Kenneth Johnson dominated the scoring for Twisted Willow, contributing 22.
Game#2: Italian Stallions 68 – Ladybird Engraving 62
Inspired by the opening game’s upset, Ladybird came out guns blazing vs. the undefeated Stallions.
Through superior ball movement and defensive awareness, the Stallions were regularly overwhelmed in the first half. The ‘Birds built several small but significant runs of 8-0, 6-0, and 10-2 on their way to a 37-32 halftime lead.
In a reversal of play for the second half, the Stallions became the beneficiary of better ball movement and greater defensive hustle while Ladybird fell into forced drives and shots. This led to several significant Stallion runs of 6-0 and 11-0. Mike Lang’s 19 second-half points (30 pts for the game) proved all the horsepower the Stallions needed to complete their comeback. Jayden Moss’ 19-point effort, along with Dane and Ian Samuel’s 11 apiece, came up just shy of getting the ‘Birds their own upset victory.
Game#3: LB Woodchoppers 59 — Co-op 44
The Woodchoppers felled their opponent by coming out swinging as quickly as possible.
Each week the Woodchoppers seemingly get significant contributions from different team members. This week, Brayden Kirchner and Gredy Barney mixed hard drives to the bucket with a long range jumper to carve out 18 and 17 point nights, respectively. Kevin Titian Jr. and Eddie Fred each had 14 and 9 in their effort to keep Co-op in this game, but the shots just were not falling with the same ease as they were for the Woodchoppers throughout this night.
Next Thursday, May 10 schedule at ADSS:
6:30 Ladybird Engraving vs. Co-op
7:30 Dave Ralla vs. LB Woodchoppers
8:30 Italian Stallions vs. Twisted Willow Studio