Aug. 10, 2008 — The CBA defending champions Hoyas exploded for 125 points in game two of the finals on Saturday to blow out the Lakers by 37 points, 125-88, at the St. Croix Central High Gym.
It was an unexpectedly lopsided victory for the Hoyas that stunned the Lakers fans. They will somehow have to find a way to stop Darnell "Burger" Hendricks and the Hoyas or their championship dreams will be over on Monday.
Burger scored a game-high 41 points to lead his team to victory and a 2-1 series lead, but as was the case in game two, this was a total team effort. Every player on the Hoyas bench scored, and as a team, they were especially lethal from behind the arc, knocking down 14 three-pointers.
Asked about his teams dominating performance, Hoyas coach Samuel Lee said, "They were ready. I took each of my players and spoke to them one-on-one before the game, gave them a little motivational talk about what I expect from them in the game. I showed them our game plan and they executed it almost to perfection.
"Every year in this league I only expect to lose two games and that’s one in the season and one in the playoffs — I done lost game one."
The Lakers did look good early in game three as Robert Duck and Shane "Sugar" Hodge had the hot hands early. They finished with 12 and 11 points respectively in the opening period. But Hendricks erupted late in the opening period and finished with 16 points with teammate Karl John knocking down 11 in the high-scoring opening stanza. The Lakers' last lead of the game came in the second quarter at 33-31 after a layup by Uel Richards. The Hoyas would then go on an 8-0 run to take the lead for good at 39-33. All eight points of that run was scored by Warren Christian off the Hoyas bench.
At about the seven-minute mark of the second quarter, Lee decided to rest his premier players and empty his bench. But the Lakers could do nothing against the Hoyas bench who, by the time the starters got back in, had given their team its biggest lead of 10 points at 47-37 after a layup by Andre "50" McIntosh.
The Lakers fought hard to get back in the game, but they were finding it a difficult task stopping the Hoyas offense while the Hoyas were turning in a very good defensive performance. The defending champs closed the first half on an 11-6 run to go into the locker room up by 15 at 58-43.
A 5-0 run by the Hoyas to start the third quarter signaled the beginning of the end for the Lakers. The Hoyas, showcasing a balanced attack, poured it on in the third, outscoring the Lakers 34-23 to lead by 26 at 92-66. Many of the Lakers' big guns went to the bench near the end of the third and did not return.
The fourth quarter was mostly garbage time for the Hoyas and they scored at will with 33 points to the Lakers' 22.
Hendricks was joined in double figures for the Hoyas by John, who netted 24 points, Eddie Castillo had 14, and Warren Christian and Anthony "Stickman" Theodore finished with 13 and 11 points respectively.
For the Lakers, Hodge showed the way with 20 points and Duck chipped in with 17.
