July 1, 2009 — A nice crowed showed up at the Educational Complex Gymnasium for the New Breed Basketball Association Tuesday night’s action that featured four of the league’s top teams going head to head in games that could be previews of the finals in late July.
The defending champions Hoyas got a fast start from their prolific scoring machine, Darnell “Burger” Hendrickson, who scorched the nets for 21 first-quarter points as they dropped 34 points on Legacy in the first period on their way to a 106-84 victory.
The victory did not come as easy as the score may indicate however, as the feisty Legacy squad left it all out on the floor.
Facing a 34-21 deficit after one quarter, Legacy displayed heightened defensive intensity and got nine points in the period from Bobby Evans to outscore the champs 24-20 in the second period to cut the deficit to nine at intermission, 54-45.
But Legacy’s hopes for an upset were dashed late in the third quarter as a balance attack by the Hoyas allowed them to outscore their overmatched opponents, 27-18 in the period to lead 81-63 heading to the final period.
Legacy threw everything they had at the Hoyas in the fourth quarter, but just could not make muck of an inroad against the champs. With the Hoyas big guns on the bench, Legacy started the final period with two quick threes by Chris Floyd to and another basket to close the gap to 10 points. But the Hoya starters returned to the floor and quickly restored order. The Hoyas then slowly began to pull away down the stretch for the 20 point victory at 106-86.
Hendrickson led five Hoyas in the scoring column with a team high 24 points, Karl “Mike Jones” John netted 20 points along with 11 rebounds, and his brother, Kurt “Tennis Man” John, dominated on the boards with 15 rebounds while scoring 14 points. The Tennis Man also lived up to his nickname with five blocks on the night. The Hoyas also got useful scores from Asha Gage and Terrence Turbe who netted 18 and 12 points respectively.
For Legacy, Ricky Aaron led the way with a game high 25 points while grabbing seven rebounds. Teammates Evans and Lenny Redwine finished with 19 and 15 points respectively.
Lakers 66, Guidance 62
In game two on Tuesday the Lakers’ Rashawn “Rooster” Williams scored 18 of his game high 29 points in the second half to lead his team to a hard fought 66-62 victory over Guidance.
The see-saw game, which saw the lead switch back and forth, came down to the fourth quarter, where the Rooster crowed the loudest. The Lakers got 11 points and 12 assist from Jerome Nathaniel and 10 points from Charles Moorehead. Guidance playing without their super star, Calbert White, got 19 points from Richard Isles, 17 from T. Jones and 11 from Derrick Hospedales.
