Dillon Boucher and Leon Henry helped provide some fireworks at Youthtown on November 5th as the former Breakers pair turned out to help the Flava Flyers. The Flyers due to an assortment of injuries and unavailability were reduced to just five players to take on the Mexicali Fresh Summer Jam tournament leaders, Youthtown Clique.
Lindsay Tait produced three triples in the opening quarter as the Clique established an early advantage but Henry, Boucher and Jarrod Kenny quickly found their range and a high scoring shoot out developed.
Despite having just the five players and Tait, Jaylen Gerrand and Duane Bailey raining in threes (13 between them!) the Flyers were still hanging on to the shirt tails of the Clique at three quarter time, down just 103-100.
The scoring didn’t dry up in the fourth quarter either, Boucher and Henry increasing their influence as the game wore on to help the Flyers to a 134-131 lead with 1:15 remaining. Tohi Smith-Milner blocked a Dion Prewster scoring attempt but Tait swept on the loose ball to nail a three and tie the game.
Henry knocked down a triple with thirty seconds remaining and the Flyers were looking at an unlikely win. However on the penultimate possesion they were architects of their own downfall giving up three offensive rebounds, Tait eventually knocking down a long range three to force the game into overtime.
The five man Flyers ran out of steam in extra time, Duane Bailey scoring the last eight points for the Clique to finish with a remarkable haul of 49 points! An entertaining game produced a remarkable 301 points aided by 21 three point successes.
Final score (aet);
The Flava Flyers 148 (Henry 39, Boucher 30, Kenny 28, Smith-Milner 25)
Youthtown Clique 153 (Bailey 49, Tait 46, Prewster 18, Gerrand 16, Anthony Jones 10)
The Birdmen, keen to show last week’s win was no fluke held the advantage over Block City Brawlers for all but the final three minutes of the game. A pair of freebies from Frank kept his team ahead 86-85 with 2:13 left on the clock but they were only able to make one more point as the Brawlers put the defensive clamp on The Birdmen while also finding scoring opportunities for Henare, O’Riley and Kael Tarawa.
The Birdmen had a nicely balanced scoring effort, Casey Frank, Johnny Fesolai, Javaan Mumtaz, Carl Buck and Janeiro Seumanu all contributed double figure scoring efforts but down the stretch the experience of Paul Henare, Darryl Cartwright and Houston O’Riley were critical in obtaining a win for the Brawlers.
Final score;
The Birdmen 87 (Buck 16, Frank 14, Mumtaz 13 Fesolai 12, Seumanu 12, )
Block City Brawlers 93(O’Riley 26, Burton 22, Henare 19 Kael Tarawa12)
Standings after 9 rounds
7-2 Youthtown Clique
6-3 Block City Brawlers
4-5 Flava Flyers
1-8 The Birdmen
LACEY LOWDOWN 