Saturday, July 13: Dunkin Donuts Center, Providence, RI
Game 1: Power (2-1) vs Ghost Ballers (2-1)
Power's Corey Maggette, inactive for the first three games of the season due to injury, made his debut Saturday. He got off to a slow start, however, missing 7 of his first 9 shots. The Ghost Ballers played solid defense and played with energy as they took a 25-20 lead at the half.
To start the 2nd half though, Power - in particular Maggette and Julian Wright - got it going. They combined to go on a 13-4 run to give Power a 33-29 lead, with Maggette, who finished with 23 points and 14 rebounds, having scored 17 of Power's first 33 points in the game. Power pushed the lead to 8, at 37-29, off of a Wright finish, and the Ghost Ballers did not recover, eventually losing the game 50-36.
Power's defense was great in the second half, holding the Ghost Ballers to just 11 points. Power's Julian Wright played great again, scoring 17 points and adding 6 rebounds. Next week, the Ghost Ballers will need Carlos Boozer in the lineup if they are to contend with the Aliens' Greg Oden in the paint. The Ghost Ballers/Aliens match up opens up play next Sunday in Oklahoma City at 12pm. Power will have a tough match up next weekend in Kansas City going against the, for now, unbeaten Triplets, who go into tomorrow's game in Brooklyn vs. Tri-State with a 3-0 record.
Game 2: Enemies (2-1) vs Aliens (1-2)
Greg Oden got off to a fast start, using his size on the interior to take advantage of smaller defenders Royce White and Craig Smith. The 32 year old had 6 of his team's first 8 points, as the game was tight early on with the Enemies holding an 11-8 advantage. The Enemies it going though, and finished the half off strong, leading 25-18. Perry Jones gave them a spark off of the bench, scoring 8.
Craig Smith, the league's 2nd leading scorer heading into the game, was the driving force in the second half that allowed the Enemies to get their third straight win. Smith hit on back to back three pointers and then a jump hook in the lane to give the Enemies a 35-25 lead. They were able to push it to 13, at 40-27, and despite the Aliens cutting lead to 7, 44-37, the Enemies were able to come away with a 50-39 victory.
Smith finished with 19 points, including 3 three point makes, and 5 rebounds to lead the Enemies. Jones finished with 13. Oden had 11 points and 5 rebounds to lead the Aliens. Oden will have another interior advantage next week against the Ghost Ballers, and the Enemies will look to extend their win streak to 4 as they face Trilogy in the weekend finale.
Game 3: 3s Company (0-3) vs Ball Hogs (0-3)
In a game that was going to give one team their first victory of the season, the defending champion-finalist 3s Company took care of the Ball Hogs, 50-38. Andre Emmett led the charge, scoring a game-high 17 points. Jason Maxiell finished with 12 and 4 rebounds, also for 3s Company.
Although Will McDonald was strong for the Ball Hogs with 18 points, the rest of the team was held in check, with Qyntel Woods their next leading scorer with 9. Deshawn Stevenson, coming off of a 20 point effort last week, scored just 5. The Ball Hogs have scored less that 40 points in three of their four games this season, only cracking the 40 point mark in week 2 against the Enemies.
The Ball Hogs will look to finally get on the winning track next week, but they'll have a tough task against the Killer 3's, who into this week undefeated at 3-0. 3s Company goes head to head with Bivouac in the week 5 opener in Kansas City.
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