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B1 Winter 2007 Champs: Vance Refrigeration

from left to right Devon Burroughs, Adam Kneeland, Paul Kresanowski, Tom Biggins and Colin Vataha. Vance players posing w/ the B1 championship trophy - the STICK!

B1 Finals MVP: Devon Burroughs, Vance Refrigeration Devo is presented the finals MVP by CRFC BBall's Dave McLaren. Devo lit it up behind the arc to help lead Vance to an undefeated season, the B1 title and the STICK!

Final Commentary By Tibbs

Vance Refrigeration 87 Belmonte Middle School 69

The Stick is back in the East! Vance Closes out Impressive Undefeated Season in Style

I realize I didn't do a preview of the game yesterday, but for anyone who was at LNO (Usok) knows that I had Vance as favored by four in this game. I didn't expect this kind of game. Vance Refrigeration took home the Unified B1 Championship last night in impressive fashion and brought the Stick back to the East. An excellent outing on both sides of the ball allowed Vance to be in control of the game from the opening tip. From the get-go Devo (36 points, 10 rebounds) was aggressively looking for his shot. His 25 point first half gave Vance an 11 point lead they would never relinquish and helped to earn him Finals MVP honors. The PK Broiler wasn't exactly slacking off. A steady 3-point barage (7-10 from downtown) from Paul (31 points) constantly bumped the lead forward when the offense was lagging. Collin Vataha, who never fails to bring an entourage to a big game, made sure to get in on the action with 20 points and 7 boards. With AK (5 assists) going down early with cramps, or injury of some sort, I thought they'd be in trouble in terms of matchup size. But Biggins (3 points, 4 boards) filled in great and made sure the ball was always swung around.

But it was defense as much as offense that allowed Vance to run away with the game. An excellent game plan by the Good King made sure that Steve O (12 points) was constantly double and triple teamed. Whenever he was fronted, another guy was making sure the lob didn't have a chance to work. Usok (5 points) couldn't take advantage of the extra attention to him in the middle. The most impressive stat was Vance's work boxing him out, holding Steve without a rebound for the entire game. The Born Gamer (36 points, 6 assists) kept his boy in it and single handedly cut the lead to 10 on a pair of occasions in the second half. They just couldn't get over the hump offensively. Dan O (7 points, 5 boards) was a catylst in the first half, but fouling out with 14 minutes prevented further contribution. Mike D (5 points, 7 boards) and Dave Colanto (4 points) also contributed when called upon, but BMS comes up short this season.

It's been a great B1 season again, and we start up NEXT week. Congrats to the 2 finalists on a great season and to everyone who participated in the Winter session.

B1 Playoff Unification Summaries

Belmont Middle School 70 Fat & Outta Shape 56

Belmont Cruises Behind Triple Double from Steve O

Belmont Middle School came out firing on all gears to dispatch the # 3 Seed from the West, Fat & Outta shape. The Born Gamer tossed in 21 points in the first period to build a 17 point lead for his club at the break. Although JaySar ended with only 24 points, he made sure to get his teammates involved and handed out 5 dimes as well. In the second half, Steve O’Connell did a bit of everything to make sure the team stayed in the lead and moved on to the finals. Steve O put up 11 points, grabbed 10 boards and handed out 12 dimes in an all out effort to help the team. Sure he passed way too much, but getting teammates involved opened out the offense and helped out the player rater. As the game was winding down, everyone started to contribute for Belmont. Dave Colanto added 11 points and 8 boards in a solid effort.

It’s numbers like that BMS will need to see out of Dave to take home the Stick next week. Usok , Mike D, and Dan O’Connell all dropped in 8 points a piece as they got in on the action.

For Fat & Outta Shape, a great season comes to a close and they were simply too shorthanded to compete tonight. Mark Novak (15 points, 9 boards) did his thing in the middle despite Steve O’s D. Vance helped the cause by hitting 4 bombs from outside the 617 and tossed in 22 total points. Dom (6 points, 6 boards) gave it his best effort despite the torn hammy and tapped wrist. A sub would have been nice as Jamie (6 assists) toughed it out despite exhaustion from earlier activity.

Vance Refrigeration 81 Wide Open 71

Vance Holds Off Wide Open 2nd Half Rally to Move to the B1 Finals

Behind a strong start by the PK Broiler (22 points, 8 boards), Vance Refrigeration jumped out to a remarkable 46-22 lead with just seconds to go before half time. Everything was going according to the Good King’s game plan. They limited Trevor’s outside shot (just 1-2 from beyond the arc in the first half) and made him pass the ball as much as possible with collapsing defense. Getting a lot of fast break points and open looks for Paul allowed the offense to take advantage of any mismatches. It was working great and Wide Open was clearly frustrated. But a slight mental error nearly brought the whole thing tumbling down. With only 3 seconds left in the half, Trevor somehow found himself wide open inside half court. The ball swished through the hoop as the buzzer sounded, and the lead was trimmed to 21. It didn’t seem like that big of a play entering the second half, but something fell into place for Wide Open. Behind Kevin O’Brien (25 points, 5 assists) Wide Open came storming back. Kevin hit his first 4 long balls of the 2nd period (an amazing 7-16 overall), and paired with Trevor’s continued hot hand (27 points, 11 boards) Wide Open trimmed the lead to 9, just 3 minutes into the second half. Andrew and Bart combined for 7 points and 10 boards as the offense started to open up. AK (11 points, 4 assists) called a timeout to gather the troops, and it was time for Collin Vataha (21 points, 10 boards) to take over. Collin got to the basket and hit his pull up jumper to help stop the bleeding. But Trevor tasted blood. More sharp-shooting followed, and Cam Vanderveer (12 points) got open looks and offensive boards. With 10 minutes to go in the game, the game was tight at 64-61. This is when it helps to have Mr. Big Shot, Tom Biggins (13 points), on your squad. A pair of rally killing 3s bumped the lead back up and the defense, with Devo (14 points, 3 steals), stepped up to put the clamps on Wide Open’s shooters for the rest of the night. Two #1 seeds will meet in the B1 Finals at some point this week (or next) and play for the Stick, as undefeated Vance (13-0) will take on Belmont Middle School (9-1) to decide the Championship.

Winter 2007 B1 Finals
Movie by JRod