Thursday, December 13, 2012

Sanatura Escazu 92 Perez Zeledon 89 (OT)

The league is a lot tougher in general this year, so every game is a grind, but PZ might be one of the more improved teams in the league. I had been dreading this game for a few weeks. First, Perez Zeledon had fortified their squad by adding Jake McKenzie and Carlos Melendez, two of my former players that I have gone to war with in the past. Second, they reloaded with two new American players; last year they were very successful in bringing in dynamic talent in Cesar Chavez, deAndre Brown and Antonio Jones. This year they have the lightning quick Thomas Douglas and the athletic Semaj Inge as their two foreigners. Third, road games to Perez Zeledon are always a tough grind, particularly on a weeknight when traffic stretches out the trip to at least three hours each way.



Getting off the bus late, we had an abbreviated warm-up. Once the game started, however, we got off to a fast start. Interestingly enough as we took an 8-2 lead, the lights in the gym went out and delayed the game for about twenty minutes. We used our size advantage to pound the ball inside, building a small lead throughout the first half. Unfortunately, we were terrible from the free throw line, shooting less than 40%; in the first half alone we missed 12 free throws, allowing PZ to hang around in a two possesion game. Sharpshooter Jackie Acuña, last year's leading scorer, hit a three with Bustamante draped all over him as time expired in the first half, narrowing the lead to 3.

Perez Zeledon came out in an agressive zone defense in the third quarter. We couldn't get our buckets to drop inside or out, while  Thomas Douglas came alive on the other end, mixing in timely shots with drives to the basket. What makes Douglas so lethal is that if you collpase on him, Jackie Acuña and Jake McKenzie will make you pay from the outside, and Urich Anderson can clean up shots inside. The surging PZ team flipped the score and took a four point lead to finish the third quarter.

An energized PZ squad kept running and attacking. They had us on the ropes, growing the lead to 13 points with five minutes to go. By all looks of it, we were going to head back to San Jose with a loss. Dwayne Grant, who mas debuting with our team that night, came alive in the fourth quarter with timely steals and baskets. Reinner Little got hot with his jumper while Jeff Dixon made baskets inside and we started whittling the lead down to six with a minute and a half. PZ missed some big free throws down the stretch, and we were able to trade baskets for missed free throws and steals. With 28 seconds to go, down by 4, Alonso Sanchez made a big three pointer. We fouled immediately sending Jackie Acuña to the line (normally a +90% FT shooter). He made one out of two, giving us one last shot to tie the game. Dwayne Grant brought up the ball with 13 second to go, found a seam in the defense and made a floater with four seconds to go. Big basket in his first game with the team.

In OT, we had all the momentum over a crestfallen PZ team. Reinner and David Gourzong hit big threes to break the game open, eventually giving us an 8 point lead with under a minute to go. Jackie Acuña made a four point play, and then Jake McKenzie banked in another three. Luckily, for the first time all night we were steady at the free throw line, allowing us to escape with a victory.


Game Notes

  • The fans were extra chirpy last night. I had never heard them quite that vociferous against the refs. Were there questionable calls? Sure...on both sides. The two techincals on PZ were legit (and we made only one of four free throws). And let's just say Jackie gets a lot of leeway with his complaints down in PZ. 
  • Have not seen the scoring sheet to see who our leading scorer was in this game. I'm guessing we held Jackie to a quiet 25 points. Douglas must have been around there as well. 
  • PZ is used to having the league's highest scorer, but in this case it's Thomas Douglas who's leading the league. Here's his highlight video from some other game. Quick guard with an effective outside shot. PG #22 Thomas Douglas Game #1 LBS 2012-13, Costa Rica - YouTube

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