Barva 89 Escazu 75

Bartel Lopez challenging the shot.

The second game of the season was our home opener against Ferreteria Brenes Barva. Barva ended up winning the Torneo de Copa in a controversial final series.  Barva added Nicaraguan big man Bartel Lopez just before the season as their second foreigner. He is a shade below seven feet, with an incredibly long wingspan. I had first seen Bartel play in a junior tournament a few years ago when he was very raw; even then he was disruptive on defense, but limited on the offensive end. Over the years his game has gotten better, and he's now a factor on both ends of the court. He's a player that should be over in Europe, working on his game and making good money.

Unfortunately for us, he is here in Costa Rica, playing on the other team. He blocked a shot on our first possession and was in our guy's heads all night. Bartel showed a nice array of moves on the block, giving our big men trouble with his size. Our point guard Nick Leon made some big baskets in the first quarter, keeping the score close 22-19.





Barva stretched out the lead in the second quarter with back-to-back three pointers from Gabriel Moya and Kay Martinez. We had the defence extended on both shooters, but they made big shots over outstretched hands. Kay was aggressive with the ball all night. We had a brief offensive lull as Michael was struggling to get on track and our outside shots weren't falling, which Barva used to build a ten point lead. A three pointer from Michael at the buzzer cut it down to seven.

A renewed effort on covering Lopez inside was our focus in the third quarter, but Barva's guards started getting loose on defensive breakdowns. Our team is still coming together, but we still had more blown defensive assignments than one would like. Barva's coach, Willie Colon, uses a lot of off ball screens in his sets, which requires good communication and intensity. When you fail at these, you have problems. It was no surprise that Barva scored 30 points in the quarter, feasting on those mistakes. And while our offence came alive, the lead grew to 13 points.

A sluggish fourth quarter ensued as Barva protected its lead and we missed free throws...lots of free throws (about16 for the night). It would be convenient to say the missed free throws were the deciding factor, but the truth of the matter was that our execution needs to be better on both ends.

Kay Martinez led a balanced scoring attack with 22 points. Bartel Lopez had 17 points and 11 rebounds to go with four blocks. The leading scorers for Escazu were Michael Jackson and Nick Leon with 23 points apiece.

Notes

• Liceo de Costa Rica dropped out of the tournament yet again.  It was probably a pipe dream for them to participate in the first place. They had given little signs of life that they would participate; usually you would hear what players are playing with what team. Nothing was heard from Lice, which meant a young team was coming for the slaughter. That now reduces us to five teams in first division.
• We have a new president in the FECOBA (Costa Rican Basketball Federation) in Luis Blanco. I was an assistant with Luis on the national team. I will try to address that in a future post.