Escazu 77 San Ramon 78

A trip and a very nasty bout with the flu had me sidelined for three weeks. In the meantime, the team had some exciting wins against Grecia and Barva, putting us on top of the standings.

Last Tuesday we traveled to San Ramon for our showdown with the defending champ. In my early years in the league, the toughest road venue was Limon. A hot, humid gym a stone's throw away from the ocean. Their crowds were not only into the game, but also very knowledgeable about hoops. And back then, they had some great teams. Just a tough place to play. Now that they're out of the league, the reigning title of toughest place to play has become San Ramon. Their administration has done an excellent job of drawing crowds to their gym; games in San Ramon feel like real basketball games and not glorified exhibitions. 

San Ramon came out of the gate quickly, attacking the basket. In the first five minutes they jumped out to an eight point lead. Some defensive stops on our part led to some buckets and we quickly erased the lead. The rest of the second half was a back-and-forth affair. Michael Jackson and Nino Williams were trading big baskets. Isaac Conejo converted a three point play at the end of the first half,

reducing our lead to one point.

 

Nick Leon came alive in the third quarter from the outside with Michael continuing to make some tough baskets. Out lead swelled to nine points as Jorge Arguello called a time out to settle his guys. San Ramon turned up the defensive intensity, switching around their assignments. Slowly but surely, they whittled out lead behind baskets from Giorgio Milligan and Jefney Anderson. With forty seconds to go, Jerson Harris putback an offensive rebound giving San Ramon its first lead of the half. Michael Jackson scored a quick basket to take back the lead. Niño Williams scored the go-ahead basket for San Ramon on the ensuing play. On our final half court possession, we had a lapse in execution and despite corralling San Ramon's final miss, we were unable to get a last shot up. 

Notes

-Michael Jackson led out scoring with 32 points with Nick Leon scoring 22. 

-Nino Williams led the San Ramon scoring with 22 points. Isaac Conejo had 18 points and eight assists.  

Escazu 72 Latina 71

Sometimes a loss feels like a win. Sometimes a win feels like a loss. This last game felt like the latter. 

Now I could make excuses. Michael Jackson was in Panama playing in the Ligas de America. Three other rotation players were away for personal reasons. We had to play our sub-23 guys some heavy minutes. Rosich has some bad sushi. Sure, all that may have factored in, but when you get down to it the U Latina played a better game. We sidestepped disaster. 

The Latina guys were very intense for the entire game, capitalizing on lackadaisical effort the entire game. Just when we would score back-to-back baskets and possibly start a run, here came Latina with a gutty basket. I had seen videos of Latina, so I knew they played hard. Usually they just ran out of bodies, letting the other team go on a big run that opened the floodgates. 

The floodgates never opened. Jeff Dixon picked up some early fouls. In came Juan Carlos Rosich who had a big game against San Ramon, but had been sick all week with food poisoning. Back-to-back offensive fouls soon got him into foul trouble as well. Dixon came in, got called for an offensive foul and then got called for a technical. Three minutes into the second quarter my starting center had four fouls, and his backup was on the bench with three. Dixon's technical was not only costly from a personnel standpoint, it gave Latina the ball back immediately, letting them take the first lead of the game as they scored six points unanswered. 

Latina big man Jose West got busy inside, taking advance of his size. We went into the half down two...having played a our poorest half of basketball on both ends. 

Until the second half that is. After scoring three baskets in the first half minute, we went on a prolonged drought mixing in bad shots with balls coming back out. The Latina guys were setting great screens and making quick cuts, putting together a nice run to build a six point lead. Diego Loria got whistled for a foul, which he then proceeded to argue with the ref, earning himself a technical. Another free throw and possession, on which they scored...suddenly the lead was back to 10. 

In the final quarter we started making a determined effort to attack the basket. We got the lead down to six, but ULatina was resilient. A three pointer with 4:42 to go gave them a twelve point lead. Adrian Chavarria and Ernie Forrester led the defensive charge, getting some crucial stops. A couple of old fashioned three point plays halved the lead to six in 20 seconds. A couple more stops let us whittle the lead to one. With 24 seconds to go Nick Leon made a key defensive play, chasing down a Latina player to prevent a layup. Jeff Spencer, masquerading as a post nabbed a key rebound and Nick was able to push the ball up for the go-ahead basket with four seconds to go. A desperation half court shot came up short...the U Latina players in shock that they had let their first win slip through their fingers. 

Notes

-Nick Leon led our scoring with 22, while Jose West led a balanced effort with 17. 

-Jimmy Garcia is back on the sidelines coaching the U Latina, which helps explain their gritty play. Jimmy was one of the best point guards in CR hoops. 

San Ramon beats Barva at the buzzer

Friday's night slowdown in San Ramon saw some high drama as the lead went back and forth in the last minute. Here's a video recap of the game, courtesy of Ferreteria Brenes Barva's social media team.

San Ramon 85 Escazu 93

In a five team league, the schedule can sometimes get funky. After losing to Barva last week, we had a full week between games allowing us to work on a few things before our game against defending champ Coopenae San Ramon. San Ramon has also been dealing with roster issues of its own as injuries and suspensions have limited their team from being in sync. So here was a key showdown with two teams trying to shape their identities going into this game.

Coopenae San Ramon had one big addition recently in filling their second foreigner spot. They brought in Nino Williams who played his college ball at Kansas State. Isaac Conejo has been dealing with a hand injury while Jefney Anderson was serving out a suspension picked up in the Torneo de Copa Finals.

The first half was a high scoring affair. We traded baskets for the whole twenty minutes. Neither team could break away, as each went on mini-scoring runs. Michael was big on the boards, but too many times he dribbled right into a San Ramon trap leading to a turnover. The score went into the half with San Ramon leading 45-43.




On of our points of emphasis in the locker room at halftime was to do a better job of controlling the ball; we had 13 turnovers in the first half! We did a better job of cleaning up our turnovers in the third quarter, and behind Michael Jackson's timely steals, were able to build a ten point lead.

In the beginning of the fourth quarter, we played zone for a few possessions. Jorge Arguello countered with a full court press, taking advantage that our point guard was on the bench. The zone did its job in the first three possessions, so well that I decided to ride it out a bit longer. Note to self: stick to the plan. San Ramon eventually moved the ball enough to find the gaps in the zone and get some baskets. Turnovers against the pass helped them get easy baskets, and in the blink of an eye our eleven point lead was gone. Now with a head full of steam, the San Ramon guys were flying all over the place, getting fast break baskets. Giorgio Milligan hit a big three to put them up by six with seven minutes to go.

With the game in the balance, Nick Leon took over down the stretch with some big baskets. Michael Jackson came in from his brief rest to clamp down the defensive end on the perimeter while Juan Carlos Rosich patrolled the inside. We were able to get some key stops in the last minutes, and with San Ramon running half court traps, Mike was able to find Juan Carlos for a pair of game-sealing dunks.

Notes

• Nick Leon had 35 points while Michael Jackson had 31. First time in my career that I've had two guys over 30 in the same game. Michael also had 12 rebounds, while Juan Carlos Rosich had 11 boards in little over twenty minutes. 
• San Ramon had a balanced scoring effort with five guys in double figures. Giorgio Milligan led their scoring with 22, while newcomer Nino Williams had nine rebounds. 

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.

Escazu 84 Grecia 80

The Costa Rican basketball season is split into three parts: a worthless Torneo de Copa, and then the regular season split into Apertura and Clausura. These are two halves of the same season: a national final brings together the winner of each half. This is the same way the local soccer tournament is set up, so naturally this is the way the basketball federation has done it for years.

There are different paths to winning a title. Win Apertura, come up short in Clausura and win the National Final. Or improve enough in Clausura to win, go into the national final with momentum and take the title. Or better yet, dominate from wire to wire, taking both Apertura and Clausura, eliminating the need for a National Final. San Ramon won the title last year that way, leaving no doubt. 

This was the first game of Apertura. A new beginning for the season, at least the parts that count. We made some roster changes following the end of the Torneo de Copa. Nick Leon, who played his college ball at St. Peter's, assumed point guard duties, while Dave Milliner came to shore up the post rotation. The group was excited to get on the court after a couple of weeks of practice. 

Our first game was a trip to Grecian, where we lost a foul-marred game in the Copa tournament at the buzzer. Grecia got out to an early big lead. We came back behind some timely shooting from Clifford Smith. Grecia was able to go on another big run in the second quarter with Michael Jackson on the bench. A 2 point deficit became a 14 point breach at the half as Grecian got hot from the three point line to close the first half. 

The third quarter saw an improved defensive effort. A double technical foul got Michael engaged; he reeled off 8 points to help close the gap and flip the lead. Clifford continued his hot shooting with timely basket, while Diego Loria contributed with a pair three pointers and some intense defense. 

Grecia added an American guard, Korey Fisher who had a hot shooting night with 34 points. Amir Alvarado chipped in 26 of an array of shots all over the court.

Michael Jackson led our scoring with 26 points while Nick Leon scored 22 in his debut. Our next game is Tuesday agains Ferreteria Brenes Barva.  

Escazu 77 Barva 88

Our first road game was a visit to Ferreteria Barva, one of the league's traditional powerhouses. The team underwent some important changes, bringing in a slew of old and new faces. An experienced  coach from Puerto Rico, Wilo Colon, has come in with a new approach to turn things around. One of the other significant changes is that Barva will not be playing their games in the roomy Palacio de Deportes.  The team wants to play at the old Liceo de Barva gym, but an impasse with the school administration has them playing in San Joaquin Flores, the only court I know with gutters running down the sideline.

I was away from the team for a week on business. In that time we dropped a six point loss to defending champion San Ramon. With teams dropping out at the last second, we now have these weird gaps in our schedule with ten days between games. The practice before the Barva game, we had a practice injury to our big man Juan Carlos Rosich that required several stitches and will keep him on the shelf for the foreseeable future.

Barva got off to a hot start moving the ball around and getting good looks for their big man David Shedden. The game was back and forth through the first six minutes, but they started to build our lead  as we went to the bench. An offensive lull on our part allowed them to build a slight lead going into the second quarter. In the second quarter we had better ball movement, leading to a 30 point quarter effort and gaining the lead on Hernie Forrester's three pointer at the buzzer.

The shots stopped dropping in the third quarter, while Barva preyed on turnovers and misses to get on a big run. Coach Colon decide to change things up with a small ball lineup that helped him take a 15 point lead going into the final quarter. We had a few runs in the final quarter to get the lead back down to eight points, but Barva got timely baskets from Malcolm Leitford and Gabriel Moya to sustain their advantage and ensure the win.

Antonio Jones had 21 points and Clifford Smith had 20 for Escazu, while David Shedden led a balanced Barva scoring production with 22. Next up is an away game to Grecia.