Barva 66 Sanatura 68

Another Barva game, another tight game. What else can be expected? We've had a few overtime games, a double overtime game and various one possession games. So that this game went down to the wire should not be a surprise for those paying attention at home. This was a critical game for both teams, not only because of the seeding implications, but as a the latest bout between two heavyweights.

This was the first real game for both teams since getting back from the Centrobasket tournament in Puerto Rico. Barva had six guys in the Centrobasket tourney: Alonso Sanchez, Charles Plummer, Clifford Smith, Rohel Wilson and Gabriel Quesada for Costa Rica, and Isaac St Rose for Team Panama. We were getting Chavarria and Dave Milliner back from their national team stint. The result was a sloppy first quarter from both teams with errant shots and sloppy ball handling. We got into an early hole, really struggling to get the shots to drop. Barva broke out to an eight point lead that got whittled down as we started rotating in our bench, going with a slightly orthodox lineup of three shooting guards (Henry, Jaythiev, Busta) to go with our two defensive bigs (Dixon and Chappell). We took a small lead late into the second quarter before giving up a basket going into the locker room.

In the third quarter we were able to slowly build a lead off defense and ball control. Pablo Echeverria, our Sub 21 player, held his own in that quarter allowing us to play out the required sub 21 minutes (10 per game) while growing the lead. The team was clicking on all cylinders heading into the fourth quarter with an eight point lead. 

We started off the quarter strong, but couldn't pull away to build a larger lead, squandering some key opportunities to go up double digits. As was expected, Barva made a run late to close the lead and tie things up with a minute and a half. After getting a key stop,  Charles Plummer hit a big three to give Barva a three point lead. On the ensuing play, Michael was able to draw a foul on a three point shot to go to the line. Michael, who was playing with a bad cold, had been struggling from the line all game, but he stepped up and made all free throws to tie the game. 

On the next possession, it was our team who got the key defensive stop leading to a long outlet to Chavarria for a breakaway lineup. In our first loss of the season against Barva, Chava missed a similar wide-open layup that would have given us a win. It seemed that this would be redemption, but with little over 30 seconds to go there was still plenty of basketball to be played. Barva ran a great play to get the tying basket, leaving us with a last opportunity to win the game with 14 seconds.  

After running an inbounds play, we ended up with Henrywith the ball at the top of the key. After dribbling through and around the Barva defense, Henry found a slashing Michael Jackson who took two hard dribbles towards the basket and put up an off-balance leaner with four sends on the clock for the go-ahead basket. Barva had one last look to tie the game but Rohel Wilson's shot fell just short.  

Game Notes

• Michael led the scoring with 26 points, battling through a bad chest cold. It was a real exhibition of willpower on his part. Amir Alvarado led Barva in scoring with 13 points. 
• John Chappell played in his second game for us last night, racking up points, boards and blocks. He was a handful on the inside for Barva to deal with, giving us a boost on the boards. Apparently a little Toni Kukoc rubbed off on John back in Macedonia, as he lead a 3-on-1 fast break, leading to a dish to Henry Martinez (picture evidence left). It was a little eerie watching former teammates Moya and Chap go head to head.
•  Isaac St Rose had a great week for Team Panama in the Centrobasket tourney, helping Panama reach fourth place and qualifying for the Premundial. Ike has been a star in our league for the past seven years, consitently one of the league's best players on the champion squad, and he has gotten zero coverage from the local media. The federation and the media have dropped the ball big time on this opportunity. 
• Our assistant coach and physical trainer, Abel Garbanzo, celebrated his birthday yesterday; we had a little post-game dinner at Hooligan's to celebrate. One of the great additions we've made this year has been Abel's physical program. I always had the philosophy that if you conditioned through fast break drills you would be okay. Abel has brought much more discipline and focus to the physical conditioning, and we've given him full autonomy to adjust accordingly. Abel's done a good job of getting our guys in  prime condition.