Flores Leads Marshall Law Past ΠΚΦ

Todd Thomas

Staff Writer

MACON – Marshall Law finished a combined 14 of 21 (67%) from the line, led by Cody Flores’ 7 of 8 (88%), in order to hold off ΠΚΦ in a defensive struggle Wednesday night on Court One.  Flores’ final free throw of the night with half a second remaining pushed the final margin to 39-36, and a last second prayer from ΠΚΦ’s T.C Dinkins fell short.  Flores led Marshall Law with 12 points, and ΠΚΦ’s Rich Pipe led all scorers with 13 in a losing effort.

            Both teams hope that their defenses will carry them through the rest of the young season, as this game was a showcase of two of the best defenses in the Men’s Competitive League.  The teams sporadically traded baskets for the first 15 minutes of the game, with ΠΚΦ pulling ahead 12-10.  A short burst to close the half, finished with Flores’ jump shot with his toes on the line gave Marshall Law the 14-12 lead they would take into the locker room.  

            The second half began much as the first, with the teams playing hard defense that never led to much separation in the score.  After a Justin Julian sky hook pushed the Marshall Law lead to 21-16 at the 13 minute mark, Dinkins cut the lead to two with a steal and lay-up.  In the subsequent possession, Flores would not be denied as his 3-point basket filled the net to give Marshall Law their biggest lead at 24-18 with ten minutes left to play.

            From that point forward, ΠΚΦ continued to fight in order to cut the lead but Marshall Law had one too many answers.  After the lead had been cut back down to two, Matthew Swanson pushed the lead back to four.  After ΠΚΦ answered back with a three point score from Drew Wilson, free throws from Swanson rebuilt the lead to three.

            After Flores’ drained two free throws to push the lead to five, Pipe drained the second of his three 3-point shots to cut the lead to two with 20 seconds on the clock.  A quick foul by ΠΚΦ put Wilson on the line.  After missing the front end, Wilson drained the second free throw to push the lead to 36-33 with 19 seconds remaining.  Another Marshall Law free throw pushed the lead to 37-33, but the lead was cut to one after Pipe’s third 3-point field goal with 1.4 seconds remaining.  Flores was fouled once again, and completed his strong day at the line by finishing the scoring with two free throws to build the final margin to 39-36.

 

BOX SCORE (UNOFFICIAL)

 

MARSHALL LAW

 

15 Beecher, Christopher…. 2 points, 4 rebounds

2 Bowen, Opie…………………. 4 points, 3 rebounds

21 Evans, Terry…………………. 1 point, 2 rebounds, 1 steal

33 Julian, Justin………………… 8 points, 2 rebounds, 4 for 5 FG

12 Swanson, Matthew……… 10 points, 2 rebounds, 6 for 10 FT      

10 Huffman, Blake…………… 0 points, 0 rebounds, 0 for 3 3FG

7 Flores, Cody………………….. 12 points, 2 rebounds, 1 steal, 1 block, 1 for 4 3FG, 7 for 8 FT

0 Peoples, Adam……………… 2 points, 1 rebound, 0 for 1 3FG

 

ΠΚΦ

15 Billings, Dan………………… 6 points, 4 rebounds, 3 for 7 FG

6 Dinkins, TC…………………….. 6 points, 4 rebounds, 1 steal, 0 for 4 FT

25 Elliott, Leighton…………… 6 points, 1 rebound, 4 for 7 FT

10 Espy, Edward……………….. 0 points, 0 for 1 3FG

83 Pipe, Rich……………………… 13 points, 2 rebounds, 2 steals, 3 for 9 3FG, 2 for 2 FT

21 Wilson, Drew……………….. 3 points, 1 steal, 1 for 1 3FG

18 Belyeu, Lex…………………… 2 points, 1 rebounds, 0 for 2 3FG

 

Attendance: 11

Start of Game – 9:30.  Total Elapsed Time – 54 minutes

Technicals: Espy

Officials: Wilson, Amirault, Deppen

Basketball Week 2: Updated Polls & Games of the Week

After Week 1, our Intramural Basketball Experts have changed their opinions about which teams deserve the top seeds in each division. There was movement in the top 3 seeds of the Men's Recreational, Co-Recreational, and Men's Competitive Divisions. Check the charts below to see where your favorite teams stand.

Here are the big games worth coming out to watch this week:

Women: Triple Threat vs. Med Girls -- Tuesday, Feb 3 @ 8:30, Court 3

Co-Rec: Triple Threat (CR) vs. Pi Kapp Phi D1 -- Thursday, Feb 5 @ 7:30, Court 1

Men's Rec: The Med Students vs. Pi Kappa Phi 2 -- Wednesday, Feb 4 @ 7:30, Court 1

Men's Comp: Marshall Law vs. Pi Kappa Phi 1 -- Wednesday, Feb 4 @ 9:30, Court 1

Rankings:

The Fall of a Champion

- Sean Amirault -
Staff Writer / Intramural Sports Program Assistant
seanamirault@gmail.com

The year long wait is over.  Tha O Gs can put the anguish of Larney Abdush-Shakur’s three point dagger behind them. I speak of course about the buzzer beater Shakur buried in last years semifinals victory for the Plunketteers.   Despite leading for almost the entire game Tha O Gs couldn’t hit the big shots (or free throws) to get bye the team full of diaper dandies.  The Plunketteers would go on to win the IM Championship; Tha O Gs would go home.

Tha O Gs new edition Craig Lott (23 points, seven rebounds, and five assists) proved to be a force that the ’07 Plunketteers could not cope with.  Tha O Gs jumped out to a 16-6 lead and never looked back.  In what was considered one of the marquee matchups of the year turned into a blowout before the half. The ’07 Plunketteers, missing Abdush-Shakur and Henderson “D-Saw” Darrisaw, proved to not only be too small to deal with Tha O Gs size, but lacked the go to scoring punch of last year. Without the key players from last years run; the Plunketteers never seemed to get their offense going (29% FG%, 4-22 from 3).

            This game was not only about the fall of a past champion, but also about the rise of a potential favorite. Tha O Gs have everything a big time team needs. With size and length (Johnta’ Tigner, Brooklyn Wilks) and a number of talented guards (Lott, Matt Middleton, Sam Ali, Antoine Mincy) this seems to be a team with few flaws. Of course the same was said last year until it came to crunch time and this talented team fell. Don’t get me wrong there are several gifted teams out there (Pi Kappa Phi, Mercer’s Finest), but right now it seems clear which team is ready to take that next step: Tha O Gs.

Top Performers:

Craig Lott – Shot 8-13, 4-7 from 3, 7 rebounds, 5 assist
Johnta’ Tigner – 8 points 14 rebounds
Antoine Mincy – 8 points 5 rebounds 3 assist off the bench