Foamposite 50, Shox 33

Although there were bets in the office about whether or not Justin Leonard was going to make the game, with a 6:00am flight for vacation and a house in New Jersey, we all knew that Shox was going to be without their GM and point guard once again. So straight from Europe, J.J. Jensen headed straight to the L.E.S. to suit up when he heard that his team needed him to make five. Alongside Josh Gotthelf, Pat Cassidy, Christian Grant-Fields and Mazzi Behi, Shox knew they had their work cut out for them – even though Foamposite was winless on the young season.

It’s safe to say that the first ten minutes of this game – where the score was 6-6 – was kind of hard to watch. Behi was launching threes, Mike Tumbarello was all over Cassidy so he couldn’t replicate his performance from last week and it was clear that Grant-Fields was en route to a 20-20 game, as every rebound seemed to bounce his way. But something had to give.

After a Grant-Fields three, Shox put together a nice 11-3 run to push the lead to 17-9. Looking deep into themselves and coming together as a squad, Foamposite made it clear that with eight guys playing against five, there’s no way they shouldn’t win this game. Still, going into halftime, Shox had a 25-15 lead.

Then it happened. Partly as Shox got tired, and partly because all those practice sessions and all that “stretching” in the back gym paid off, Foamposite decided it was their time. Do Kim, who I would say is the fasted guy in the NRF, got some quick buckets to cut the lead. Between him, Tumbarello and Ron Jackson down low, the lead was cut to 29-24 and Foamposite was amped. Before you knew it, with 10:00 minutes remaining, Foamposite was up 37-32.

But a three from Cassidy kept Shox in the game. Down two with under ten minutes to play, Grant-Fields put his team on his back. Getting boards, taking it to the hoop and playing point-forward, the kid left it all on the court. In one sequence, he had a steal at half court, a bucket, and then came back with a monster block on the other end. But it was too little, too late.

Behind the very loud Jamaal Lesane, the last six minutes were all Foamposite, as Shox had nothing left in the tank.

Final score: Foamposite wins, 52-41.

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