Uptempo 52, Delta Force 39

With the NRF super fans in the house, and David Jacoby going against his old team, you knew the last game of the night was going to be rocking. And it didn’t disappoint… at least for a little while.

The problem with playing Uptempo – which Delta Force learned early – is that you can’t stop the. Truly, you can only hope to contain them. They’re going to get their buckets, so if you can’t score along with them, you’re going to be left in the dust. And that’s exactly what happened tonight. Despite Delta Force’s great teamwork and passing at the start, Uptempo catapulted to a 9-2 lead with 13:00 minutes to play in the first half – which turned into a 20-4 lead at the 8:21 mark.

See Delta Force’s problem is this: they can’t manufacture buckets on their own. While each guy on Uptempo can come down and create for themselves, Delta Force needs all the stars to align and the right mixture of team chemistry to even get a deuce. It also didn’t help that Uptempo was pressing and trapping – even with their backup guards DJ Reason and Juan Reyes in the game – when the score was 26-7.

Under ruthless floor leadership, GM Terrence Chin was like a slave driver with his team, still yelling at the start of the second half despite his team’s 31-11 lead at the break. There was really no need though, as Scott Williams, Mike Won and Reyes were raining threes on their opponents.

But just like we normally see from Delta Force in the second half, they made a run. There was one nice play where they got the ball to Jacoby underneath where he was fouled by Danny Millan and Jacoby made the free-throw attempt to complete the and-one. And then there was Kelvin Coffey, who looked more like Coffee Black from Semi-Pro, hitting a three to cut the lead to 39-29 with 7:00 minutes to play.

But shark-like Williams tasted the blood in the water and put in the dagger with a nice step-back three, followed by back-to-back buckets from Won. Before you knew it, the lead was back to 46-32 with 4:00 minutes left to play. Putting the final nail in the coffin was Nick Blatchford, who’s trifecta made it 51-33 and sent the fans to the exits.

Final score: Uptempo wins, 53-39.

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