On the eve of Independence Day, I decided to take in a West 4th game. Playing on Wednesday night were Diamond and Un-Invited Guest. There was tension to start between the two, as the Diamond players taunted Un-Invited Guest about, “blowing them out by 40,” the night before in another tournament. John “Mookie” Thomas helped Diamond jump out to a quick double digit lead. He knocked down five trey bombs from the same top left corner spot. Un-Invited Guest went on a run of their own to cut the lead to two at half 47-45. The announcer said something very interesting while all the trash talk between the two almost bubbled over to an actual altercation. “The word of the day is humility, fellas.” This came into play during the second half when Un-Invited Guest turned the pressure up, trapping Mookie every time he touched the ball to make him give it up. With Mookie’s hot hand now on the cooler side, Un-Invited Guest maintained a 20 point lead and cruised to a 102-82 victory. Mookie scored a game-high 33 points, 22 in the first half. For the winners, Jalon and Travis aka Smooth Criminal, each finished with 17 points and the W.

At Nike Pro City, the Uptowners held off a furious comeback attempt by defending champs NIKE 1 to pull off a 111-110 upset. The Uptowners led by as many as 20 points before NIKE 1 decided to make a game of it, but too many missed free-throws led to their demise. Will “Silence of the Lambs” Cadiz led the winners with 20 points and Marvin McCullough and Chudney Gray added 19 and 17 respectively. For the losers, Darren “DP” Phillips finished with a game-high 28 after arriving late. Former St. John’s star Ty Grant finished with 21 and 11 boards. In game two, Gold’s Gym came back from a 72-61 halftime deficit to knock off the X-Men 138-129. Before the game, veteran big man Gordy Malone predicted he would drop 40. He came up a little short, but his 35 was still a high for GG. Mike “The Icon” Campbell led the X-Men with 32 in the loss.

By Kyle Henry