MINNESOTA REC: Live Playoff Blog
Hey everybody.
The Rebels and Blue Chips have already won tonight in the first games of the night. Unfortunately, my Respect the Game team did not pull off the win.
Fortunately, however, I'm here for the next six games to live blog. If you can't get to the gym, follow along here.
7:45 PM - The Timberpuppies currently have a 4-point lead, 18-14, over the Thunder with 11:45 left in the 1st. On the other court, the Thundercats are narrowly beating The Bulls 16-14 with 12 minutes left in the 1st.
7:46 PM - Even though the T-Pups only have 5 players, those five players are some of the best in rec basketball: Louie Trejo, Luke Sontowski, Mike Byrne, Mike Wolf and Sean Ball. Nick Jude is sitting on the bench in a fashionable turtleneck and jeans.
7:47 PM - The Thunder shoot a lot of three pointers. Right now, they aren't falling. They aren't going to get baskets inside against Byrne and Wolf, so if those shots don't start falling, they are in trouble.
Meanwhile, DeAngelo Purnell and Grant Dudinsky are playing their second game in a row. Eugene Phelps knocked down a three to tie the game at 22.
7:49 PM - Anthony Thompson stopped by the desk to ask if this is the live blog I am typing right now. Indeed, it is.
7:50 PM - The T-Pups have blown open the game and are leading 27-19. Meanwhile, Luke Schlichte and Dan Munsell are sitting in the corner of the arena. Are they scouting?
7:51 PM - Roderick Powell is such a tough cover. He's great at nearly every facet of the game, including getting to the free throw line. He just knocked down a free throw, putting The Bulls up 3. The Thundercats are running an iron 5 tonight as well, with Noe Mendez, Ben Boeding, Derek Batiste, Todd Grotbeck and Chris Maher.
7:53 PM - Andy Walz hit a corner three to pull the Thunder back within 7 points. A missed layup from Mike Wolf sends the ball back down and the Thunder get an easy bucket of their own. It's 29-24 Pups.
The Thundercats have taken a timeout down 4, 28-24. Both games are under 5 minutes left to go in the 1st half.
7:55 PM - Play has stopped in the Thundercats-Bulls game while Noe Mendez gets some medical attention from the staff here in Fridley. It looks like he had a cut on his hand. He goes to the line for a pair.
7:56 PM - You look away for a few seconds and the Pups are big again. Louie Trejo just knocked down a three to put them up 39-24. Then, Jeremy Bachman threw away a pass to end the half.
T-Pups are up 39-24 at the break.
3:13 left in the other game with The Bulls up 4.
7:59 PM - Players from D.Y. Nasty have started to congregate in the gym and talk strategy for their game against the Ninja Turtles. D.Y. Nasty was upset with their low seed in the tournament and will be looking to prove the Players' Committee wrong tonight.
8:00 PM - A bit of non-UH related news. It appears that the NBA owners are going to force David Stern to cancel the Paul-to-L.A. trade. I guess the NBA is run like a fantasy league now.
8:02 PM - 24 seconds left to go in the first half. Roderick Powell passes to Grant Dudinsky for the final shot...and he bricks it.
The Bulls end the half up 4.
8:02 PM - Paul Ferber says, "If these games were being played in Bloomington, there would be more chairs available." Apparently, Ferber is unsatisfied with the amount of open seating tonight in Fridley.
8:03 PM - The 2nd half of the Timberpuppies game has started and the Pups are still up 15. Kory Dirnberger just had a nice putback. The Thunder are still playing hard, even if they are overmatched talent-wise.
8:04 PM - Jon Goodridge just told me his prediction for the UH Finals is Celtics-Huskies. I'm not sure about that one, Jon.
8:05 PM - Fridley could use some more chairs and they could also use a hot dog vendor or two.
8:07 PM - The Bulls have gone up 7 to start the second half. DeAngelo Purnell threw a nice outlet pass to Eugene Phelps for an easy layup.
On the other court, the Thunder have gotten it down to 11, but they can't seem to get the lead under double-digits.
8:08 PM - Referee Chris Stanley says that the Rebels won the game against Noisy Withdrawal so easily because coach Joe Neuenfeldt wasn't here to overmanage his team's minutes. I wonder if Mr. Neuenfeldt will have a response.
8:11 PM - We have our first technical foul of the evening. It came against Derek Batiste of the Thundercats. Grant Dudinsky shot the free throws for The Bulls, who hold a 7-point lead.
The T-Pups are still up 15 over the Thunder.
8:12 PM - Derek Batiste stole the ball from Roderick Powell and got fouled on the other end. He has a chance to bring the game within 2.
Sean Ball missed a free throw on the other end, but their still up 53-38.
8:13 PM - Derek Batiste hit a three and suddenly the Thundercats are up by a point. The Bulls body language looks panicked, as evidenced by a bad miss from DeAngelo Purnell and an over-the-back foul out of frustration.
8:16 PM - Judging from Jeremy Bachman, who has his arms raised over his head in frustration on the bench, the Thunder might be done for the night. They're currently down 58-41 with 8:25 left to play.
8:18 PM - Todd Grotbeck's free throw form is not pretty, but it went in. He puts his team up 2. Both teams are playing very solid defense right now.
8:20 PM - With the game tied, Noe Mendez fouled Steven Ellis hard as he was going to the basket. Roderick Powell responds with a layup and The Bulls are up 2.
8:22 PM - The Thunder have a little bit of life. Paul Olson hit a three to cut the lead to 11 points with 4 minutes remaining.
The Bulls and Thundercats are tied at 50 with the same amount of time - 4 minutes - left in the game.
8:24 PM - Jonathan Moore and the Celtics are in the building. J. Moore called the decision to give his team the 3rd seed, instead of the 2nd, a "slap in the face". We'll see how his team responds tonight.
8:26 PM - 1:45 left and the Thundercats are up 4 with the ball.
8:27 PM - Noe Mendez is at the line for a one-and-one. He makes the first shot to put his team up 5.
8:28 PM - Noe hit both shots, followed by a bad DeAngelo Purnell turnover, has the T-Cats in the driver's seat. The Thunder, meanwhile, are down 14 with 2:30 left. That one is about over.
8:29 PM - The Bulls are falling apart down the stretch and missed another bad shot. They fouled Ben Boeding, who knocked down one-of-two free throws.
8:30 PM - Powell just drilled a tough three to give The Bulls some life. After getting fouled, Mendez missed his first free throw and made the second to put the Thundercats up 5.
8:31 PM - The Bulls ran the same play, but Powell's shot was way off this time, and Mendez is back at the line for two more free throws. I think The Bulls' season is about the come to an end.
8:32 PM - We have two more final scores in the book. The Thundercats defeated The Bulls by 7 and the T-Pups defeated the Thunder by 14.
8:33 PM - Up next we have:
- #3 seeded Celtics vs. #14 Cobra Kai
- #4 seeded Ninja Turtles vs. #13 D.Y. Nasty
8:36 PM - Grant Dudinsky, coming off of two playoff losses in a row, wanted to make sure that I note that Respect the Game did not get a single technical tonight.
8:37 PM - Also stopping by the desk, Greg Regenscheid started talking to me about Harry Potter. I've never seen a HP movie or read an HP book, so I am unable to add much to this conversation. Luckily for both of us, his game is about to start.
8:39 PM - The Ninja Turtles have opened up an 8-0 lead with only about a minute off of the clock. Quintin Brown just bricked a free throw after trying to talk some trash to Keilon Riddley, who ignored him entirely. Brown did manage to make the second free throw.
8:40 PM - The Celtics are up 6-0 over Cobra Kai with the Cobra players bricking three threes in a row from Nick Roell, Luke Schlichte and Dustin Dupont.
8:40 PM - D.Y. Nasty recovered a little bit and are only down 10-5 now before Devin Stensrude missed his first shot of the game. Bryant Marmol responded by hitting a three of his own to bring the lead back to 8.
8:43 PM - Both of these games are looking pretty lopsided early. Cobra Kai cannot score and are down 10-2. D.Y. Nasty cannot stop the Ninjas from scoring and are down 14-5.
8:44 PM - Devin Stensrude just made a nice drive around Ryan Jansen and dished it off to Anthony Thompson for the easy bucket.
8:45 PM - A Dan Munsell three finally stopped the Celtics run. Cobra Kai is down 15-5 with 14 left to play. D.Y. Nasty is down 19-8 after a reckless Quintin Brown drive.
8:47 PM - Anthony Thompson is the best player on the court for D.Y. Nasty and it isn't close. I know he played one season for the Bulls, but why this guy doesn't sign with a real contender is beyond me.
8:49 PM - J. Moore just had a nice block but may have injured his arm in the process. He's toughing it out and staying in the game.
8:50 PM - Kevin Becker's shot is colder than the weather outside right now. He just airballed a shot that resulted in an easy transition hoop for the Turtles. It's 30-16 Ninjas with 9:20 left.
8:52 PM - Speaking of Becker, he took a hard fall and is still on the ground with an injury. It looks like an ankle sprain and he is definitely in pain right now.
8:54 PM - Becker is back on the bench and appears to be fine. That is really the only noteworthy thing happening right now, as both games have 15+ point margins right now.
8:56 PM - Nick Roell hit a shot for Cobra Kai and it is their first made basket in what seems like an hour.
8:58 PM - Patrick Magnuson just blew by Quintin Brown so easily you would've thought Brown was playing in cement shoes. Turtles are up 24.
9:00 PM - We're at halftime of Turtles-D.Y. Nasty and the score is 47-23. The defense of the Turtles has been smothering and their team looks very loose right now.
The buzzer just sounded in the other game as well and the Celtics are up 34-18 over Cobra Kai.
9:04 PM - Garland Sanchez is at the line for the Celtics. Sanchez may be one of the most underrated players in UH rec basketball, although sometimes he needs to play more aggressively. He's a great fit for this Celtics team though.
9:06 PM - For the Ninjas, who are up big, their biggest goal in the 2nd half is to avoid any injuries. Peter Mortenson just came up with a small limp and appears to have hurt his ankle. While this game is locked down, we'll see if this will have an impact on their next game in 6 days.
9:07 PM - There are a number of spectators here tonight. In addition to members of the Huskies, Avengers and St. Baul, who are here waiting on their next games, most of the Blue Chips and Bulls are still here, along with Cody Allison of the Raptors/Nets, Eric Hawkins of the Unpredictables and Teresa Resch of UH Corporate.
9:12 PM - Isaac Vogel of the Riddlers just walked in the gym barefoot.
Meanwhile, scores are 45-25 Celtics and 75-36 Ninja Turtles.
9:13 PM - Jon Goodridge just told us that Devin Stensrude's teams lose by an average of 40 points in the playoffs. Not sure if that's true or not, but right now they are down 47.
9:16 PM - Celtics are up 50-27 with 9:30 left to play. The members of Cobra Kai look a bit tired. You can understand Dupont and Schlichte being tired, since they've already played tonight. Roell and Don Kahl, however, still have one game left with the Riddlers at 9:30.
9:20 PM - The lack of updates is due to the lack of any kind of notable action on the court. All four teams are going through the motions with their outcomes decided many minutes ago.
Scores are 56-36 Celtics and 100-53 Ninja Turtles.
9:24 PM - We can talk a little bit about the next round.
The Celtics will take on the Blue Chips in the elite eight. The Blue Chips looked very dominating against the Tropics and Respect the Game, but the Celtics will be a much tougher test.
The Ninja Turtles will take on the Timberpuppies. The T-Pups have the size advantage, but the Turtles are a better defensive team.
The Thundercats will take on the Rebels in the next round. Noe Mendez, who is here at the desk, said the game will end with an overtime win for the T-Cats. I like his confidence and I also expect a pretty close game.
The last game will be determined by the winners of St. Baul-Huskies and the Riddlers-Avengers.
9:29 PM - The Turtles game mercifully ends with a final of 105-57. I think this can end all of the talk that D.Y. Nasty deserved to be a top seed in this tournament. Top seeds don't lose by nearly 50 points.
9:30 PM - The Celtics game ended as well with a 20+ point win. Hopefully, the last two games of the evening will be a little closer.
9:34 PM - The Huskies-St. Baul game has tipped off. We're still scoreless at the 20:30 mark in the 1st.
9:35 PM - Heath Stoll misses a wide open three, which leads to Greg Regenscheid getting the game's first points with his own 3-pointer.
9:36 PM - Jon Goodridge may be attempting to alienate the entire league. He just told me, speaking about Jonathan Moore, "Isn't that guy over 40 years old? He might need a walker when he's coming in the gym next season." Unpredictable, indeed.
9:37 PM - The Avengers-Riddlers game has tipped off, too. We're tied at 2 in the opening minutes.
9:40 PM - The Huskies are keeping it close with the score tied at 10 off of a Stoll jumper. This team is scrappy and is looking to prove they belong in these playoffs.
On the other side, the Riddlers are up 9-5. The Avengers have had a disappointing season thus far, going only 5-3 with a star-studded roster, but could easily make noise in the playoffs.
9:42 PM - Isaac Vogel just went flying by the scorer's table going after a loose ball. The Avengers have scored 5 in a row to take a 10-9 lead.
St. Baul has widened their lead to 10 after Greg Regenscheid knocked down another 3.
9:44 PM - Not very many people made note of this, but the addition of John Bryan to the Huskies was one of the better GM moves of the Fall season. He brings a veteran's poise to the Huskies that they sorely needed.
9:45 PM - Down 12, Heath Stoll hit a much-needed three. He yells for his team to pick it up on defense.
The Avengers and Riddlers are tied at 13 with 15 minutes remaining.
9:46 PM - Sam Halverson, who was on fire against Respect the Game, misfired on a three that would've tied the game at 16. Nick Roell is coaching his Riddlers' well as he gets a rest in the first half.
9:48 PM - Andrew Klobe gets an easy lay-in and the scrappy Huskies are down by 19 with 7:30 left to play. Tommy Ng isn't letting his team die, though, and gets an and-one off of a beautiful drive.
9:50 PM - The Huskies have no answer for Klobe. This is one game where Lawrence Barnes' size would've been nice to have.
9:51 PM - The Riddlers defense is particularly impressive given the number of scorers that the Avengers have. They just forced an airball from Ben Martancik and then Charlie Steingas drained a three on the other end to put the Riddlers up 7.
9:52 PM - John Ebeling is another underrated player in UH. He just took a nice drive down the lane and was sent to the line by Noe Mendez. The Riddlers are up 6 and they are doing so with no Mark Buettner, it should be mentioned.
9:54 PM - St. Baul got the basketball off of a missed layup and got it downcourt for their own layup in about a half a second. They are cruising right now and are up 26 with 1:51 left in the first half.
9:56 PM - Ryan Samuelson just turned Junius Ho around on a drive down the lane. He scored and St. Baul is up 60-34 at the half.
9:57 PM - Our last hope for a close finish tonight is Riddlers-Avengers, but even this is turning into a blowout. The Riddlers are up 38-27 with 3 minutes to go in the half. The Avengers need to finish strong right now.
9:58 PM - Sam Halverson muscled his way into the lane for two points and the Riddlers' lead is now 10.
10:00 PM - When John Ebeling wants to complain about a call, which happens often, he often looks as if the world has just wronged him greatly and civilization is in jeopardy because of the call. Of course, most of the time, he's arguing calls that were actually correct.
10:02 PM - The second half has started for St. Baul and the Huskies, but St. Baul is up 33, so no one is really paying attention. It is halftime in the other game, where the Riddlers are up 43-33.
10:05 PM - Wow. A missed alley-oop attempt almost saw Andrew Klobe bang his head against the bottom of the backboard. The crowd 'ooh'ed about that one, which has been the most exciting thing about the St. Baul-Huskies game in about 20 minutes.
10:08 PM - Ben Martancik nailed a three and the Avengers are within 4, 49-45.
10:10 PM - A beautiful take from Zhao Lee brought the Avengers within 2, but Pete Clark came right back and hit a three in Chris Maher's face. He could've argued for a foul on that one, too, but didn't get it.
10:11 PM - Justin Samuelson tried to drive on Ronnie Olson and Olson stripped him clean. Heath Stoll scored on the other end and St. Baul called a timeout. I guess they feel their 26-point lead with 9 minutes left is in jeopardy.
10:12 PM - The Riddlers have put the lead back to 9 points off of a Charlie Steingas three.
10:13 PM - I'm not sure why the Fridley gym keeps it so cold in here, but next time I'm bringing fingerless gloves to do this blog.
10:14 PM - The Avengers hit on a barrage of threes to bring the game back within 2. They refuse to go away, but can't keep going down by 9 points and hoping to come back every time.
10:19 PM - Chris Maher knocked down two free throws to put the Avengers up 65-63 with 8 minutes left. This one is looking like a good finish.
10:20 PM - Zhao Lee stole the inbounds pass and threw it up court to Derek Batiste for the layup. Avengers ar eup 67-63.
10:21 PM - The St. Baul game is about to end. St. Baul is up 93-72 with 1:20 left.
10:22 PM - The Avengers are on fire. Zhao Lee just hit a ridiculous three from the corner followed by another from Ben Martancik and they are suddenly up by 11 points with 5:16 remaining.
10:23 PM - St. Baul wins 95-78. They'll play the winner of Avengers-Riddlers.
10:24 PM - Is that your dagger? Ben Martancik hit another three to keep the margin at 11 points with 3:30 left. Charlie Steingas airballed his three on the other end and it is not looking good for the Riddlers right now.
10:25 PM - The Riddlers have started to play the foul game down 8 with 2 minutes left. The problem is that every Avengers player on the court is a good shooter.
10:29 PM - Zhao Lee is at the line and made both to make the lead 84-75. An Avengers steal leads to more free throws and this one is in the bag unless something crazy happens.
10:34 PM - The Avengers make it a final and advance. That'll do it for me tonight. Thanks to everyone who read and to all of our players. We'll see you next week.
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