Tight games, high tempers and an upset victory lead to a mess in the middle of the standings with just 3 games left in the Montvale Spring 2016 season.

In the first game of the night the Ferrall Ballerz were trying to avoid losing more games in a row (3) than they had in the last four seasons combined while Old School was trying to stay just behind Justice League at the top of the standings. In the early stages of the game, the Ballerz zone defense made Old School go away from their usual driving to the basket offense and settle for more jump shots and it paid off as the Ballerz jumped to an early 11-3 lead six minutes into the game after back to back Dan Bronstein (16 pts, 4 ast) 3-pointers. The off shooting would continue through much of the 1st half for a lot of Old School, but Billy Allen (30 pts, 3 reb) would make up for the rest of the team as he got on fire from behind the arc, first hitting two 3-pointers and two layups to tie the game at 11. Then later in the half, with the Ballerz leading 18-16, Allen hit three 3-pointers and had two assists on transition layups to cause a 13-0 run and give Old School a 29-18 lead with two minutes left in the half. A Scott Ferrall (10 pts, 7 reb, 4 ast) layup with 1:45 left before the break finally stopped the bleeding and the teams went into halftime with Old School leading 30-22.

The offenses for both teams was slow to get going for the first eight minutes after the break until a Bronstein 3-pointer with 13:15 left in the game got things going and cut Old School’s lead to 32-26. Then, after a Justin Michalek (10 pts, 8 reb, 3 ast) jumper the Ballerz hit back to back shots to cut the lead to 34-30 with around 8:30 left in the game. It would only get tighter as back to back layups by Ferrall cut the lead to 3 (43-40) for Old School with just 2:30 left in the game and then Bronstein drew contact outside the arc and nailed all three free-throws to tie things up with 1:45 left. But it was Allen coming through in the clutch once again as he nailed yet another 3-pointer to give Old School the lead back with :48 seconds. Bronstein couldn’t get another three shot foul call on the Ballerz next possession and Old School hit a few more free throws for a 49-43 Old School victory.

The second game was tight as well, which led to the game being changed when tempers flared in the 2nd half. The Wise Guys jumped out to an early 9-3 lead with 18:21 left in the 1st half after a Skender Agic (22 pts, 10 reb, 3 ast, 2 st) layup. The Bergen Tropics would push back though and go on a 15-3 run capped off by back to back Dan Gashi (12 pts, 11 reb, 5 ast, 2 stl) drives to the bucket 10 minutes into the game. The Wise Guys would close the gap slightly but another Tropics run (8-4) with back to back Rob Cohan (14 pts, 6 reb, 3 ast) baskets pushing it back up to a 26-18 Tropics lead with 3:25 left in the half. Once again Skender Agic took the reins and, after putting one in from in the lane with :43 seconds left, he hit a 3-pointer just before time expired to send things to the half with the Tropics up 30-26.

Both teams were complaining about the refs calls throughout the first half (to the point that the refs told Skender Agic to knock it off) and that frustration transferred to the opponents in the 2nd half and changed the game. As Skender Agic and Christopher Turrisi (15 pts, 3 ast) tried to bring the Wise Guys back Cohan, Gashi and Alex Benisatto (10 Pts, 5 reb) were able to hold onto the lead for much of the second half, but with under 10 minutes left Gashi drew a technical foul that started to turn the tide in the favor of the Wise Guys. Things started getting even chippier after that as Cohan and Skender Agic were talking back and forth drawing a technical foul a piece but after Cohan continued to snipe at Skender Agic he drew another tech and was thrown out of the game. Without their point guard, the Tropics couldn’t get the offense going enough to keep up with the Wise Guys late push to pull the 52-44 upset.

The third game almost saw another top team go down as Uncle Chubby’s jumped out to early 15-8 lead with Steve Steiger (35 pts, 6 reb, 3 ast, 2 stl) hitting a couple of 3-pointers. Chubby’s also used some transition baskets by Benny Ortiz (16 pts, 3 reb, 2 ast) to hold on as Justice League tried to come back to take the lead. The outside just wasn't there for Evan Schumer (17 pts, 4 reb) early on, which allowed Chubby’s to stay barely ahead and carry a 32-31 lead over top seeded Justice League into halftime.

In the second half, Brandon Danziger (19 pts, 14 reb) and Joey Tortora (14 pts, 6 reb, 5 ast, 3 stl) started to turn it up on offense. The isolation heavy offense of Steiger started to wear on him as the game went on and Chubby’s as a team started to slow down due to fatigue and Justice League took the lead and control of the game. Things were still tight down the stretch when Chubby’s started putting Justice League on the line with under a minute left. As the game was coming to a close, Danziger actually missed a free-throw, which could have given Chubby’s a chance to tie or win the game late, but Chubby’s could not box out for the rebound and Justice League grabbed the miss and laid it in to seal their 63-59 win.

With the way things played in Week 6, Justice League is still up top at 5-1 and Old School is just half a game behind at 4-1. With the losses by the Bergen Tropics and Ferrall Ballerz, and Wise Guys victory, things are now a lot closer for the final two playoff spots with just three games left. The Tropics sit in 3rd at 3-2 with the Wise Guys and Ballerz having the same record in the battle for the final playoff spot at 2-3. The GOATs and Uncle Chubby’s, who seemed to be out of things just two weeks ago, are now just a game out of a potential playoff berth at 1-4. It’ll be a an important few weeks to close out the Spring 2016 season.

To see the rest of the highlights from Week 6 of the Spring 2016 season, check out our YouTube Page.

Just before he torched the Ferrall Ballerz, Scott Ferrall caught up with Billy Allen to talk about Old School’s season so far