It was another week in the Spring 2016 Montvale Ultimate Hoops season where the Justice League continues to dominate and a team thought to be out of it pulls an upset victory out to try and get into the playoff mix.

The Ferrall Ballerz were looking to get back on the winning side of things after a bad run through the other top teams that saw them fall below .500 while the Wise Guys were trying to jump over the former champs to get into the playoff race. Once again Skender Agic (13 pts, 11 reb, 7 ast) took control of the offense for the Wise Guys and put in two transition layups to give them a 8-6 lead with 17:30 left in the first half and hit another layup to go up 21-15 with 5:20 left in the 1st half. But Dan Bronstein (17 pts, 5 reb, 4 ast) wouldn’t let the Ballerz go down without a fight and nailed a 3-pointer with 2:25 left in the half to get the Ballerz within two at 23-21. A Skender Agic assist to Tommy Christensen with just: 52 left pushed the Wise Guys lead to 25-21 at the break.

The Ballerz came out strong to start the 2nd half though with Bronstein hitting another two 3-pointers as part of 10-0 run that gave the Ballerz a 31-25 lead with 18:40 left in the game. It became harder for the Wise Guys to make a comeback after Skender Agic picked up his fourth foul with 14 minutes left in game, which forced him to sit, but Aiden Rezvani (12 pts, 3 reb) picked up the slack and tied things up at 41 with a 3-pointer with 9 minutes left in the game. Skender Agic came back into the game but was forced out for good with 6 minutes left after picking up a technical foul for his fifth and final call against him. Bronstein made the free throws from the tech count and Justin Leon (12 pts, 9 reb) would make a few of his own to help the Ballerz to a 51-45 victory.

The second game was the upset special once again in Week 7 between Old School and Uncle Chubby’s. While Old School is one of the deepest teams in the league, Victor Cividini (10 pts, 12 reb) was the leader in the first half hitting a shot to open the game, then their second basket to make it 5-4 just over five minutes in and again with just 2 minutes remaining in the half to get them within three. For Chubby’s it was all about Steve Steiger (28 pts, 3 reb, 2 stl) as it has been for weeks as he scored their first basket on an and one drive and got a steal and transition layup to put them up 10-6 with 11:25 left in the half. Uncle Chubby’s held the lead almost the entire first half before a Akeem Atanda jumper with just under a minute left in the half gave Old School the 18-17 advantage they enjoyed at half.

In the second half, Steiger just kept shooting the ball and putting it in the hole to take things over for Uncle Chubby’s. There wasn’t much help from the rest of Chubby’s but it wasn’t needed as Old School couldn’t get the offense going more consistently and Cividini only added another 4 points to his total. There was a slight chance for an Old School comeback as Uncle Chubby’s free throw shooting (36% for the game) during the last two minutes couldn’t put the game out of reach, but Old School couldn’t find the net enough and they fall 43-35.

The final game wasn’t even really that as Justice League dominated the GOATs from opening tip to final buzzer. Besides a period during the first half where he had to sit out due to an injured ankle, James Miccio (26 pts, 10 reb, 5 ast, 4 stl) tried to carry his team to a victory, along with Marselis Middleton (11 pts, 14 reb, 4 ast). There was no way he would be able to with all 5 starters for Justice League scoring in double digits. There was little surprise that Brandon Danziger (17 pts, 10 reb), Evan Schumer (19 pts, 3 reb, 3 ast, 3 stl) and Joey Tortora (10 pts, 12 reb, 3 ast) did their normal damage but Daniel Readie (12 pts, 3 reb, 4 ast) scored the most he has all season and James Esposito (14 pts, 4 reb) tied his season high. With a high offensive output from the start Justice League climbed out to a 17-point halftime lead (38-21) and cruised to an easy 72-48 victory.

With just two games left, Justice League has pretty much locked up the #1 slot in the playoffs at 6-1 with Old School staying 1.5 games behind at 4-2 after their loss. The Bergen Tropics still hold the 3rd spot at 3-2 despite their bye week but the Ferrall Ballerz are breathing down their neck at 3-3 in the 4th slot. Uncle Chubby’s and Wise Guys are 5th and 6th at 2-4 just 1 game out of the playoffs while the GOATs are 1-5 and have no chance of seeing the post season.

To see all the highlights from Week 7 check out our YouTube Page

Before they played, Scott Ferrall caught up with Devin and Skender Agic to talk about the brother’s season together with the Wise Guys