Puka Hoching defends Jerrod Novoty who scored a game high 27 points.

Sponge Bob squeaks out four point victory over Ball So Hard to remain undefeated in the East, while IMPROV and the VeryAggressiveGuys cruise to convincing wins in the West.

Buffalo, NY-  While thousands of Buffalonians chose to head downtown this past Sunday to watch the St. Patrick’s Day Parade, drink copious amounts of alcohol, and celebrate Irish culture, over 150 athletes choose to pass up the party and help their respective teams climb the standings in Buffalo’s top basketball league.

In game one Swoopin’ In On Ya Girl looked to stay undefeated against John Bowen and I R Colledge Edjukated.  Joe Coppola got off to a blazing fast start scoring 18 points in the half and leading Colledge Edjukated to a 39 point tie at the break.  In the second half Swoopin’ In On Ya Girl blew the game open with a number of three-pointers and transition baskets to pull out the 80-68 point win and remain undefeated.

In game two Norfolk N’ Chance was looking for the upset against Court Justice and came out on the attack.  The one-two punch of Jon Plail (25 points) and Dean Antalik (25 points) was nearly unstoppable for Norfolk N’ Chance combining for 50 points.  With Court Justice trailing by two at the break, Ed Stephens (25 points) was determined to will his team to victory and peeled off 18 second half points, which was just enough to pull out the 83-81 point victory and keep Court Justice in the hunt in the East.

Jeremy Kelley leads the charge against the Hoosiers.

Next up was Jon Burgio and Sponge Bob Square Pants against Ball So Hard who entered week three still searching for their first win.  Ball So Hard played Sponge Bob tough.  After falling behind early Ball So Hard fought their way back into the game by tightening up their defense and a strong second half by Jarred Reed (14 points).  They took their first lead of the game with less than two minutes remaining, but it wouldn’t last long as Elton Frazier (22 points) answered with a deep three-pointer that turned a one point deficit into a two point lead and carried Sponge Bob to their third consecutive win, 67-63.

The forth game of the day was a battle between AXA and the Hoosiers.  Jeremy Kelley continued to make his mark on Kronies Jamfest with another monster game, scoring 16 points and recording a season high eight blocked shots.  Mike Ridge (26 points) also had a strong game making up for the absence of Shane Canahai and Steve Fassel.  On the other side of the ball Kronies Jamfest newcomer Jerrod Novoty scored a game high 27 points and kept the Hoosiers in the game, but it wouldn’t be quite enough as AXA pulled out the 67-62 point victory.

In the 7pm game big man Darren Kresge was hungry for a win, looking to serve White Men Can’t Jump their first loss of the season.  Unfortunately for Practical Modern Basketball they just didn’t have the depth to match up with a streaking White Men Can’t Jump team, who quickly jumped out to a 29-15 point first half lead behind a balanced attack.  Nick Tydka scored a season high 18 points, including all but two of PMB’s first half points.  Sean Cronin (10 points) got it going in the second half, but it was too little too late as White Men Can’t Jump kept their undefeated streak alive with the 61-39 point victory.

At 8pm the Flint Tropics looked to get back in the win column against Gary Lee and Victorious Secret.  Mark Ward made his debut for Victorious Secret and his impact was felt immediately, as he scored 14 of his 20 points in the first half.  In the waning moments of the first things took a scary turn as Flint Tropics captain and emotional leader Nick Pfohman went down with a lower ankle injury and did not return.  While it could have been used as an excuse to let the game slip away, Don Sheldon (22 points) and Matt Sommer (11 points) instead stepped up big time to help the Tropics pull out their second win of the season, 65-62.

In the 9pm game the Monstars were looking to get their first win of the season against the defending champion VeryAggressiveGuys.  James Kim (8 points) and Jason Hawthorn (9 points) led the charge for the Monstars, but the lock down defense of the VeryAggressiveGuys proved to be too much to handle as they continually forced turnovers on the defensive end that led to easy buckets on the offensive end.  Mike Bennett led all scorers with 29 points and the VeryAggressiveGuys appeared poised to push for a second consecutive title with the big 79-26 point win.

David Vanoni soars through the air to score two of his eight points.

In the final game of the night Lenny Frears and Healthy Buffalo ran into a surging IMPROV team led by Darrik Bloomfield (19 points) and Vincent Ceretto (36 points).  IMPROV took control of this one early scoring 54 points in the first half.  Darrik Bloomfield made a statement again in this game with a big dunk over Glenn Smith (13 points) early on in the second half.  David Laudero (19 points) had a strong game for Healthy Buffalo, but couldn’t slow down the offensive attack of IMPROV as they coasted to a 110-58 point victory.

Week 4 Game of the Week

There will be only one undefeated team remaining in the West after the 3pm showdown between the VeryAggressiveGuys and White Men Can’t Jump.  The White Men Can’t Jump will look to make a statement against the defending champion VeryAggressiveGuys, but can they handle the signature defensive pressure from the VeryAggressiveGuys?  Find out live this Sunday at 3pm!