Mental mistakes ruin GDB fall opener

Game Summary

The Ballers played well in a tightly contested game, in which neither team led by more than 7 points. It started off with a 7-0 for Lee Elite Snipers and GDB responded with a 19-6 run. Keonte Dennis and Will Harris combined for 32 points, but it wasn't enough to overcome a series of poor decisions in the last minute. The Ballers ultimately fell 52-49 in the fall season opener.

Will Harris III (#17) flies through the lane for 2 of his game high 17 points.

Headlines

It's all mental - The Ballers had overcome the loss of starting forward Mike Reamy due to injury on the second play of the second half to cling to a 49-48 lead with under a minute to play. With their opponents having committed just 2 fouls, they would need to commit five more to put the Ballers in the bonus. Unfortunately, late game decisions would prove costly.

With 45 seconds to play and only needed to hold the ball for fouls, the Ballers shot a three pointer. When Charlie Jones soared for the rebound, it seemed that the Ballers had received a mulligan. The ensuing inbounds led to the original strategy of holding the ball for fouls. However, after a third team foul was committed, the Ballers inbounded the ball and instead of holding it for the foul, they tried to dribble and lost possession. LSE took the steal down for the go ahead score.

Which let the refs impact the game - With 17 seconds left and down 1, a very cheap foul was called on a screen away from the ball. With two free throws made by LSE, the Ballers had to make up three points in 12 seconds. A drive by Chris Larson was disrupted by a foul that was not called. A scramble for the ball gave the Ballers one last three point attempt that was not to be.

That was fast...where did the points go??? - GDB scored 23 points in the first half, 22 points in the first nine minutes of the second half and just four over the final 10+ minutes. The frequent foul calls and time at the line drained the clock so quickly it was hard to keep the scoring flow going.

MVP

Will Harris III - The Rock was hard to stop unless you were in stripes with a whistle. He battled through early foul trouble, phantom travel calls and no calls to score 17 points and even found time to dish out 3 assists.

Up Next

Dezze Ballers (0-1) 9:00pm - Dezze Ballers lost by forfeit last week, so no telling how this game will go. Back at Charles Houston one more time. Then the rest of the regular season is at Chick Armstrong.