Frankencense and Paper Clip punch their tickets to DII quarterfinals as we preview basketball playoffs
The Men's Division DII Basketball playoffs got under way Thursday night with two preliminary round games. In the 6:30 game, Paper Clip, led by the hot first half shooting of Junior Dan Judge, defeated Great White Hope 43-41. Judge, who canned three first half three pointers, would finish with 11 points, while Junior Joe Urban would finish with a game high 24 points, for the losing team. Ben Albert finished with 9 while Travis Kumph and Charlie Sherman finished with 6 each for the victors.
In the 7:30 game, Frankencense, led by a balanced scoring attack, would take a 7 point lead into the break and cruise to a 12 point victory, 49-37 over District 5. The all freshman team was led by Kevin Sullivan, David Broderick and Theodore Bresser who had 10, 8 and 8 points respectively. Junior Brian Moore paced District five with a game high 23 points, 16 coming in the second half
Playoff Preview
Prediction: Say AH
In the Women's Bracket the Defending champs are back to re-claim their title, and with a 6-0 regular season, they looked poised to pull off the double. Chelsey Stryker and Kelli Reardon lead the way, both averaging 14ppg. The Pac-10 the opening game of the season was the deciding factor as to who would take first seed as and Wall Paper eked out a 31-30 victory over SWAGETZ. This earned them a first found bye after a 4-0 regular season, while SWAGETZ would take the second seed. Our prediction may be a surprise but we are not going with either of the number one Seeds. If Say Ah can have both Lindsay Pinkham and Samantha Kranz on the floor at the same time for the playoffs, we believe this combination will be unstoppable. Say Ah over Defending Champs in a close one.
Prediction: Chest
With the Men's Division II playoffs already underway, the clear team to beat is the overall number 1 seed Chest, who have put up some gaudy numbers so far this season. Finishing the regular season at 4-0 they averaged an astounding 66.0 ppg while they held their opponents to only 23.5 ppg. Led by Captain Mike Pecca, 21.0 ppg, Chest will be a hard out in the playoffs. Buckets, captained by Mike Gorett, and Nantucket Nectars, captained by Mitchell Davis, should be the stiffest competition, and a fantastic semi-final match-up, but the balanced attack of the Nectars should negate the the sharpshooting of Buckets. In the end though, everyone else plays for second, as Chest prevails over Nantucket Nectars in a shoot-out.
Prediction: Floor
The Division I playoffs are too tough to call, but since we have to make a decision we go with Captain Joe Manning and Floor, while Ryan Fitzgibbons and his Tune Squad may have something to say about that. Both teams are undefeated and have been on a collision course to meet since week one. Tune Squad has beaten its four opponents by an average of 22.5 ppg while Floor averages victories by 24.6 ppg. Floor Spreads the ball around well, everyone on the team contributes, while Tune Squad is paced by Mike White who consistently leads his team in scoring. We do have a dark horse team and that is Off Constantly, captained by Rob Percacciolo, but that is because Percaciolo averages 21.5ppg and on any night could go off for 30. Our experts however, say the championship game will be an outstanding run and gun affair, with the more experience Floor team beating out the younger Tune Squad in the final minute.