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More Photos are available in the PHOTO ALBUM: The end of the 2008 season was finally here and we struggled all week on how to schedule the playoff and finals for our largest tournament ever!! Well Commissioner Moose came through again with a plan. This one allowed us to play our first ever Friday Night “Under The Lights” Games!! The DC Rec. Dept came through with the bathrooms and lights, and the games were on. It was so packed out there that it felt like a Saturday afternoon. There was an extra excitement in the air!! Well the teams came on-time and the 2008 Playoffs began….
13 & UNDER DIVISION This division was a mix of tall and small players, but in the end we were able to get everyone paired up correctly. The first matchup put Uptop against DC Ballaz. Now DC Ballaz had all of their players, but did not have all of their uniforms. Because of this wardrobe malfunction, they were allowed to wear Yellow Jerseys for this game. Well DC Ballaz came to play and they put up the same amount of points as they did the first time they played UpTop. Unfortunately the result was the same. They were still no match for this UpTop Team. Tae & Kalef from DC Ballaz were the main ones putting up the points however, UpTop had a complete team attack. Almost every Player scored and with this balanced attack they put DC Ballerz away by a score of 38 – 21.  So UpTop moved on to play Tylerhouse in the Semifinals. I don’t know what happened to UpTop in this one, because they came out really flat and stayed that way!! They only managed to put up 10 points!! What were they thinking?? Did they think that would be enough to beat one of the powerhouse teams in this division? Well Ty from Tylerhouse put up the majority of the points (12pts) and put UpTop into the off season with a score of 23 – 10. In the other Semifinals, the other powerhouse team, the MD Suns were busy with Pro City. Pro City is the quiet team in this division with some very skilled players. They came out slow against the Suns and did not score many baskets in the first half. The Suns roared to a 12-2 run and looked like they were going to easily win this one. The Coach of Pro City rallied his team together and they began to come alive! The cut the deficit to 2 points and were officially back in this one. Unfortunately for Pro City, the Suns had a complete balanced contribution and were able to put Pro City away. The final Score was 28 – 22.
16 & UNDER DIVISION 
This year’s crop of 16-under division was the most competitive we have ever had in this division. Any team could have taken the crown. The returning champs, Colors were the favorites but nothing is guaranteed until you play the games. The first game in this division took place Friday night. It put Hollywood against 1st & O. This was a very close game all the way throughout. Both teams were working hard for every basket. The only thing that decided a win was the free throws. 1st & O committed twice as many fouls as Hollywood. Hollywood was able to capitalize on the free throws and outlast 1st & O by 3 points (30 – 27). The Stars were scheduled to play the Suns, but were unable to get all their players to the court at the scheduled time, so with that forfeit it set up a rematch of Hollywood and the Suns in the semifinals. The last game these two played went into triple overtime and was truly a game to remember. Hollywood lost that game as their players fouled out, so they were eager to get another crack at it. This time with their season on the line. Well we all know that the Suns are no push over team and were ready for the challenge. The only problem is that that they did not play well today. Rags were their only big scorer today with 8 pts. That wasn’t enough o get the job done. Ishmael only had 2 pts in this one. They really needed him to score if they were going to pull out the win. Hollywood was running on all cylinders and came out with a lot of energy. A little too much energy, because as it began to appear that they would easily win this contest, they started taunting the Suns players and coaches. After several warnings and technicals, they persisted and almost caused a huge conflict after the game. Although the Suns were defeated, they have no reason to hold their heads down. They played well all season and this one game was not a good measuring stick on their talent.  Hollywood was legitimately in the Finals, but they jeopardized their chances with their continuous taunting and disrespectful behavior. During the championship game, League officials finally had enough and disqualified them from the tournament. This meant that The Suns would receive second place. They deserved it!
The other side of the bracket started with Kenilworth and Tylerhouse. Tylerhouse is another team that has a lot of talent. Kenilworth was not ready for the attack. This was a very fast paced game that had very little fouls called. Tylerhouse ran up the score quickly and never looked back. George from Kenilworth was the only one on that team in double figures with 10pts. That’s not going to get it done in the playoffs. Tylerhouse had 3 players in double figures and ended Kenilworth’s season by a score of 41 – 29. This set up a matchup between the Number One Seed Colors and Tylerhouse. Tylerhouse was given a 20 minute rest and had to play the semifinals game. They must have used up all of their energy in the first one against Kenilworth because they only managed to score 23 points in this contest. This is definitely not enough to beat the defending champs. Colors took advantage of the worn out Tylerhouse team and racked up 51 pts. (the highest total that we have seen in this division this summer). Only Joel from Tylerhouse put up the put up great numbers with 15pts. Colors just had a balanced attack. Final score 51 – 23. This set up a rematch of the last two finals with Colors vs Hollywood. Well Colors was still on a roll. It’s hard to believe that these guys had so much energy after playing so many games. They were also in the 19 & Under division, so it seemed like this team was playing back to back to back to back!! They handled it well and just took their game to another level in the finals Hollywood was never in this one. Colors was blowing them out and Officials were going to stop the game anyway, but the poor sportsmanship by Hollywood prompted the quick end to this contest. They have been warned, talked to, and given too many chances!! They had to be disqualified!! They taunted in victory and wanted to argue and fight when they were defeated!! This team has been a yearly favorite, but after that showing, they have been indefinitely banned from future tournaments and events until they meet with Metroball Officials and perform community service hours with the organization. So our champs this year is Colors!! They have won this tournament 3 years in a row. This year was their most challenging, but they triumphed. It would have been interesting to see the rematch with the Suns, but there is always next year. Congratulations!! 19 & UNDER DIVISION  The 19 -Under division looked like it was just a BallaHolics runner up contest, but none of us was prepared for what happened on Saturday. We will get back to that one later. Let’s start with the Friday night game 3rd & P vs Street Kings. This was a toss up since both teams were struggling to get wins in the regular season. As the game went on, it was apparent that 3rd & P loved playing at night under the lights! They played like a well oiled machine!! Led by R. Smith with 13pts, 3rd & P controlled the paint and made spectacular passes and cuts. If this team played like this during the regular season, they surely would have won more games and had a better seeding. Street Kings consists of mainly 16 & Under players that stepped up to this division, so although they weren’t much of a match, they still made a great effort in this one. Both teams had their moments of great baskets, but too much 3rd & P sent Street kings into early retirement.
This setup 3rd & P against the winner of DC Finest vs the undefeated Ballaholics. Ballaholics did not have all their players arrive in time for the start of this one so they picked up a few of the Suns 16 & Under players to start the game. Well these players were still fired up from their loss in their division, so they came out stron for Ballaholics. This time Ishmael did not disappoint. He scored 12 points to keep Ballaholics alive. As Ballaholics regular players began to arrive in the second half, they began to argue over mistakes and weren’t very productive. This gave DC Finest some life. DC Finest has not won a game all season, but had a good chance to upset the number one seed! They played like a team and hung in there with every basket. This game was surprisingly very close. In the end though, Ballaholics was able to squeak out the win by 6pts (53 – 47). This setup the semifinals with Ballaholics and 3rd & P. 3rd & P was still on a high after their big win over Street Kings, so they came out stron against Ballaholics. Ballaholics was still bickering amongst themselves, but got a great performance out of Tyron with 21pts. Mike and J. Thomas filled in with 12 pts each. 3rd & P only had one player in double figures, Jayvonne (10pts). This was definitely not enough. Ballaholics put 3rd & P away 57 – 43 and secured a spot in the finals. But who would they play???  The other side of the bracket played out like this. Southside Ballerz went up against Colors (the 16-Under Champs). This was a very low scoring game on both parts. A very tense game, but Colors seemed to have this one wrapped up before the half. Southside did not like being outscored by this Colors team, so they began to get frustrated. Their frustration put them further out of contention for winning this game. They were defeated by Colors 27 – 17.
The nest contest was Fort Stanton Against Tylerhouse. From early on, it was apparent that Tylerhouse had a mission to accomplish. They scored basket after basket and never trailed in thios one. The over matched Fort Stanton team couldn’t keep up. They managed to get a good amount of points, but Tylerhouse was too strong. They moved on with a 55 – 36 Victory. Their next opponent was Colors.
 Colors matched up almost evenly with this Tylerhouse team. Many of the players play each other regularly so this was going to be interesting. Well this game was very tight and could have gone either way. Vance from Colors put up a performance with 18pts. Tylerhouse kept their cool and had balanced scoring. They almost gave this one away with missed 3-Pointers. They attempted over 10 3-pt shots but only hit on one. They didn’t’ get back into the game until they started to drive to the hole late in the second half. Leonard of Colors lost his cool a few times and couldn’t focus on the game. He was more concerned with the calls by the refs that didn’t go his way. This frustration caused him to play poorly and only score 9pts. This game came down to the last minute and Tylerhouse was able to outlast Colors by 1pt. They won it 41 – 40.
Now the finals was set. Ballaholics vs Tylerhouse. We know Ballaholics wouldmost likely make the finals and possibly win it all, but we didn’t know their opponent would be Tylerhouse. We also didn’t know that Tylerhouse was going to put up a big fight to win this game the way they did. Ballaholics was still bickering on the court, but managed to put up some spectacular shots. At one point, Jeff from Ballaholics hit 4 3-pointers in a row to keep his team going. Tylerhouse kept hanging in there and we had a dog fight on our hands. The last 4 seconds of the game went by so fast that the scoreboard couldn’t keep up. Thanks for the book keeper. The ending of this game was unthinkable!! With a tie and 4 seconds left, Jeff from Ballaholics hits a two pointer to put them up by 2. Tylerhouse does a very quick inbound goes a little bit past half court and shoots a 3-pointer that goes straight through the net as the buzzer sounds!! Tylerhouse has upset the number one seed and won this game on a buzzer beater 56-55. Congratulations. This team has participated in the tournament for several years and has finally been able to come up with the championship!!  UNLIMITED DIVISION The first game in this division was New Mod vs the defending champs, Young Gunners. We started this game on Friday night. The game was going back and forth all the way until with 10:26 left in the second half, it started to rain. So we had to continue this game Saturday. Well I don’t know what happened between Friday night and Saturday afternoon, but New Mod wasn’t prepared to bring the same intensity. Young Gunners just left them in the dust and won this game easily. So they went on to face We R One. These teams have a bitter rivalry going on. Their last game was in overtime when it was rained out and they both elected not to finish the next day. So this was their next meeting. It just so happened to be a semifinals game and winner takes all. Well We R One didn’t have their best outing today and Young Gunners took advantage of that. They out gunned We R One with even scoring amongst several players. We R One only managed 39 points. Young Gunners easily moved on to the finals by a score of 53 – 39. What happened to that We R One team that we saw all season?  On the other side of the bracket Nelly All-Stars had to forfeit because thay couldn’t get all their players to the game. This set up a “Who’s Who” of a matchup between Green Light and Madness. This game was so hot, that all other games were stopped just to watch this one. It included the NBA standout, Kevin Durant and several other Pro Ball notables. Other teams were stacked up all around the court just to see this one!! They were not disappointed. There were some spectacular Plays and dunks by Kevin Durant. This turned out to be the highest scoring game all season. It was a very close one. Bobby Maze of Madness led all scorers with 27pts. Kevin Durant added 25pts but Duck and A. Lesune of Green Light had over 20pts each and with the other players chipping in here and there, Green light was able to outlast Madness 77 – 76. We thank all of the Pro Players for playing in our tournament. This was truly a game to remember. They all signed autographs and took pictures after the game. We hope that they will be back next year!!
Well this moved Green Light into the finals against Young Gunners. Now Green Light and Coach Q have been here before. They knew the Young Gunners team very well. This game was a classic matchup of skill and determination. Young Gunners were able to get into the heads of many of the Green Light players and caused them to make some careless mistakes. All in all Green Light still hung in there until the end. Renny and Moo led the way for Young Gunners with 12pts & 13pts respectively. D. Kirk, Rich and Fat Fat led the way for Green Light. It wasn’t enough. In the end, Green light was defeated by a score of 44 – 39. Young Gunners has won this tournament for the 4th year in a row. They keep finding ways to pull it out. Congrats to Young Gunners and Coach Bing!! Congratulations to all of our tournament winners. We would like to thank every team that participated this year. Thank you for making this the largest year ever and a Summer to be remembered!! We will see you all next year for our 9th season!!
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Weekly Recaps - 
