For those of you that missed it, here's what happened in the Championship game:

Wednesday night's game was a hard fought battle, and amongst the most competitive title games in recent C.A.L. history.  Throughout the game, both teams came out like heavyweight champs throwing blow after blow.  The scoring got started by Out of Town coming out with a very patient and efficient offense.  Although they had been beat by LF2 both times during the regular season, they came out with a ton of energy and a solid game plan.  After going up 4-0 on a couple of quick baskets, Abouna Mike nailed a three from the top of the key to set the tone, and start a run by LF2.  From there La Familia went on a run led primarily by John B.  He carried the entire offense in the first half (1st half: 9pts), as Nate was doing a solid job locking down Joey K (1st half: 4pts), and the rest of LF2's offense failed to get anything going.  Making matters worse was the fact that La Familia was plagued throughout the night with terrible free throw shooting, as only Joey, John, and Fadi would attempt free throws for their entire team and go a cumulative 6-19 from the charity stripe.  Despite the failed free throw conversions, they were able to establish some running game with Fadi (1st half: 6pts) finishing on a couple of breakaways, and Ray contributing a solid 7 1st half points, showed that that their team's balanced scoring was the difference at half time. 

On the other end of the floor during the first half, Nate (1st half: 18pts) was single handedly keeping Out of Town in the game, as he was getting jump shot after jump shot to fall.  He also nailed two critical first half threes that brought Out of Town back from a 10 point deficit with Abouna Mike on the bench and not covering him and Joey K in foul trouble, having to play a soft defense.  Despite all of Nate's first half heroics, just as missed free throws would plague LF2 all night, Out of Town would commit way too many turnovers in such a big way to sustain any momentum for long periods of time.  Although Alex came out with a great game plan that showed a patient Nate setting up offensive sets and posting up his bigs time after time down the court, Jeter (game: 2pts) and DP (game: 7pts) were not able to convert on their opportunities in the post.  The big men did a pretty good job passing out of the post as they were constantly double teamed with one of LF's guards and solid D by Ray, Ziad, Fadi, and JB.  When they did kick it out and find the open man, Nate and Kalvin were both able to knock down a couple of 3's. 

The first half ended with La Familia up 29-27.

The second half began with little offensive productivity as both teams put the clamps down on one another.  Because of Nate's hot hand in the first half, LF2 had to make some critical adjustments that were money down the stretch, the primary adjustment being that Mike was full court pressing Nate (2nd half: 4pts) and hounding him all night until Nate reached half court, at which point, Joey K would go over to trap and force the ball out of Nate's hands.  After a few minutes of lack luster offensive performances, the action got really exciting down the stretch.  LF2 pulled ahead by 7 again, only to have Out of Town hustle their way back into the game and eventually take a lead on a big time three by Kalvin (game: 8pts).  The three gave Out of Town a 1 point lead that appeared to be the turning point of the game, it was the first time Out of Town led since the score was 4-3. 

Again, the big basket at the other end came from JB, as he sank an and 1.  Unfortunately, his poor free throw shooting (regular season FT%: 58-72, 81%) continued as he shot a season worst 3-8 (38%) from the line and missed the free basket to complete the And 1.  On the ensuing possession, Mike was hounding Nate and on a gamble Joey K stripped Nate and took it the length of the court before getting fouled by Alex on the shot.  Again, LF2 came away with just one of out of two free throws to take a 2 point lead.  After another basket by Nate tied the game up, Joey K came right back with Ziad setting a huge pick on Nate and Kalvin unable to recover to help Nate, LF2 took the lead back again.  But, as the theme seemed to be, Out of Town would not quit, and Alex came right back and scored.  After a couple of scoreless possessions, Joey Kejbou got a steal and Nate committed a flagrant foul to prevent a free layup.  Again, foul shooting woes struck, and Kejbou went 0-2 on the free throws.  However, he redeemed himself on the ensuing possession that came with the free throws by taking the ball down into the post and hitting a turn around in the lane, as that seemed to be his only option due to his inability to drive on Nate all game long.

With the score 45-43, Nate had the ball as the clock was winding down, looking to tie the game, he shoots and misses.  However, there was still hope, b/c Kalvin managed to grab the long rebound, but that wouldn't last, as a split second later Joey would some how get his hands on the ball and tip it out.  This caused an instantaneous reaction from Mike and Nate as they both jumped for the ball, and as they collided Mike was able to push the ball forward to an awaiting Joey, who caught it near half court, with the quickness, he jetted down court to get the last basket of the game, 47-43.  Time had expired and so had Out of Town's magical turnaround and title run. 

There were two sounds that stuck out the most at the end of that game; the first, was an elated La Familia team, who's uphill battle all season, finally lead them to the promised land and inducted two more names into CAL's Hall of Champions (Joe Kejbou and Ziad Dally, as they were the only two players on LF2 yet to win the title).  The second, was the deafening sound of silence as the crowd favorite, Out of Town, walked off of the court, like valiant soldiers defeated in battle, you could see the disappointment in their faces as they thought about the glory that just barely eluded them, and their fans' jaws drop as the final buzzer sounded.

As the dust cleared and all was said and done, only one team was left to claim CAL glory...congratulations to La Familia!

      Unfortunatley I was unable to watch you guys step off the court victoriously, but I just wanted to extend my congratulations on a season, and from what I heard a game well done. 

To all of CAL enjoy your summer and God Bless, Inshalla we'll see you all next season.

Theresa