Ballers fall just short in opener

Summary

The Ballers came into this game short handed missing key players due to injury (Cam Wade and Kyle Welty) and previous commitments (Tony Wroblicky, Winston Tracy and Chris Harris). Facing against a new team in the league that featured 12 players (!!!) and turned out to be some type of club team, that later had a coach show up, this was not a great week to be short handed. However, the gritty Baller work ethic was a great counter to the youth and inexperience of the JBM team. Led by a standout 40 min, 20 point performance, the GDB went back and forth in a game that went down to the last shot. Unfortunately the shot came up just short and the Ballers fell 47-46.

Harris (17) gets the scoring night started on his way to a game high 20 points.

Headlines

A pivotal scoreboard swing After a tight first half, the Ballers put together at 10-4 run to take a 23-18 lead with 10 seconds left. Green Dot got a wide open transition three point for resident sniper Mike Reamy. Unfortunately, it caught back iron and JBM pushed the ball back up the court for a dagger three right at the buzzer.

Punching back JBM used their depth, a full court press and constant crashing of the offensive boards to go on a 12-2 run midway through the second half to go up 39-33. The Ballers fought back at the free throw line with shots in the bonus and threes the hard way. A 7-2 response had the game at 41-40 for the closing minutes.

Not quite good enough The last minute turned brutal for GDB featuring, multiple turnovers, missed free throws and yet a key rebound, a clutch timeout by the master of the end game (Will Harris) and a great final play gave the Ballers a chance to win the game at the buzzer, but it wasn't meant to be.

Chris Larson (5) and Will Harris connect for one of Larson's game high 9 assists on the night.

MVP

Will Harris III - The Rock was dang sure in the building tonight! The GDB pivot man played all 40 minutes, provided a game high 20 points and nearly dragged an undermanned Ballers team to the victory. He also once again flashed his best in the business endgame management with timely fouls and advancing the ball to half court to setup the potential game winning play.

Up Next

Bye week and then 7/11 9PM vs DC Warriors (Joy Boys)