With a chance to firmly place themselves back in the thick of the City Of Alexandria Winter League race, the Green Dot Ballers handed Self-Check a vital game in the standings and now stands on the brink of being eliminated from the playoffs for the first time in franchise history. The Ballers raced out to a 15 point lead (22-7) midway through the first half on the way to a 32-24 lead at halftime, behind 15 points from Ed Reddick (7-7 shooting). Self-Check found the 3PT line favorable in the second half to the tune of 6 makes in the final 20 minutes. While the volume scoring was certainly damaging, the game really got away from GDB at the line. The Ballers stayed on the attack which resulted in 13 free throws in the second half, but converted just 3 from the charity stripe, as well as missing out on another point when they missed the front end of a 1 and 1.
Even under all of that duress, GDB still found themselves ahead by one point, with a minute to go, when their own version of Mr. Big Shot, Mike Reamy, once again found a three ball from the corner pocket to stake out a 51-50 lead. Self-Check quickly answered seconds later by pushing the ball up the court and nailing a three of their own to regain a two point lead. Two point blank misses by Chris Larson and a turnover by Will Harris ended any chance of another last second victory.
The defending champions now face a win or go home scenario against the top ranked and undefeated G-Men. G-Men would like nothing better than to send the Ballers packing, as they have lost to them in the playoffs 6 different seasons.
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