Vega puts on the pressure in The City’s 64-42 win

10.12.10- M. Vega’s return to The City has strengthen their defensive efforts on the perimeter.

Vega stole a league season high 6 passes to assist The City in pulling away from the newcomer Hyena squad, 64-42.

The Hyenas, winless to start the season, worked the ball inside to start the game and got out to an early lead. The City without center S. Cassman, ditched their man-to-man effort and concentrated on packing in a zone while allowing the guards to put pressure on any Hyena ballhandler. It paid off as Vega lead the way, stealing 3 passes within a 3 minute stretch to assist The City pulling away.

M. Smith and T. Rustad also assisted in the pressure and combined for a 25 points and 14 rebounds.

The City plays second place High Five next week. With a win, The City is in place for an early clinching of the #1 overall seed in the playoffs.

The City clamp down on D, win ugly game vs. Vice, 41-38

10.5.10- It was The City’s first matchup with newly crowned champion, L.A. Vice. Despite the title, L.A. Vice has yet to beat The City in a game. Although close many times, they would fall short once again at the hands of The City.

Defense has been a primary focus and they have drastically improved on the defensive end, thanks to the addition of M. Smith, the return of S. Cassman and an increase of pressure on opposing ballhandlers.

K. Nguyen, the leading rebounder at the guard position took it upon himself to lockdown reigning scoring champion B. Kynion from L.A. Vice. He did his best, limiting him to two field goals. Kynion scored 12, 10 points below his previous season average.

Cassman patrolled the middle and held down the interior. Despite only tallying 7 rebounds, his defense was key to victory.  He also was one of two City players with double digit efficiency scores.

The leader in efficiency and scoring was T. Rustad. The P. Pistol scored nearly half the team’s points and lead the team in efficiency.

Payback is a 64-33 win. The City beats Gamecocks in rematch.

9.28.10- The City only had two weeks before they had a shot at getting some redemption in against the Gamecocks. Two weeks before, the Gamecocks defeated The City in the first round of the playoffs. Despite the continuity issues with The City, they did not expect to lose in the first round of the playoffs.

In order to fix the problems they had last season, they brought in another defensive presence on the perimeter in M. Smith and decided to put more pressure on the ball than wait for shots to go up in an unimpressive zone set.

For one game at least, The City may not succumb to the same fate as last season.

Newcomer, Smith made his presence felt, grabbing 16 rebounds to go with 8 points. Wrecking ball K. Hapes put in a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds.

Defensive stalwart, S. Cassman, back for another season, anchored the defense with 11 rebounds and many shot alterations.

Fresh off Hangover, The City nearly loses again in 78-66 win over the Blazers

9.28.10- The City, still reeling over yet another first round defeat int he playoffs almost ended their long regular season winning streak at Poinsettia.

Losing at 14 point lead late in the second half, The City collapsed on rebounds and had no interior defense. Missing injured C. Graham, The City didn’t have much room for error on offense.

Often turning it over or missing perimeter shots, The City showed weary legs in transition and had to rely on fortuitous bounces at the end of the game to escape with a win.

M. Vega, back this season, was most effective, scoring 15 points on 6 of 13 shooting.

5 on 4, The City barely escapes, 79-77 in overtime

9.7.10- The City is beginning to fall apart at the worst possible time.

Injuries and scheduling issues robbed The City of their two best post players in C. Graham and C. Mehl. They also lost their best wing defender in K. Nguyen. Despite all of that, The City still almost has their 41 game regular season winning streak snapped.

In an exciting game, The City came back from the brink of losing in escaping with a 79-77 win over the hot shooting High Five team, that was limited to 4 players.

H. Sean, in his first game with The City, knocked down a clutch 3 with under a minute left and scored the final 5 points for The City in their 79-77 point win.

The City’s frontline shuts down Gamecocks in 70-49 win.

8.31.10- In the first game versus the Gamecocks, The Gamecocks were shorthanded due to the absence of C. McGuire. In the rematch, they had McGuire but it still didn’t matter in The City’s 70-49 victory.

C. Mehl and C. Graham continued their respective double digit efficiency ways. Mehl, scored 19 points and grabbed 4 rebounds while Graham scored 6 points and grabbed 17 rebounds. Graham and Mehl now rank 1 and 2 in the rebounding race for this season.

K. Hapes filled the Portland Pistol role, leaking out on rebounds and scoring a team high 22 points.

The City looks to end another perfect regular season next week against High Five.

Mehl has block party in 77-44 win over the Co-Pilots.

8.24.10- In consecutive weeks, a City player broke a record that may not be approached again. Last week, C. Graham destroyed the rebounding record of S. Cassman by grabbing 28 rebounds. The previous record was 20.

This week, C. Mehl, broke another Cassman record. Cassman’s record of 7 blocks was eclipsed with Mehl’s 10 block game against the Co-Pilots.

The single game total was more than 3 other teams combined block total for the season.

Hapes rescues The City in 66-56 win over Gamecocks

8.17.10- In the first game with the Gamecocks, The City didn’t know what to expect. On the other hand, the Gamecocks didn’t know what to expect either with The City’s new addition, Kevin Hapes.

In Hapes only second game with The City, he put a stamp on the game with a dominating 29 points and 12 rebounds. Lost in the mix of the game was a career low in points for the Portland Pistol, who nearly went scoreless, if it wasn’t for a last minute free throw.

The most impressive stat line of the game was not Hapes double-double but the obliteration of the rebounding record at the hands of C. Graham. Graham, lead The City in efficiency with 26 but destroyed the old rebounding record once held by S. Cassman by collecting 28 boards. Graham’s 28 rebounds will be difficult to match.

L.A. Vice still can’t beat The City. The City wins 68-62

8.10.10- Like a car in the rear view mirror, it may seem closer than it appears. It probably also holds true for L.A. Vice. For the third consecutive game, Vice, a strong challenger for the championship this season, held another late game lead over The City. Like the previous 3 games, they couldn’t hold onto it.

C. Mehl and T. Rustad made sure The City wouldn’t lose. Mehl hit a big tide turning shot in the second half and Rustad continued his video-game like shooting ways against L.A. Vice. Rustad’s 8 out of 10 shooting was a little better than his last game against Vice, when he shot 6 out of 8. Rustad scored 24 points and is on a pace to be the Poinsettia league leader in scoring.

Despite poor shooting, The City keeps it going in 19 point win, 56-37.

8.3.10- You don’t want to get C. Graham mad. Graham, usually a nice guy despite his imposing size was nearly brought to blows by the Wizards T. Carpenter. Instead C. Graham let his free throw shooting do the talking.

In a sluggish poor shooting affair, The City outlasted the Wizards 56-37. Graham sealed the game in the final two minutes with 3 free throw makes. His 4 for 11 performance on the line brought his season percentage total to above 40 percent.

Mehl lead The City in efficiency with 19, scoring 4 points and grabbing 14 rebounds.