The Halfway Crooks continue to tease us with their potential and although they once again went through stages of inconsistency from behind the three-point line they were able to beat Boom-Shakalaka, 100-78.
Despite sitting at 3-6 after the conclusion of the regular season the Halfway Crooks have looked better the past few weeks. They played a Boom-Shakalaka team that only had three guys in Week 9, and took advantage.
The thing that has held the Halfway Crooks back a lot this season has been their inconsistency when it comes to shooting the basketball. In many games this season the Halfway Crooks have gotten out to leads, but then they stop hitting shots and the other teams overcome the deficit.
This is the exact thing that almost cost them the game on Tuesday. They came out on fire while Boom-Shakalaka struggled to get into a rhythm, but at the start of the second quarter the Halfway Crooks once again started missing shots. Boom-Shakalaka was able to come back and take a lead into the halftime break.
“We started settling for shots. We were hitting them early, we built a lead and then they came back,” Joey Zocco said. “We started settling for the first shot. You’re open so it looks good, but you’ve got to make them play defense and ware them down.”
At the start of the fourth quarter, Boom-Shakalaka was too tired to be able to defend because of the Halfway Crooks ball movement. The Halfway Crooks ultimately outscored Boom-Shakalaka 30-5.
Both of these teams will be going into the playoffs with a lot of confidence. Boom-Shakalaka has demonstrated all season long that they are the best team in the league. Boom-Shakalaka is also more than just Jose Mercado because they also have Lucas Martin, Marc Belleville and Brandon Sweeney, a foursome that many teams cannot match up with.
Boom-Shakalaka has a first-round bye as the no.1 seed while the Halfway Crooks will be the no.11 seed and they will face off against the no.6-seeded Boston Blazers on Sunday.
“Everybody starts 0-0 so none of it matters, it’s one game. Hit some shots and then see what happens,” Zocco said.
