World Cup of Basketball - Scores and RPs Thread [Archive]

Sarzonia

01-11-2004, 03:57

Storm set for hoops debut

The Sarzonian national basketball team finished the final practice session before tip off of its first ever international game against 7JM with Coach Dick Motta unsure of exactly what the tournament would bring.

“We have no international experience and the guys we have are just getting a basketball league started. We’re kind of behind the eight ball compared to some of these teams.”

The Storm is heading into the World Cup of Basketball with a hastily assembled team and a league that had to be organized nearly as quickly. Basketball is not the most popular sport in Sarzonia and the country’s sporting dollars have been spent mostly on the national football team and on the recently established team handball league.

“We’re trying to get this team and this league together from the ground up,” Motta said. He announced that he would coach the Woodstock Whoosh after the World Cup was finished, but with the club team’s season getting underway after the qualifying stages, assistant coach Carl Ellerbee would serve as acting head coach of the Whoosh.

“I really can’t spend too much time with the Whoosh right now,” Motta said. “Carl will have to keep things going for the first six games of the season, but we should manage. It is a 40 game schedule, after all.”

The Sarzonian Basketball Association played two seasons before ceasing operations two years ago, but the league is restarting with six teams. The league plays similarly to international basketball, so the players should be familiar with the rules, Motta said.

“This isn’t like some leagues that have very different sets of rules. We won’t have to learn a new game essentially. That doesn’t mean we don’t have a learning curve. We certainly do, because we haven’t played together that much. Getting our timing down will definitely be a challenge.”

Motta said he would substitute “liberally,” at least in the first game.

“With only three games in the qualifying stage, if you make one wrong step, you could be in for a short stay. We need to make sure we make our trip worthwhile.”

Big Pimento

01-11-2004, 07:32

Big Pimento Basketball At A Glance

History

The marriage between Basketball and Big Pimento seemed like a natural one. Big Pimento’s citizens are relatively tall people, with the average height of a full-grown male being 6’1”. Whether it’s a result of good nutrition or stellar genes we don’t know, but they’ve always taken an affinity to basketball; a tall man’s sport. The first recorded basketball game in Big Pimento took place around sixty years ago and it became an immediate hit as its people thoroughly enjoyed its fast-paced, end to end action. Since then, Big Pimento has developed a strong domestic league, shaping some very good local talent as a result. The game’s popularity did nothing but swell in the land of the Pimento’s, soon becoming the nation’s national sport. Big Pimento’s likes to use their size to their advantage and love to pound the ball inside. The nation’s best exports have been big men, with former stars like Jonas Jorgen, Paul Hoberson and Quari Korvoni all hailing from Big Pimento. The people of Big Pimento are anxiously awaiting the start of this World Cup, as a good result by the Pimentos would do nothing but increase the already high level of popularity for the sport.

Big Pimento Basketball Association

The Big Pimento Basketball Association was founded 50 years ago as Big Pimento’s first professional basketball league. The league began as a modest six team number, but has since grown to a 16 team league with expansion imminent as a very real possibility. Last year, the Association made record profits thanks to great play on the court. Here are the standings from last season.

WEST W L PCT GB
Koeverden Cougars 41 19 0.683 -
Calista Cheshire Cats 38 22 0.633 3.0
Klestany Krushers 33 27 0.550 8.0
Kjellberg Jokers 31 29 0.517 10.0
Fornica Fireballers 28 32 0.467 13.0
Tretiak Tall Dudes 25 35 0.417 16.0
Nerislava Express 24 36 0.400 17.0
Karslberg Thunder 20 40 0.333 21.0

EAST W L PCT GB
Malagi Breakers 44 16 0.733 -
Jacoby Sharks 37 23 0.617 4.0
Pimento City Pirahnas 35 25 0.583 6.0
Otagi Orangemen 32 28 0.533 9.0
Lacosta Reds 30 30 0.500 11.0
Merrell Marauders 24 36 0.400 17.0
Juniper Shock 23 37 0.383 18.0
Robertsville Rockets 15 45 0.250 26.0

PLAYOFFS
Koeverden Cougars 4-2 Kjellberg Jokers
Calista Cheshire Cats 4-3 Klestany Krushers
Malagi Breakers 4-0 Otagi Orangemen
Jacoby Sharks 2-4 Pimento City Pirahnas

Koeverden Cougars 3-4 Calista Cheshire Cats
Malagi Breakers 4-2 Pimento City Pirahnas

Malagi Breakers 4-1 Calista Cheshire Cats

Malagi rode their momentum from the regular season through the playoffs, going all the way as they beat the Calista Cheshire Cats in five. The victory marked the franchise’s first ever championship and only the third time that the Eastern Conference won in the last sixteen years since the BPBA went to a two conference format. Robertsville Rockets were hoping that Sandro Miller would opt-in the draft this year, but since he decided to return to Lacosta University another year, the Rockets decided to pick Marius Antonius with the first overall pick. Antonius is a gigantic 7’3” 300lb centre with a full four years of university under his belt. He’s a beast in the key, a sensational rebounder who’s also a tremendous shot blocker. The downside with Antonius is his limited offensive upside, as he’s a pretty useless scorer unless he’s three feet from the basket.

Preview for Tomorrow

Big Pimento kicks the cup off against region-mates NEWI Cefn Druids. The Druids are a potent side, winning the original World Cup under its old format forty years ago. All the players which lead the Druids to glory are now either deceased or retired, so they'll be sending an entirely new and fresh side to the World Cup. Basketball runs deep through the Druids' vein as well, so Big Pimento will be expecting a very stiff challenge from their competiton.

Players to Watch:
Orlando Santiago: Has a huge size advantage over the NEWI Cefn Druids' centre. Given he doesn't foul out too early, expect some gigantic rebounding numbers.
Cristiano Douglas: Also has a big size advantage over the opposing Druids' power forward. Douglas is an offensive dynamo who puts up good numbers against players his size, we'll see if he can dominate against the smaller, yet quicker Morgan.
Sandro Miller: It'll be interesting to see how he adjust to the faster pace of play from the college game to the highest level in the world. The entire offense may sputter if he struggles to pick his spots with his usual pinpoint accurate passes.

7JM

01-11-2004, 13:47

7JM Dolphin Wings

The 7JM Basketball team features mainly players from the 7JM SuperLeague(SL) , the Sports Academy League based in 6th Form Collages(AL) and a Year 9(14 y.o) school ace from Uxmouth Cliff Collage(UCC) And an NBA Player(NBA)

Starting Roster

PG 9 Jamee Gray [HK Hitters(SL)] A player famed for his height and awareness on the court, he commands the defence and famously sets up offences especially the HK Hitters' Trademark move: The HK Double Faint.
Attackers do this :headbang: when coming up against Jamie Gray. His only weakness is that we doesn't comitt himself offensively very much and ends up with a low personal point count.(7''3250)

SG 3 Matty Morris [Satchiffe Center Of Excellence(AL)] A player who works very well with Sam Evans in the Islands of Origin Series his style is to launch attacks after stealing the ball, Satchiffe came 2nd in the Academy League with Morris, who won the Defence award, but was injured 2 minutes into the first quarter of the Final and was sitting in tears after watching his school crash to a 23 point loss. He's a very good example of quick counterattacking. He's about to finish 6th Form and will be grabbed by one of the higher ranked Super League Clubs. He's very :cool: on the ball but lacks some awareness about tactics of the other teams.(5''11 210)

SF 6 Will Brasher [Cork Island(SL)] A famous old-hand who has played for many a 7JM Sports team, Brasher's speed off the mark and endurance make him a very useful player to have on your team. He doesn't have many high strengths but has a good target, but maybe not a long shot. He was the main player in Cork Island's Super League 1st Placing team of 3 seasons ago but they didn't win the Grand Final. You will :) to have this player on your team.(6''9 214)

PF 1 Ben Chamberlain [Los Angeles Lakers(NBA)] Ben is only 25 but this is his 7th year of international basketball, and his 4th as 7JM Captain He played for the HK Hitters before taking a year out of Club 7JM basketball to play NBA in America. Ben's huge strength is his amazing shooting and rebounding. He captained the HK Hitters aged 19 in place of Sam Fisher and has since captained East Island 5 times, winning the Islands of Origin series twice. Ben is the free-throw taker and main shooter of 7JM and occasionly the Lakers. Ben shoots like :mp5: and has a long shot to be proud of.(6''7 210)

C 8 Jess Gray [HK Hitters(SL)] Jess is the best female player ever seen in 7JM and controls the game from the centre of the park. Her biggest asset is her quick reactions which gave her a record 10 rebounds in a Super League game last season. She also is very confident in defence and with her HK Hitter teammater Jamee Gray behind her and former teammate Ben Chamberlain infront of her she knows the players around her well. Only 18 and having come out of collage a year ago she was a real find for the Hitters because she was playing for them aged just 16 and :confused: oppositions with her great teamwork at such a young age.(6''4 197)

Replacements

PG Alex Meacock 4 Cork Island(SL) 6''3 214
SG Sam Evans 2 San Lorenzo(SL) 6'7 231
SF Georgia Hzar 7 HK Hitters(SL) 6''7 188
PF Sam Smith 5 Uksmouth Cliff Collage(UCC) 6'11 198
C Tom Sayers 10 Un-Contracted(Temp-Release) 6'10 218
PF(SF) Luke Roberts 12 San Lorenzo School(AL) 6''4 231
PG(SG) Georgina Mattock 11 South Island Sports School(AL) 6''1 200

A Brief History

7JM is a young country yet has allways loved sport: And 7JM has allways played Basketball. Horksford Town(Now the home of the HK Hitters) had the first Professional Competition: A 3- way tournament between Horksford Colts, Horksford Town and Cork Island Basketball.

7JM Superleague

The Superleague has 8 teams, In the first phase all teams play all twice(14 games p/team). Then the Play-off's kick in. Top Team vs 4th, 2nd vs 3rd. Winners to finals which is a 3 game series.

Main Season
TEAM P W D L PTS POSITION
Cork Island 14 12 0 2 24 1st
Trinty 14 10 0 4 20 2nd
HK Hitters 14 9 0 5 18 3rd
San Lorenzo14 7 0 7 14 4th
Emperors 14 6 0 8 12 5th
Baselir 14 6 0 8 12 6th
Colts 14 4 0 8 7th
Duncliffe 14 1 0 2 8th

Play-offs

Cork Island 92-79 San Lorenzo
Trinity 87-88 HK Hitters

FINALS

Cork Island 96-89 HK Hitters Cork Island
HK Hitters 101-86 Cork Island HK Hitters
HK Hitters 99-98 Cork Island San Lorenzo

Preview

Tonight Castillanos time 7JM face up to Sarzonia Storm: The prospective 7JM Lineup and formation is:

7JM Hoop

Jamee Gray(PG)8

Matty Morris(SG)3

Jess Gray(C)9

Will Brasher(SF)6
Ben Chamberlain(PF)1(Cap)

Sarzonia Hoop

7JM will play against a team of players that would struggle to make it into the Duncliffe team and hope for a win with Jamee Gray stopping the points, Ben Chamberlain scoring them and Jess Gray running the show.
The substitutes have not yet been named

OOC: How many subs do you want?

Cockbill Street

01-11-2004, 14:06

PG 9 Jamee Gray [HK Hitters(SL)] A player famed for his height and awareness on the court, he commands the defence and famously sets up offences especially the HK Hitters' Trademark move: The HK Double Faint.
Attackers do this when coming up against Jamie Gray. His only weakness is that we doesn't comitt himself offensively very much and ends up with a low personal point count.(7''3250)

OOC: We have a new Alan Belmore!

NEWI Cefn Druids

01-11-2004, 14:12

The Daily Druid

JUNIOR GEMS LOOK TO TAKE WORLD BY STORM
THOUGH THEY PROBABLY WON'T
By Ian Question-Mark

The NEWI Cefn Druids basketball team arrived in Castillanos last night with a great expectation hanging over them. As basketball has not been widely played in NEWI Cefn Druids for over 20 years, the Druidish authorities decided it would be best to choose ten of the squad from the siblings of the legendary Druids Gems side that brought the Richter Cup home from Sliponia way back in yesteryear. However, despite them all inheriting their fathers' heights, they are rumoured not to be quite as good at playing. To be honest, none of them had ever played since last week, but that isn't the point. The point is that despite the expectancy of great things from the so-called "Junior Gems, that in fact, they will probably be lucky if they score half as many points as any of their opponents.

The list of opponents the Junior Gems will face has been released, and it doesn't make for good reading. Of th4e other three sides in the group, two are fellow Atlantian Oceanians Big Pimento and Vilita, whilst the third, The Redavic Union, aren't exactly one of the most popular in the world with Druidish sports fans after some football match many years ago. If the Junior Gems are lacking in skill, then these three opponents are likely to conjour up real spirit amongst them.

First up are Big Pimento, who we feel will probably be the strongest outfit in the group. They are naturally very tall, towering over the average Druid by almost six inches. They are, basically, everything you want from a basketball team, and should be a lot better than the Junior Gems.

Vilita have a long sporting history against NEWI Cefn Druids, and any encounter between the two is likely to be highly competitive. Expect this one to be less about which side is better and who has the most skill, and more about which side actually wants it the most. Which will (hopeully) be NEWI Cefn Druids.

While the Druidish rivalry with the Vilitans is very much a generally friendly two-way thing, the Druidish relations with The Redavic Union, in sporting terms at least, is a hostile one-weay thing from the Druidish. The Union never seem that bothered, with NEWI Cefn Druids just another name on a list of opponents. However, to any Druidish sports fan (especially those who can remember the erly days of Druidish football), the name Redavic Union on a fixture list will mean a full-blooded performance with passions running very high. If the Junior Gems don't win this one, expect them to be crying for weeks on end over it.

By that, I don't mean we're a bunch of wusses. It's just emotional for them. Don't anyone dare think we're a soft touch on the court, or we'll prove that we're not! Antyone who says oterwise will be hit on the head very hard with... a... big hard thingy. So there.

Big Pimento

01-11-2004, 17:30

OOC: How many subs do you want?

Basketball teams typically have 12-man rosters, so you'd be looking at dressing seven substitutes.

C 8 Jess Gray [HK Hitters(SL)] Jess is the best female player ever seen in 7JM and controls the game from the centre of the park.

Also, Basketball teams typically play on courts, not parks. :)

The Redavic Union

01-11-2004, 18:14

Redavic National Inquire

The Basketball fever has taken place. It is an epidemic! youths everywhere are going to school and signing up for basketball leagues. National television sations including this one are begining to place bids to air the amatuer season that should soon turn professional.

The emperor has yet to annouce its support for the team. Since the begining of the empire the leaders have never played the game, nor gave the game the chance. Maybe if we see sucess in these games, just maybe the emperor will speak the world in a warm tone, on a good note, not denieing its very existance.

All over the RU the roster has been published. No one of the players has been as famous has Mic Shalman. The 6'2, 195 pound unkown. This unkown creation has had an intresting past. It is a tribal person of the Seleuciaik tribe. In a tribal war between Seleuciaik and the Fourth Imperius, it was kidnapped and beaten severally. it got her skills by throwing objects at those who took it. Who was later to be named John Kerry, Codon of the Fourth Imperius(Codon is the highest position in an Imperius. 1 Imperius contains 100 million soldiers). It eventually gained it's freedom by playing a game of basketball. The stakes where if it lost it would be sold away into a sexual slavery, or it's freedom. Since everyone presumed it would have no talent since it had never even seen a basketball, it picked up on the game quickly. Once winning her freedom she was taken in by internet guru John Edwards. Since he was killed by Mic, no one really knows what happend. All we know is after that it became an amatuer player. Because of it's very rocky past, no one is brave enough to look under the shorts. Two doctors that have tried, ended up in the hospital. It is presumed to be a female because of a slightly larger chest. But still no definant conclusions.

As the team had already departed and was never given a proper send off. Them not even knowing that we are intrested, will be certainly be surprised when they return. Here are RNI we have decided to send secret reporters to follow them. All speaking differnt languages that will be translated just to ensure our missions secrecy.

Jerseys have also gone onsale for the team. Each player has a custom jersey with their name and number on it. Several number of tenis courts have been transformed into basketball courts to help get some of the pressure of demand down. Because of the the ITU, International Tenis Union, has gone on strick and has upset the emperor. Who knows what will come of it.

All we know is that we have 12 new national heros and there names are:
Bradford Gauis
Brent Buyse
Joshus Tius
Marcus Arelius
Crerius Domius
Nomius lincius
Allerick Notsopit
Johnnie Plurri
Muztiz Zigorutnique
Normulius Sonquin
Mic Shalman
Glennius Clausius

Imperius National is our main focus and we wish them all the best of luck in WCB I

7JM

01-11-2004, 18:30

OOC: Big Pimento You've never played Grass Basketball then :p :p :p
A small RP here.
IC:

Offical Team announced as Warm-up begins.

Here comes the 7JM Team!!!!
Welcome:
Gray!
Morris!
Gray!
Brasher!
CHAMBERLAIN!!!!!

And the replacements!

Meacock!
Evans!
Hzar!
Smith!
Sayers!
Roberts!
Mattock!

The travelling form is bouncing and ready, it's only Sarzonia Storm needed then we can start.

Be there 8pm Castillanos Standard Time: 11pm Clock End Time.

7JM TV 7JM Dolphin Wings vs Sarzonia Storm 11pm.

Sarzonia

01-11-2004, 18:43

[OOC: I don't RP my team getting in and doing warm ups and all. I just assume that the team has gotten to the venue and done everything needed to get ready.]

"A seven foot three point guard," Storm Coach Dick Motta asked. "Are you sure about that?"

"Yes," assistant coach John Davis said. "Seven foot three. Their center is only 6'4" and it's a woman."

"Hmm," Motta said. "If that's the lineup we're facing, we're going to have to establish the inside. Our point guard should be able to steal the ball from theirs, but we need to establish our inside presence. I want us to out physical them on the inside."

Motta looked over the rest of the team's roster and realized that the team was otherwise undersized in its starting lineup.

"Oh well. Those are the cards we're dealt."

Hisam

01-11-2004, 19:29

Hisam starts off its campaign in the World Championship of Basketball today, facing off hosts Castillanos. The team really does not know what to expect. This is their first International Tournament and first sports team ever playing for their nation. Coach Gregory Kalmaz was heard saying
"Hopefully, we will not be pressured by the home support and play our own game"

The Hisam Ballers practiced for a while before the game, running sets and plays. Most of the players were excited to be here and put in a good showing for their nation. There is quite a lot of unity and camaraderie in the Hisam camp, which will hopefully lead to great success.

When asked what is Hisam's strategy, Coach Greg said
"We are going to use our height advantage to the utmost. Most likely we will look to dump it into the inside so that our big men can get a lot of shots. We will also run traps and physically try to wear them down, since we are a lot of bigger. We do not want it to be an uptempo game and are gonna try to control the pace."

Victor Jaarkon was quoted saying "We are just really happy to be here. This is going to be a good experience for all of us and we want to see how we compare internationally. Hopefully we will beat Castillanos as every game counts."

We wish the best of luck to the Hisam Ballers

-----Bobby Faran, Hisam News Agency

Castillanos

02-11-2004, 00:20

Host's Ready For Action
by Valerie Madiera

All over Castillanos, the nations citizens have been eagerly awaiting the international debut of their team, nicknamed the Castillanos Heat. The team includes the best basketball players from around the nation who already have experience as most, if not all of the players come from the CBL or CCBA, the prestigous Castillanian Basketball Leagues. Besides having the home court advantage and experience, the Castillanos team is headed by Raul Masçatheo, one of the greatest basketball players in the history of the region of Europa.

Everywhere in Castillanos vendors have set up shop to sell gear and memorabilia to both international visitors and local residents, and this new industry is making thousands of dollars. Fan Diego Rivera claims that their is no competition, and in an interview he said, "The next few games will be fairly easy as Hisam don't know the rules, Harlesburg players are pansies, and Lovisa winning a single game would be the apocolypse."

The match up later today against Hisam will include Natalie Reyes and Jason Rivas, one of the best sports duo Castillanos has ever seen. The game, to be played at the Copa Arena, will bring in thousands of spectators, and the whole team is feeling optimistic. More news on the World Cup of Basketball when the results of the first game come in.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Results to be posted in a few hours]

Castillanos

02-11-2004, 04:29

Game Day One Results

Big Pimento 77-59 NEWI Cefn Druids
Vilita 52-65 Redavic Union

Group 1

Pos Team P W L PF PA Pts
1 Big Pimento 1 1 0 77 59 3
2 Redavic Union 1 1 0 65 52 3
3 NEWI Cefn Druids 1 0 1 59 77 0
4 Vilita 1 0 1 52 65 0

Hisam 60-72 Castillanos
Harlesburg 94-100 Lovisa

Group 2

Pos Team P W L PF PA Pts
1 Lovisa 1 1 0 100 94 3
2 Castillanos 1 1 0 72 60 3
3 Harlesburg 1 0 1 94 100 0
4 Hisam 1 0 1 60 72 0

Esth 57-52 Aquilania
Sarzonia 67-70 7JM

Group 3

Pos Team P W L PF PA Pts
1 7JM 1 1 0 70 67 3
2 Esth 1 1 0 57 52 3
3 Sarzonia 1 0 1 67 70 0
4 Aquilania 1 0 1 52 57 0

Game Day Two Schedule

Vilita vs NEWI Cefn Druids @ La Arena Metropolitana [12:00 Castillanos Standard Time]
Big Pimento vs the Redavic Union @ La Arena Metropolitana [6:00 Castillanos Standard Time]
Hisam vs Lovisa @ The Copa Arena [2:00 Southern Castillanos Time]
Harlesburg vs Castillanos @ The Copa Arena [8:00 Southern Castillanos Time]
Esth vs 7JM @ The Staples Center [3:00 Castillanos Standard Time]
Sarzonia vs Aquiliana @ The Staples Center [8:00 Castillanos Standard Time]

[Game Day Two Results to be posted at 7:00 Pacific Time (Roughly 1-2 NS Time)]

The Redavic Union

02-11-2004, 05:05

Redavic National Inquire

!VICTORY!

Imperius National has pulled it off in a stunning victory vs. Vilita, 65-52! Imperius National MVP was number 13 Brent Buyse. He scored 26 of the 65 points. Had a total of 7 rebonds and 3 slam dunks. He gets a total number of seven style points!

Since the games have begun we will be watching the game and analying and giving style points to great plays. Here are the players and their points:

Bradford Gauis-2
Brent Buyse-7
Joshus Tius-2
Marcus Arelius-0
Crerius Domius-6
Nomius lincius-5
Allerick Notsopit-2
Johnnie Plurri-0

Everyone else hasnt played yet. People went parading threw the streets and burning dumpsters. Police were called to stop these public distrubances, but ended up helping the pyromanics in their crimes. The police ran around shooting there pistols and semi-automatic weapons into the air. The night was a night of true anarchy. Since order has restored and new dumpsters replaced, city building have been painted red and black in honor of the team. For everyone win there is to be one black stripe and for every loss there is to be a white stripe. That way everyone knows the record of our glorious and heroic team.

Several writers have gotten together and announced a book that will be released at the end of the games that will depict Imperius Nationals events and travels during the games, but on a super-human level. Imperius Airius has also sceduled 10 more flights into Castillianos for fans to travel. So far all of them have been booked. Other airlines are asking the government to be aloud to fly internationally. The only international airline that goes into the RU is IA.

The Codons of the First and Third Imperius has announced its plans to build a replica Coliseum that will be open air. It will be the first professional basketball arena.

The teams logo has been flying over every building around the nation

http://www.ebclink.com/Sports/Logos/Fort_Hays.jpg

This has been a great patriotic boost to this great nation! may our luck continue and our men(and it) play to its best ever played!

Sarzonia

02-11-2004, 05:44

Storm off track in loss

The Sarzonian national basketball team had a modest streak it was trying to continue. The national football team opened with a 3-2 win over regional rivals Crystilakere and the hockey team won its debut game 5-2. However, the Storm wasn't as fortunate, losing 70-67 to 7JM as forward Ben Chamberlain hit a three pointer at the buzzer.

"We're definitely disappointed to lose a game like this," Coach Dick Motta said. "But we're going to take our chances with a 4 shooting the threes. I'd rather it be him taking the three than their regular shooters."

Forward Terry Casterbridge led the Storm with 21 points on 8 of 18 shooting, but was only three for nine from the foul line. Forward Nate Bonner led the team with seven rebounds, a figure Motta said was "way too low."

"We weren't active enough on the boards, particularly with a 6'4" center. They killed us on the glass and we can't let that happen."

The team expected to struggle with passing and getting into their offense in the tournament having little time together, but the Storm only shot 42 percent from the floor and missed 12 of 26 free throws.

"We have to do a better job of everything," Casterbridge said. "We just didn't get the job done. Period."

Big Pimento

02-11-2004, 06:11

(OOC: Would it be possible to maybe have a link to the roster thread on the front page? Also, when we will see who our Matchday 2 opponents will be? Much appreciated. Cheers.)

Size Does Matter
Big Pimento's Big Stars Help Team to Big Win

The headlines will read as follows, "Big Pimento Knock Off Defending Champs". It's somewhat misleading, since the NEWI Cefn Druids captured that title way too many moons ago and no member of that championship team is fit enough to return, but it's true anyway.

In what was being heralded as one of the better match-ups in the opening matchday, Big Pimento's forwards handed the smaller NEWI Cefn Druids players their lunch. From the opening tip-off which Big Pimento won, their forwards dominated the play down low. Orlando Santiago was rebounding like a man possessed and Cristiano Douglas and J.R. Gomez were finding their spots early. After the first quarter, Big Pimento were up by seven, leading 20-13.

NEWI Cefn Druids were going to have a hard time getting second chance points, and the best way to remedy that is by hot shooting from the outside. Druids’ guard Trevor Daves went unconscious from beyond the arc in the second frame, going 4 for 5 from downtown and putting up a total of fourteen points in the quarter. The Druids also employed a 1-2-2 full-court zone which was giving point guard Roy Ellis a lot of problems. Trevor “Pop” Caroline got three steals in the quarter as a result, also adding six points as the Druids entered the half with a one point lead, leading Big Pimento 36-35.

As the second half began, Big Pimento’s size advantage became evident. They were wearing out the smaller NEWI Cefn Druids forwards as a result of their physical play. 2 Guard Sandro Miller started finding his game as well, as he recorded seven points and four assists in the half. Cristiano Douglas and Ron Voloshenko also enjoyed good halves for the Big Pimento team. Big Pimento finished the half up by 8, leading 55-47

Early in the fourth quarter, Orlando Santiago was sitting on five fouls and it didn’t take long for him to find his sixth. Santiago jogged off the court with a good night’s work under his belt, 11 points, 16 rebounds and 7 blocks. The 7’5” and offensively challenged Fogembe Dalmabo came on in place of Santiago. Dalmabo, though he couldn’t hit a free throw if his life depended upon it, is a great rebounder and a superb shot swatter. He made his presence felt in the fourth quarter, collecting six rebounds and two blocks. A great night by Big Pimento was capped off by two three-pointers in the dying minutes by J.R. Gomez. Big Pimento finished the match strongly and won convincingly 77-59.

PLAYER PTS AST REB
Roy Ellis 6 3 0
Sandro Miller 10 7 1
J.R. Gomez 13 3 4
Cristiano Douglas 18 2 8
Orlando Santiago 11 0 16
Brian Newman 2 3 0
Victor Daniels 2 0 0
Charles Fiend 0 1 0
Rudolph Spitzer 6 0 4
Ron Voloshenko 6 1 6
Fogembe Dalmabo 2 0 6

Player of the match honours go to Orlando Santiago. He had almost a foot’s worth size advantage over the Druids’ starting centre, and he made good use of his added height. Despite only playing 27 minutes, he bullied the smaller Druid forwards in the paint and put up some great numbers. Opposing teams will now think twice about entering the key when playing Big Pimento with this giant 7’1” stalwart centre holding down the fort.

BP 20 15 19 22 77
NCD 13 23 12 12 59

Harlesburg

02-11-2004, 10:11

(OOC)
Seriously when is Southern Castillanos time due to tme dif i might not be able to post between the game times probably middle of the night or im at work

Harlesburg

02-11-2004, 10:28

HARLESBURG SEES RED

After a strong build up to the World Cup thru the National competition Harlesburg had been in high hopes that its players would be able to play with the best but after the disasterous result of the opening game against Lovisa some are calling for a rehaul of the coach,team and selection panel.

When Coach Richard Swain was asked of these suggestions he replied
"Man those "Nongers" must be out of their minds we did our jobs 3 men on the court didnt"

When asked if this was aimed at the Officials his reply was
"I cant say that its against the rules... something the other team managed to break all game".

This may be aimed at the contraversial no call against Albert Rimmer who was blatantly smothered by two Lovisaian thugs causing a turn over.
It remained heated for a while and with Lovisa in control of the ball Harlesburg was robbed of a chance to take the lead late in the game effectivly sealing it when Lovisa converted a 3 at the other end.

Harlesburg

02-11-2004, 11:28

The National Team selectors have made up their minds and have selected the following people as starters in the next match against Castillanos.

STARTERS

5-PG-Albert Rimmer(6'3"-186lbs) retains his spot and with Breakspear starting interchanging of plays will be a breeze.24 points including 3-4 at the 3.

Citrius Vastiva's local 12-PG/SG-Troy Breakspear(5'11"-189lbs) replaces 6-SG-Josh Ballard(5'11"-168lbs) after some costly errors in previous game.

3-SF-Ryan Edwards(6'8"-224lbs)surprised some with his defence last match keeps his spot as a result of 18 points 6 Offencive Boards and 2 Defensive.

1-C-Jack Taylor(7'2"-254lbs was low on points with 9 but his defence was exceptional with 2 blocks 9 Defencive rebounds and a steal.

2-PF-Robert Handkoff(6'10"-248lbs)makes way for 10-PF-Jared Jurgonson(6'11"-242lbs)who scored 12 points in his 18 minutes on court 3 rebounds a steal and his all around hussel
.

4-SG(sixth man)-Handsome Edwards(5'8"-166lbs)
7-PG-Micheal Clarke(6'1"-182lbs)
8-SG/SF-John Rampart(6'3"-196lbs)
9-C-Oliver Collier(6'11"-246lbs)
6-SG-Josh Ballard(5'11"-168lbs)
11-SF-Tony Halliburton(6'7"-222lbs)
2-PF-Robert Handkoff(6'10"-248lbs)

Hisam

02-11-2004, 14:36

Hisam Ballers Rattled
Ballers Lose 72-60

The nation of Hisam was saddened by the news of a loss to hosts Castillanos. They had high hopes for the basketball team and those seem to be dampered a bit. The Ballers were simply outplayed by the Heat who used their speed and agility well against the bigger Hisam players. They cut through the zone defense like crazy and created easy chances for themselves. Coach Greg had this to say:

"Well, we were a bit shell shocked when we stepped on the court. The crowd was crazy and our players just seemed to be taken aback. But you still have to give credit to the Heat...They took us on and creamed us . That female shooter of theirs, Nathalie Reyes, lit us up like a firecracker. Personally I think we had good defending, seeing how low the score was...but that shooter. Our offense was terrible...The Heat shut us down and made us look like little kids playing school ball. We made stupid passes and they pressured us well to take off-look shots. Hopefully we can rectify some of the problems we had."

The coach had praise for foward Raghan Veraus who lead the team with 13 points and 7 rebounds. Hopefully, Veraus will even have a bigger game next time and maybe his teamates can support him a bit.

The Ballers now have Lovisa to look foward to who just came off a high scoring win against Harlesburg. Hopefully the team will rally and put in a good showing. A win would help them on their way to the playoffs, while a loss will most likely eliminate them.

-----Bobby Faran, Hisam News Agency

Harlesburg

02-11-2004, 18:33

HOLD THE LINE

That is call for the Harlesburg team tonight after their shock loss to Lovisa Harlesburg has looked to shore up its Defence in preparation for Tonights game against Castillanos.

All types of defensive plays have been practiced by the time but Albert Rimmer believes this wont deminish their offensive capabilities.
"NO way we proved ourselves last night on attack slight errors in our D cost us".

The adding of Jared Jurgonson should help one of the surprises of the season.

Sarzonia

02-11-2004, 19:17

[OOC: I echo Big Pimento's suggestion. It would save having to waste a search on the thread.]

Storm looks to rebound after loss

The Sarzonian national team finished the final practice session with Coach Dick Motta taking an unusual step for a national team coach. He had the team start with a getting to know you type of drill where the players would randomly pass the ball to a teammate and say the teammate's name.

Motta also took the team on a "building exercise" after practice, with the intent to forge improved chemistry for a team that is still struggling to establish an identity.

"We don't have much time," Motta said of his unusual technique. "If we don't start playing more as a team, we're not going to be here very long."

The team spent much of the time before the official practice session breaking down tape of the other teams in the group, as well as their 70-67 loss to 7JM.

"We spent a good hour going over that loss," forward Terry Casterbridge said. "We had a size advantage on every position except point guard and we were just outhustled on the boards. That's the sickening part."

"I've got to start taking that personally," center Bennie Malone (eight points, four rebounds in 28 minutes) said. "I can't let a girl outrebound me." Center Jess Gray had 12 points and six rebounds, four of her rebounds came with Malone guarding her.

"Rebounding isn't about who's taller," forward Nate "Tiny" Bonner said. "It's about who wants the ball more. They wanted it more than we did. That's not going to work."

The Storm is facing Aquiliana, which lost to Esth 57-52 in their opening match. Both teams are facing elimination if they lose.

"This is going to be a must-win situation for us," Motta said. "They're going to be desperate for a win and we had better be at least as desperate or we're going home."

The Storm will look to push its athleticism inside against the bulk of Aquiliana, but assistant coach John Davis said the team wouldn't forget about its inside game.

"The best way we can combat [power forward Sactius] Luculus is to challenge him," Davis said. "If we start settling for jump shots because we're afraid he's going to block them, we'll be doomed.

The team said it is considering going with a four forward lineup, with point guard Mark Chelsea the lone guard and guard/forward Alan Bell playing the two guard in an effort to increase the team's bulk.

"We think we can get fouls on them," Chelsea said. "If we can do that, we can negate their size advantage."

Aquiliana

02-11-2004, 20:59

Unlucky Loss In First Game
Falcons narrowly downed by Esth

In a tightly played, defensive first game of the World Cup of Basketball, the Falcons were just barely defeated by Esth, 57-52. Aquiliana held the lead until Esth went on a 9-2 run in the last 2 minutes to steal the victory.

"We just couldn't quite put them away, and as a result, they were able to come back late and win it," said center Fusco Mitisticus, who led the team with 14 points. "Our defense was fantastic, but we couldn't quite get our offense going. We need more people to start contributing."

Forward Forsitor Fluctia agreed, saying "I just didn't come through like I should've - I expect myself to score 10 points a game, and I barely got 6. Personally, I have to do better - the whole team has to do better."

The Falcons play tonight against the Sarzonia Storm, who had a similarly close and disappointing result last night. Both teams are looking for redemption, but that's not all - the losing team will be eliminated from the tournament.

Final Score:
AQL 12 17 15 8 - 52
EST 13 15 9 20 - 57

7JM

02-11-2004, 21:33

PREVIEWS AND CELEBRATIONS---7JM BASKETBALL

7JM celebrated last night after Ben Chamberlain put in a 3-pointer to take the score to 67-70 to 7JM. Jamee Gray and Matty Morris were really the key to the victory, they kept the defence tight and with the rolling in and out of Evans the defence was tight through out and gave young Jess Gray the confidence to go forward with the ball and as a result gave much more flow into the forward attack. Here are the Player-by-player Reviews.

Jamee Gray 9
Matty Morris 9
Jess Gray 8
Will Brasher 8
Ben Chamberlain 10

Preview.

Tonight's match against Esth promises to be a great match. 7JM will play an un-changed team but are waiting for Jess Gray to step up to the plate and prove why she's the best female and Under 20 player at this World Cup.

7JM TV 6pm Clock End Time 7JM vs Esth Be There.

Castillanos

03-11-2004, 05:05

Match Day 2 Results

Big Pimento 98-66 Redavic Union
Vilita 55-89 NEWI Cefn Druids

Group 1

Pos Team P W L PF PA Pts
1 Big Pimento 1 2 0 175 125 6
2 NEWI Cefn Druids 1 1 1 148 132 3
3 Redavic Union 1 1 1 131 150 3
4 Vilita 1 0 2 107 154 0

Hisam 109-77 Lovisa
Harlesburg 103-98 Castillanos

Group 2

Pos Team P W L PF PA Pts
1 Hisam 1 1 1 169 149 3
2 Castillanos 1 1 1 170 163 3
3 Harlesburg 1 1 1 197 198 3
4 Lovisa 1 1 1 177 203 3

Esth 71-104 7JM
Sarzonia 94-53 Aquiliana

Group 3

Pos Team P W L PF PA Pts
1 7JM 1 2 0 174 138 6
2 Sarzonia 1 1 1 161 123 3
3 Esth 1 1 1 128 156 3
4 Aquiliana 1 0 2 105 151 0

Eliminated Teams
Vilita
Aquiliana

Play-Off Bound Teams
Big Pimento
NEWI Cefn Druids
Hisam
Castillanos
7JM
Sarzonia

Match Day Three[Wild Cards]

Redavic Union vs Harlesburg
Lovisa vs Esth

[OOC: All results will be posted from 7:30-8:30 Pacific Time, and the link to the Rosters is here: http://forums2.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=368829&page=1]

Sarzonia

03-11-2004, 05:39

Storm weathers Aquiliana, 94-53

The Sarzonian national basketball team was facing elimination from the World Cup of Basketball after a hard-fought loss to 7JM. Coach Dick Motta pleaded with his team to establish inside presence despite the bulk of the Falcons.

They listened.

Riding strong inside play from power forward Nate Bonner (18 points, 12 rebounds) and center Bennie Malone (11 points, 16 rebounds and five blocked shots), the Storm dominated every facet of the game and won 94-53. Forward Terry Casterbridge scored 31 points, grabbed eight rebounds and added nine assists as the team shifted to a four forward lineup to nullify the Falcons size advantage.

"We had to establish our game, which is to get the ball inside to Tiny Bonner and Bennie Malone," Coach Dick Motta said. "We made a concerted effort to challenge their inside guys and not allow our guys to be intimidated."

The Storm seized control of the game almost from the opening tap, starting the game with a 13-4 run that forced Aquiliana to call a timeout with just 2:06 off the clock in the first quarter. The Falcons' best run came with 8:23 left in the second quarter when they outscored the Storm 10-4 to bring the margin to 46-39.

But shooting guard Jamal Standeford hit a three pointer at the top of the key and converted a four point play when Falcons point guard Dextidus Munirius bit on an up fake. After Standeford hit another three to make the score 53-39 with 6:19 left in the first half, the Falcons couldn't get the margin closer than 11.

"That three was just backbreaking," Munirius said. "If I don't foul him, we might have won." No they wouldn't have. The Storm proved to be a determined, disciplined team that already has begun to reflect Motta's stubbornness.

The Stars battle Esth for the right to advance to the best of three quarterfinal series.

"We're going to need to play our best ball," Casterbridge said. "I hope we've still got enough in the tank."

Harlesburg

03-11-2004, 06:04

HARLESBURG NOTCHES UP WIN
Harlesburg got into the win column for the first time after an astounding game last night.

Harlesburg after a disapointing loss against Lovisa was desperate to keep their title hopes alive and they managed to do that with an epic battle against host nation Castillanos.

The game swayed each way between quarters 19-21 to Castillanos, Harlesburg clawing the second back to make the score 42-41 to Castillanos the 3rd a quarter where Harlesburg traditionaly fall of the pace was a Tug'O'War between the two sides with Harlesburg squeezing into the lead 86-84 the teams more than doubling their scores.

When Captain Jack Taylor was asked what was the difference between game one and two the instant reply was Troy Breakspear.

"Man that guy has got some game he really opened up the court in that crucial third quarter after leaving late in the second.The linking between him and Albert Rimmer was toxic dude he took the ball directed the plays when we got in strife he just dished off to Rimmer smooth stuff smooth".

Breakspear has shown flair all thru the competition and has also had the nouse to know when to settle the game down and really show experience beyond his years a true complement to one of the future stars of Harlesburg from a present legend.

While speaking of Breakspear's haul of 25 points,2 rebounds,5 assists and 3 steals Handsome Edwards quiped in that Taylor had also led by example with 22 points 12 rebounds,1 assist and a steal he also restricted himself to 3 fouls managing to control his emotions in what could be his final venture for his nation.

Handsome Edwards said
"It really breaks my heart to always hear that it could be his(Jack Taylor) last game i hope it never comes hes an immortal".

HARLESBURG SCORING

5-PG-Albert Rimmer 6 points 3 assists
12-PG/SG-Troy Breakspear 25 points 2 rebounds 5 assists 3 steals
3-SF-Ryan Edwards 8 points 4 rebounds 2 assists
1-C-Jack Taylor 22 points 12 rebounds,1 assist,1 steal
10-PF-Jared Jurgonson 9 points 3 rebounds1 assist
4-SG-Handsome Edwards 6 points 6 assists 2 steals
7-PG-Micheal Clarke 5 points 3 assists
8-SG/SF-John Rampart 6 points 2 rebounds 1 steal
9-C-Oliver Collier 7 points 3 rebounds 2 assists
11-SF-Tony Halliburton 4 points 4 rebounds 1 assist
2-PF-Robert Handkoff 3 points 1 rebound 1 assist
6-SG-Josh Ballard 2 points 3 assists

The Redavic Union

03-11-2004, 06:07

Redavic National Inquire
!The Fall of Babylon to come?!

As billions have seen, Imperius National took its first fall. It was a silent night last night. A slow morning today, and a quite afternoon. It was a humbling experience for us all. The Emperor made a public statement today stating that, "This is an international embarrasment and should not be tolerated"
"I have been internationally mocked by the world!" Harsh, but true. Jennivierian officals called the emperor and made fun of his team. They also sent several empty packages to show the false pride we elegidgly(sp?) send to the world.

Mic broke its ancle at the opening jump ball. This was a major contribution to IN lose against BP. Aswell as that Brent Buyse,13, Had three quetionable fouls that caused him to be benched half way threw the third. It was during the fourth quarter that BP really pulled away. It was a tight race to the finish, but BP true athelticism and perseveriance(sp?) got them to the victory. Alot can be learned by the poppers.

Nevertheless, IN will make its comeback.The deciding match for IN's future in WCB will come day three. When IN will take on Harlesburg. Coach Crisby hasn't made any statements yet and promises it will not make any statements until after game three. He says it is the least of my teams worries as to what our nation thinks, we just want to play the game.
Coach Crisby has not said if he has any formation subs, or changes except that we might be a little surprised when we tune in to watch Imperius Nation play again. Coach Crisby has said he feels good about the upcoming game vs. Harlesburg. He says he knows their ball, and knows ours. He says that our ball play has a better "bounce". !We all hope coach is right!

If this is to be the end of the road,(sappy music begins to play) WCB has certainly changed this nation. Basketball is now in the realms as the other professional sports. RNBS has won the bid to air the 2005 season. This is a historical even for the Imperium. It has had such an impact that Emperor Viplear II has announced its bid host WCB-II. This road has been a sprint and the finish is in sight. Wether IN will be first to finish is unknown, but what is known is that when IN comes back, it will comeback with more than what they left with.

Harlesburg

03-11-2004, 08:41

(OOC)
Yeah i was wondering shouldnt there be one more round before a wild card?
WTF Redavic dont you agree?
(IC)
Harlesburg daily Times
Harlesburg coach rebukes Redavic jest
Redavic shows signs of panic
Today the Redavic coach has been quoted as saying
I know their ball, and i know ours, our ball play has a better "bounce".
When the Harlesburg coach was asked to reply he said
yeah theyve got more bounce in their ball but that aint gonna do them much good when they turn it over and cant control it.Well always be there watching waiting fingers in the pie,the ball will be ours.
Coach Crisby has not said if he has any formation subs, or changes except that we might be a little surprised when we tune in to watch Imperius Nation play again.I feel good about the upcoming game vs. Harlesburg.
Analyists believe their will be positional changes to try and trick or confuse the Harlesburg team but not necassarily drastic changes to the starting line-up.
But in other news from afar the Redavic nation is in turmoil after the performance of their team but Coach Crisby' reply was
It is the least of my teams worries as to what our nation thinks, we just want to play the game.
The way Harlesburg has played theyll need to be on their game if they dont want to be embarrased.

Harlesburg

03-11-2004, 10:18

(OOC)
SHOULDNT THERE BE ONE MORE POOL MATCH BEFORE AN EFFECTIVE KNOCKOUT ROUND?

I THINK IT NEEDS TO BE SORTED!
AS RIGHT NOW NO ONE IN THE 2ND POOL IS SAFE!

Could we hold the Tourney up till its sorted?

Hisam

03-11-2004, 13:35

Ballers Back With A Bang
Ballers Thrash Lovisa 109-77
The Hisam Ballers bounced back from their defeat to the Heat, by soundly defeating Lovisa. The nation, who tuned into national television to watch the game, was overjoyed with their team's first International Basketball win. The words on the nations lips are "Hisam all the way!!!" Thanks to the win, the ballers qualified for the playoffs, which the several of the nations diehard fans reacted to with tears.

When asked what made the difference, Coach Greg had this to say:
"First of all, this victory meant a lot to us, and we wanted it quite a bit. Offensively, we executed beautifully. Our plays went off without a hitch and our shots could not have been better. Everyone kept their heads and everyone played like a team. Defensively, the team again showed what they could do by causing a lot of turnovers and smoothly switching into the fast break. I am very proud of the team and what we have accomplished today."

Clearly the star for the Ballers was again Raghan Veraus, with an exceptional 34 points, 14 rebounds and 4 blocks. Coach Greg said that Veraus played the middle beautifully and helped created a lot of chances for other players. One of those players was Sarjean Maressa, whose offensive skills came into light with this game. Marsessa scored 25 points and had 5 rebounds. Both players were helped by Victor Jaarkons 12 assists and 12 points.

With the win, and Castillanos loss to Harlesburg, Hisam move to the top of the table thanks to Points Against and Points For. Hisam's defense clearly the reason why they are at top because of limiting their opponents so much. This is quite the change for a team that looked to be eliminated if they had lost this match. The Ballers appear to be ready for the playoffs and duke it out with the best.

-----Bobby Faran, Hisam News Agency

Sarzonia

03-11-2004, 16:26

[OOC: I think we were supposed to play one match against each team in our group, for a total of three matches. THEN we would play the quarterfinal rounds. The only teams that have clinched anything are the 2-0 teams. The only teams that have been eliminated are the 0-2 teams. Everyone else is still in it.]

Aquiliana

03-11-2004, 17:15

Ok, I'll make it official.

After creating my own scorinator over the past few days, I've realized the absurdity of the methods being used in this tournament to generate scores, especially the RP "bonus", which doesn't fit the precedent set by the football, cricket, etc. world competitions.

Therefore, Aquiliana formally submits a bid to host the second World Cup of Basketball, which will hold signups after the completion of this tournament, and will hopefully be managed better. This tournament will use a real scorinator, with ranks and RP bonus (instead of RP detraction as used in this tournament). It will also involve a simple system (basketball being a much more individualized game than soccer) wherein each team gives info about each player's offensive and defensive capabilites (ex: Ben Wallace = [5:10], Jermaine O'Neal = [9:8], etc.) and these ratings, along with world rankings, will be used to generate scores. Hopefully this also will lead to more and better RPs.

So I'll need your input:

What do the competitors want?

A. Only scores reported
B. Players' individual point totals and quarter-by-quarter team scores
C. All player stats (fg%, rebounds, assists, etc.)

Sarzonia

03-11-2004, 17:20

[OOC: If you get the bid, I'd only want final scores posted. Generating points, rebounds, score by quarters, etc. takes too much of the free form out of the RP.]

The Redavic Union

03-11-2004, 18:07

OOC:Harlesburg I agree. I was wondering the same thing but I didnt say anything since im not in that group. Also I agree with Aquiliana. All I would want it the final score and quarter by quarter scores. Also, i dont get to play NEWI Druids. Why is that?

Big Pimento

03-11-2004, 18:52

(OOC: I really could buy into A,B or C. As Sarzonia pointed out A gives you a ton of freedom for RPing. However, it’s not like we’d have no control over our players with B or C since we’d still have to give them attributes and they’d perform according to the points we give them. Imagine berating your star player after scoring only 14 points in a game, then building him back up to be a hero after he inks up 40. It adds a bit of more randomness to the game, and if the numbers were realistic, I’d have no problem with option B or C.)

Imperius National Gets Popped
Monumental fourth quarter secures Pimento win

Big Pimento continued their stellar run through the World Cup of Basketball last night with a convincing 98-66 win over The Redavic Union. Contrary to the Poppers' first match against the Druids', The Redavic Union had the size to go head to head with the Pimento's large post players. A much better effort was needed by the backcourt, and that's indeed what Big Pimento received.

In the opening moments of the game, it became evident that the key match-up on the court would take place in the key, as RU’s Brent Buyse and Big Pimento’s Orlando Santiago spent the entire quarter jockeying for position. It was a great battle, as the highly offensive Buyse and the tough, defensive Santiago traded minor victories throughout the first quarter, each scoring points, rebounds, steals and blocks against each other. Besides the clash in the key, there was some good action going on. Roy Ellis, who was ice cold in the NEWI Cefn Druids match, caught fire in the first quarter, nailing three treys and collecting 11 points as well as two steals in the quarter. Big Pimento lead after the first half 25-21.

Second quarter was more of the same as both teams went shot for shot with each other in a very entertaining half. The play of the game occurred four minutes into the quarter, when Sandro Miller drove inside the paint, luring two Redavic Union forwards, before playing a behind the back bounce pass through the legs of the Union’s Crerius Domius, right to Cristiano Douglas. Douglas popped up and put down a powerful two-hand flush, putting Big Pimento up by seven. They’d conclude the half up by that very same margin, as they took a 47-40 lead into the dressing room.

With the start of the third quarter, the tide began to sway in Big Pimento’s favor. Orlando Santiago was starting to affirm himself in the post, causing Brent Buyse to take some unnecessary fouls. He got his third of the quarter after Santiago landed a discrete elbow to the gut of Buyse in the key, and Buyse retaliated with an elbow of his own. As is often the case, the retaliator is the one who got caught and Buyse got benched as a result of the foul trouble he found himself in. Without that strong inside presence, Big Pimento were able to punish The Redavic Union inside. Cristiano Douglas lead all Pimento scorers in the quarter with 10 points, and Big Pimento found themselves up by 16, 70-53. The onslaught was on.

Brent Buyse made a return early in the fourth in an attempt to spur on his side. However, his stint on the court was short lived as he promptly picked up his sixth foul of the game, fouling Roy Ellis on a lay-up attempt he still managed to convert. Buyse watched from the bench as Ellis converted the three-point play. Big Pimento was seemingly hitting everything in the fourth quarter while The Redavic Union couldn’t even buy a field goal. The Poppers smelled blood and were going for the kill, while the Redavic Union had the wind knocked out of them and were seemingly starting to look forward to their next match. Even as the parade of subs came on for the starters, the deflated RU team did little to stop the scoring spree. Big Pimento doubled up on the Redavic Union for points in the quarter and finished the game off with a 98-66 victory.

Big Pimento’s next match will be against 0-2 Vilita, and should give an opportunity for the bench players to see a little more action to rest up the starters. Vilita’s offense has been anemic in this tournament, scoring the second fewest point while Big Pimento’ defense has allowed the second fewest. This match may get ugly, but the Vilitian Jungle Cats are a proud team and will be looking to extract some positives from this World Cup experience.

PLAYER PTS AST REB
Roy Ellis 20 5 0
Sandro Miller 11 9 2
J.R. Gomez 10 2 4
Cristiano Douglas 23 3 10
Orlando Santiago 10 1 11
Brian Newman 2 3 0
Victor Daniels 6 0 1
Charles Fiend 3 2 0
Rudolph Spitzer 4 1 3
Ron Voloshenko 7 0 2
Fogembe Dalmabo 0 0 2

Despite a great team effort and a balanced attack which saw five players score in double digits, the player of the game today without a doubt has to be Cristiano Douglas. The leader in minutes for the Poppers tonight, Douglas was a consistent threat, chalking up 23 Pts, 10 Reb, and 3 Ast. He was heralded as Big Pimento’s top player at the start of the tournament and looking to establish himself as one of the best in the world on this international stage, and so far, he’s done nothing but live up to the hype.

BP 25 22 23 28 98
RU 21 19 13 13 66

Vilita

03-11-2004, 19:39

So much for that... Elimated before I even saw the thread :)

The Redavic Union

04-11-2004, 00:50

Redavic National Inquire

!The Armies Mounting!

Hundreds if not thousands Imperi(people that live in the RU) are flooding to airport, seaport, heliports, and any other sort of transportation possible to get to Castillanos. People have been parading in the streets carring flags of the RU aswell as the Imperius National flag. Here at RNI we have decided to let the team know we have been closly watching. They were all very surprised to see such events happening back here at home.

All players got a one hour interview. These can all be seen tonight 11pm Central Imperius Time on our sister station Belo.

As for Coach Crisby, he held a very long press conference. He has announced that the unknown 6'2 creation for the backlands,Mic, will be replacing Bradford Gauis for the starting position at wing gaurd. He has also announced the strategy of doing quick sub as he likes to call it of rotating two players in and out quickly to keep them on their best game. Both forwards, Crerius Dominus and Nominus Lincius, will be under the quick sub rotation through out the game. Crerius will be subed out for by Muztiz Zigorutnique, who has shown to actually be the better player of the two. And Nominus will be subed out for by Glennius Clausius.

Some of the players on the team have come up with an idea of intmidation. The team has decided to go into "battle" with war-paint. The team will be wearing red and black war point. For some reason we all beleive this is Mic idea. The team hopes that this will have a huge effect on Harlesburg.

Crisby had a bone to pick with BP. He is very upset and flabergasted(sp?) at what BP has said.
Big Pimento continued their stellar run through the World Cup of Basketball
"First off, its been a two game WC. Two wins must be super stellar then. And beside...who says stellar"-Coach Crisby
a convincing 98-66 win over The Redavic Union.
"Oh I didnt realize that the score was a debatable win. Thanks for telling the world that you are conveince you won 98-66. Dont worry, 98 IS more than 66."-Coach Crisby
Orlando Santiago spent the entire quarter jockeying for position.
"We talking basketball here, not bettin on the poneys, get real kid."-Coach Crisby-"!Thats it iv had enough of this poor bastards garbage!"
Coach Crisby was definantly sour about the lose.

Coach Crisby has also said that he and Brent Buyse sat down late last night and discussed his action on the court. They have come to the agreement that if Buyse is charged with two more fouls he will be out for the rest of the game, and possibly season if it contiunes. Coach Crisby has very tight rules regarding fouls in the game of basketball and beleives if you are an athelete with charater, you will not have one foul on your entire record. Coach Crisby is the only player in the entire Imperium to never get one foul ever in all of his recorded play games.

As the time ticks to the game, we turn now to Greg Felidus who is out in Plano to watch the crowds as they cheer their team onto victory. Greg:

"Ah yes! Thank you Vice. Here out in the streets all motorized traffic has been banned for the night. The amount of people just walking and celebrating the anticipation of tonight game is amazing. Bars and resturants have even gone to the extent to rent huge screen TV and mount them on plat forms so people in the streets can see. !Belo's 15436.643.3 Radio station, known as the Maximus Sports Broadcast, has taken its biggest sound system ever made and put it onto of a parking garage! It is there that the biggest party should take place. It is time like these when only victory is allowed"

Give a hand to Greg everyone. He is a brave soul going out there to watch those massive crowds.

From everyone here at RNI, we wish our boys the best of play tonight!

Big Pimento

04-11-2004, 06:34

(OOC - Just some good, clean IC fun.)

Polstedt Responds
Pimento Coach Peter Polstedt Responds After Coach Crisby's Uhhh... Special Allegations[/b]

Big Pimento bench boss Peter Polstedt went out of his way to release a press statement after Redavic Union coach Crisby made some demeaning remarks towards the team and the nation of Big Pimento.

The remarks made by Coach Crisby after Tuesday night's loss are classless and show the content of the man's character.

Big Pimento continued their stellar run through the World Cup of Basketball
"First off, its been a two game WC. Two wins must be super stellar then. And beside...who says stellar"-Coach Crisby

I'd bet that if Crisby's team would have won two straight, he'd be hyping them as pretty stellar. Coach Crisby could show a little more intelligence if he used big words like stellar more often.

a convincing 98-66 win over The Redavic Union.
"Oh I didnt realize that the score was a debatable win. Thanks for telling the world that you are conveince you won 98-66. Dont worry, 98 IS more than 66."-Coach Crisby

Right on Coach! 98 is more than 66 but what makes it convincing is the 32 points we smoked you by. Convincing is being used as an adjective, as in, it's adding a description to an event, in this case, our win. But yet again, Mr. Crisby isn't the sharpest tool in the shed and for some reason or another, chooses to avoid using adjectives.

Orlando Santiago spent the entire quarter jockeying for position.
"We talking basketball here, not bettin on the poneys, get real kid."-Coach Crisby

Well, I didn't write the article so I'm not speaking on the behalf of the journalist, but that's what we like to call a metaphor. Metaphors are used to contrast the attributes of an object or an action to another object. Just another helpful little tool to enrich your word power, Crisby.

Though Mr. Polstedt's words sound angry and spiteful in nature, Polstedt continues saying he harbours no ill will towards Coach Crisby. This certainly won't be the last we hear from these two and we'll keep you posted on all the latest developments.

Harlesburg

04-11-2004, 07:32

The Redavic Union

05-11-2004, 03:59

(OOC - Just some good, clean IC fun.)

Polstedt Responds
Pimento Coach Peter Polstedt Responds After Coach Crisby's Uhhh... Special Allegations[/b]

Big Pimento bench boss Peter Polstedt went out of his way to release a press statement after Redavic Union coach Crisby made some demeaning remarks towards the team and the nation of Big Pimento.

Though Mr. Polstedt's words sound angry and spiteful in nature, Polstedt continues saying he harbours no ill will towards Coach Crisby. This certainly won't be the last we hear from these two and we'll keep you posted on all the latest developments.

!Redavic/Imperium Atheletic Union:OFFICAL STATEMENT!

FROM:Coach Crisby
TO:BP and all that apply

Well I see you are trying to get person. You may have your arsen of words and wisdom. But id have to say that if R/IAU were to face off its best atheletes from those of your pathetic country. We would certainly destroy you on any playing feid, court, and arena.

You talk as if you are superior not only to me, but my country. You talk of me not using adjetives. To be quite honest it is impossible to write/say an inteligent sentence with out them. You seem to over look many basic facts and rules of grammer. If you are so qeen on super complex sentences, you might want to remeber the basics.

As for your reporters. I understand that they run their mouths. As do mine. If you read anything from the RNI you must scale it down a bit. RNI has a history of inflating any story. But you must take anything they say, the good the bad and the ugly. They speak from your actions. They speak from your words. You must be mature enough to take the responsiblity to take what other say about what they have heard. If you can not, I strongly urge you to get out of this employment, and go start flipin' burgers.

This is quite intresting. Today through out the Imperium. Letters that request your resignation have been writing and sent to Acropolis Imperius to be forwarded to your desk. Since we are always ontime with our mail, they should all be there shortly. I hope you take what my people have writen into consideration.

I will be seeing you on the court!

-Coach Crisby

PS-I wrote a letter to!

The Redavic Union

05-11-2004, 18:21

(OOC: Are we getting the scores in anytime soon? Does anyone know what is going on. If anything hasnt been posted by sunday, I will take matters into my own hands!)

Harlesburg

05-11-2004, 20:02

(OOC: Are we getting the scores in anytime soon? Does anyone know what is going on. If anything hasnt been posted by sunday, I will take matters into my own hands!)

(OOC)Easy up Daisy we really dont know who were playing!

Sarzonia

05-11-2004, 20:05

[OOC: I tg'd Castillanos.]

Harlesburg

06-11-2004, 09:39

[OOC: I tg'd Castillanos.]
Sweet

The Redavic Union

07-11-2004, 08:38

I decided to keep some intrest in this....so iv made the overall tournament rankings.

1.Big Pimento(1)- 50 points
2.Sarzonia(3)- 38 points
3.7JM(3)- 36 points
4.Hisam(2)- 20 points
5.NEWI Cefn Druids(1)- 16 points
6.Castillanos(2)- 7 points
7.Harlesburg(2)- -1 point
8.Redavic Union(1)- -19 points
9.Lovisa(2)- -26 points
10.Esth(3)- -28 points
11.Aquiliana(3)- -46 points
12.Vilita(1)- -47 points

Overall the hardest group to be in is group 3. Two of the top three teams are in group three. The closest group would be group two.

Points are calculated by subtracting the PA from the PF.

Harlesburg

07-11-2004, 10:47

Thats cool.

Sarzonia

08-11-2004, 21:50

*bump*

[OOC: What's going on?]

The Redavic Union

09-11-2004, 04:45

OK well, I think someone here in the league should take over since the original guy is gone. I can do it if we all agree upon, because I have had past experience with this type of thing.

Aquiliana

09-11-2004, 04:47

OK well, I think someone here in the league should take over since the original guy is gone. I can do it if we all agree upon, because I have had past experience with this type of thing.
That's fine with me, and if anyone wants a full, properly run tournament, I can host a second one in a week or so.

Big Pimento

09-11-2004, 06:11

OK well, I think someone here in the league should take over since the original guy is gone. I can do it if we all agree upon, because I have had past experience with this type of thing.

Good idea.

That's fine with me, and if anyone wants a full, properly run tournament, I can host a second one in a week or so.

Likewise, Good idea.

Big Pimento
Yes-man extraordinaire

Vilita

09-11-2004, 06:38

Yea one that i'm not out of it before i even knew it started :)

Harlesburg

09-11-2004, 10:04

That's fine with me, and if anyone wants a full, properly run tournament, I can host a second one in a week or so.

Make it the last week before December maybe im up for it but could you Tg me when it starts thread et cetera.

Can we finish off the Pool play?

(IC)
Harlesburg Dailey Times

Harlesburg cheers on team

Today in Harlesburg the free people of Harlesburg and all its domains came together and rejoiced at the teams performance which had gotten the team within striking distance of the playoffs.

After losing their first game an epic encounter to Lovisa 100 to 94 Harlesburg seriously picked up their game and then went on to beat the host nation Castillanos 103 to 98 with many feeling an improved defence helping Harlesburg although the scores were just as high as the previous game Castillanos at home was expected to be a tough nut to crack.

Harlesburg's coach Richard Swain has been acredited a lot of the quodoes for the teams preformance with his cunning plays and tactical genius.His Degree in Psychology from the University of Harlesburg will be accompined by another in the guise of Sports Psychology.

Captain Jack Taylor a former naval officer has been another mainstay of Harlesburg Basketball over the last 12 years playing at every oportunity he could get even being given leave to play in games.His military background was ideal training for his other career and love Basketball.

In fact Members of Harlesburg armed forces overseas have shown their support for the team as have many in the nation by sending telegrams to the team and Taylor respectfully.Throughout the military overseas units have shown their support including NO James Ryan "Taylor youve been an inspiration to many of us here on the HNS Katrina weve watched everygame thru a sattelite feed and youve impressed the world keep up the good work"
and Lieutenant Robert Chalmers"Screaming Eagles you sure are youre making the nation proud".

With support all across the board no wonder Harlesburg are doing so well.

The Redavic Union

09-11-2004, 17:57

OOC: Ok when I get home I will look over everything, and then assume position as tourny host. I am at school right now.

The Redavic Union

10-11-2004, 04:50

Match Day 3 Results

Redavic Union 94 vs Harlesburg 90
Lovisa 94 vs Esth 96

Play-off grouping
Group 1

Pos Team P W L PF PA Pts
Redavic Union 1 2 1 227 238 6
Esth 1 2 1 224 250 6
Hisam 1 1 1 169 149 3
Sarzonia 1 1 1 161 123 3

group 2

Pos Team P W L PF PA Pts
Big Pimento 1 2 0 175 125 6
7JM 1 2 0 174 138 6
Castillanos 1 1 1 170 163 3
NEWI Cefn Druids 1 1 1 148 132 3

Eliminated Teams
Vilita
Aquiliana
Harlesburg
Lovisa

Play-Off Bound Teams
Big Pimento
NEWI Cefn Druids
Hisam
Castillanos
7JM
Sarzonia
the Redavic Union
Esth

Play-Offs Rules

Double Elimination. Which means you lose two your out. At the end of three games, top two teams go on to the semi-finals. Losers walks, Winners advances into the Basketball World Cup Championship.

Play-Offs round one

group 1
Redavic Union vs. Esth
Hisam vs. Sarzonia

group 2
Big Pimento vs. 7JM
Castillanos vs. NEWI Cefn Druids

link to the Rosters is here: http://forums2.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=368829&page=1]

Wrigleyivy

10-11-2004, 05:21

May I ask you guys how do you get the box for the stats, schedules, and stuff, I want to make a baseball league any info would be very greatly appreciated.

Harlesburg

10-11-2004, 09:25

Nice try Redavic but i want everyone to have that third Pool game it is only logical.................. :sniper:

Sarzonia

10-11-2004, 17:45

Storm set to rain on Hisam

The Sarzonian national team began its first practice in the week since defeating Aquiliana in the second game of pool play with a conditioning drill. Coach Dick Motta was disappointed with the lack of practice time, but with the tournament going through some unforseen delays, he realized it could have been a blessing in disguise.

"We've been going pretty much nonstop since training camp opened," Motta said. "Some of our guys are pretty banged up from the practices and games and we used that time to heal up. Now we've got to get our conditioning back."

Motta said the team wouldn't make any changes to its starting lineup for the game against Hisam, which throttled Lovisa 109-77 in the last match of group play. He said he would continue to use the full 12 man roster.

"If we were in a rhythm of playing basketball right now, I would probably have settled on a rotation and limited the reps to that," he said. "But with this break in practice, we have to make sure all 12 guys are conditioned for a run to the finals."

Forward Terry Casterbridge said he spent much of the downtime running and shooting on his own wherever he could find a hoop.

"It's not easy to stay in game shape when you're not practicing as a team," Casterbridge said. Casterbridge is leading the team with 26 points per game in group play, but he said the team would have to get contributions from everyone on the roster.

"We need all 12 guys," he said. "One man is not going to carry this team to the World Cup. There are too many good players and teams out there."

The team said it is not going to allow itself to be distracted by possible matchups in later rounds, preferring to focus on Hisam, but Motta said the team was impressed by Big Pimento.

"They're a very good team, that Big Pimento team," Motta said. "They're probably the favorites to win the whole damn thing."

Harlesburg

10-11-2004, 18:34

seriously third pool match

The Redavic Union

11-11-2004, 04:26

Nice try Redavic but i want everyone to have that third Pool game it is only logical.................. :sniper:

lets just get through this so we can actually have a good WCB next time around.

Harlesburg

11-11-2004, 07:33

lets just get through this so we can actually have a good WCB next time around.

Alright i'll concide but how about its called an Elite Invitational Tournement

Harlesburg

12-11-2004, 09:42

Harlesburg ejected
goes off to corner to sulk

Sarzonia

17-11-2004, 04:24

[OOC: Can we do the sims now? Please?]

Harlesburg

19-11-2004, 10:22

good call i want to see someone win dammit

Big Pimento

19-11-2004, 15:31

OOC - I wouldn't mind finishing up generating the scores, but if I did, I'd be using an excel spreadsheet to do so (None of that random.org stuff which seemed pretty sketchy) and I'd finish the round robin before going on to the knockout stages.

Sarzonia

19-11-2004, 15:36

Harlesburg

21-11-2004, 08:25

Big Pimento

21-11-2004, 22:31

Alright, to avoid anyone questioning the legitimacy of the results down the road (though I'm whole-heartedly expecting it anyway ;) ), here's the formula which I used to generate the scores.

Your SCORE = 60+(RAND()*30) + RP Bonus

For the RP Bonus, anyone who didn't RP at all got 0, while anyone who RPed once got a bonus of 7, and anyone who RPed twice or more got a bonus of 15. I figure since we'd only had two matches so far, two RPs was pretty good and that would put you in the category of regular RPer.

Here are the long awaited and much anticipated Matchday 3 results of the World Cup of Basketball.

Big Pimento 88 - Vilita 78
NEWI Cefn Druids 91 - The Redavic Union 85

Group 1

Pos Team P W L PF PA Pts
1 Big Pimento 3 3 0 263 203 9
2 NEWI Cefn Druids 3 2 1 237 217 6
3 Redavic Union 3 1 2 216 241 3
4 Vilita 3 0 2 185 242 0

Lovisa 69 - Harlesburg 85
Castillanos 81 - Hisam 99

Group 2

Pos Team P W L PF PA Pts
1 Hisam 3 2 1 268 230 6
2 Harlesburg 3 2 1 282 257 6
3 Castillanos 3 1 2 251 262 3
4 Lovisa 3 1 2 246 288 3

Sarzonia 85 - Esth 79
Aquiliana 70 - 7JM 94

Group 3

Pos Team P W L PF PA Pts
1 7JM 3 3 0 268 208 9
2 Sarzonia 3 2 1 246 202 6
3 Esth 3 1 2 207 241 3
4 Aquiliana 3 0 3 175 245 0

The top two teams from each pool advance and will be placed in two groups of three. The teams will then play against each other once in a round robin format, with the team with the most points going through to the finals. In the event that we have a tie, point difference will be used as the first tie-breaker, followed by points for. The two “semi-final” groups will be:

GROUP A
Big Pimento
Hisam
Sarzonia

GROUP B
7JM
NEWI Cefn Druids
Harlesburg

MATCHDAY 1
Big Pimento vs. Hisam (@ The Cathouse, Calista)
7JM vs. NEWI Cefn Druids (@ Pimento City Arena, Pimento City)

MATCHDAY 2
Big Pimento vs. Sarzonia (@ Globe Arena, Karlsberg)
7JM vs. Harlesburg (@ Freedom Amphitheatre, Malagi)

MATCHDAY 3
Hisam vs. Sarzonia (@ The Cathouse, Calista)
NEWI Cefn Druids vs. Harlesburg (@ Pimento City Arena, Pimento City)

FINALS
TBA @ Globe Arena, Karlsberg

Congratulations to those who've advanced and commiserations to those left behind. I was really excited when this World Cup started, since I thought we had a real winner since tons of good RPers jumped on board and basketball is a pretty popular sport all across the globe. However, Castillanos kind of buggered off, left us all hanging and this tournament lost all momentum. I'll try to help restore some of the credibilty of this once promising tournament, and hope we might be able to bring its popularity back up to the level to have a second, hopefully more consistantly hosted event.

Sarzonia

21-11-2004, 23:04

Storm advances to next round 85-79

The Sarzonian national basketball team didn't know what to expect from its first foray into international basketball with limited experience among its basketball players and a fledgling national league attempting to get off the ground again. But forward Terry Casterbridge scored a team high 19 points to lead the way for the Storm past Esth 85-79.

"I was pleased to see us play well," Coach Dick Motta said. "We needed to get the experience of winning a close game down the stretch and I'm glad to see that we were able to do that."

Following a long layoff after the host country had scheduling problems in its venues, the Storm jumped out to an early lead in the first quarter, outscoring Esth 14-3 after the opening tap and putting their opponents on the defensive early. Casterbridge started the run with two straight jumpers from the top of the key, including a three pointer that gave Sarzonia an 8-2 lead.

Unlike Aquiliana, Esth wouldn't quit. The team was still smarting from its 104-71 loss to 7JM and looked rusty from the long layoff, but responded after getting chewed out by their coach between the first and second quarters. The team went on a 10-0 run capped by a three pointer from the top of the key and forcing Motta to call time out and sending the teams into the break with Sarzonia up 40-38.

The teams essentially traded buckets throughout a brisk third quarter, but the Storm broke open the close game with rim rattling dunks by center Bennie Malone (nine points, 12 rebounds), effectively taking over the game for good with 4:28 left to go.

"We've got a big game coming up against Big Pimento," Motta said. "They've shown themselves to be the class of the tournament thus far and we'll have to be at our best to have a chance against such a great team."

Harlesburg

22-11-2004, 10:30

(OOC)i could say something but i can see why you did it. :)

(IC)
Harlesburg Rocks into Finals Series
After a turbulent last couple of days waiting for the future of Harlesburg in the competition Harlesburg finally cemented a spot in the final six.

Harlesburg's win made sure they joined the other national teams from
Big Pimento,Hisam,Sarzonia,7JM,and NEWI Cefn Druids.

The win came in regular time and was a spectacle to watch with the game swining both ways until a late burst in the third quarter allowed Harlesburg to take a seven point lead over their rivals which they quickly expanded after the break.

The third quarter had normally been a bogey for a Harlesburg team but consistantly in this World Cup the team has atempted to shake off this nasty habit.

The Habit has been one of the things that Coach Richard Swain has tried so hard to throw off from the teams psychy and also he has emphasised the whole Team ethos into the squad and into the local reporters.

"We have come here to do Harlesburg proud and we have done that so far and we wish to continue this trend."said Coach Richard Swain

It is true that the performance of the team has been excellent up to date improving in every aspect after each game but the playoffs are differnt matter.

"Playoffs they are always hard this is where a season is judged a success or failure if you win every regular season game and then get knocked out in the first playoff round what have you achieved?You cant peek to early its essential you time your run into that last game."said Coach Richard Swain

The team to play the next game is:

STARTERS

5-PG-Albert Rimmer(6'3"-186lbs)

12-PG/SG-Troy Breakspear(5'11"-189lbs)

3-SF-Ryan Edwards(6'8"-224lbs)

1-C-Jack Taylor(7'2"-254lbs)

10-PF-Jared Jurgonson(6'11"-242lbs)

4-SG(sixth man)-Handsome Edwards(5'8"-166lbs)
7-PG-Micheal Clarke(6'1"-182lbs)
8-SG/SF-John Rampart(6'3"-196lbs)
9-C-Oliver Collier(6'11"-246lbs)
6-SG-Josh Ballard(5'11"-168lbs)
11-SF-Tony Halliburton(6'7"-222lbs)
2-PF-Robert Handkoff(6'10"-248lbs)

Big Pimento

22-11-2004, 13:32

Jungle Cats Wont Go Quietly
Following two blowout losses, Vilita puts up their best effort against Big Pimento

This match wouldn't have been a big draw in Castillanos, a team already assured of a birth in the next round playing against a team already eliminated from contention. However, move the match over to Globe Arena in Karlsberg, Big Pimento, give the home fans a chance to welcome their side which has performed like heroes so far, throw in Vilita to make it an interregional clash and you could imagine that we have quite an event on our hands. The aforementioned Globe Arena was packed to capacity with boisterous Big Pimento fans, along with a decent contingent of Vilitian fans also making the short trod to the match.

The match kicked off to the same tune of most of Big Pimento's previous matches, with the Poppers pounding the ball inside early. Cristiano Douglas, Big Pimento's most prolific scorer in the tournament to date, continued his fine form, playing out of his mind going 5/5 from the field in the first quarter, as well as 3/3 from the charity stripe. He was substituted for Ron Voloshenko with two minutes to go in the frame and took to the bench with 13 points and 4 rebounds to his name. That sensational early effort helped Big Pimento out to a 24-19 lead after the first quarter.

The Vilitians found something to remedy the Poppers' strong inside presence: prolific outside shooting. Vilita started stroking the ball like they knew they could in the second quarter, going 6/8 from behind the arc in the frame. Their sensational shooting opened up things inside too, as their big men were able to exploit space they just couldn't find early in the game. On the flipside, Big Pimento went ice cold, shooting a mere 30% from the field. Vilita walked down the tunnel of the Globe Arena holding a comfortable 49-42 lead at the half.

With the start of the third quarter, the momentum of the match shifted once more, as Big Pimento seemed to find their legs once more. Leading the charge back up the scoreboard was Sandro Miller. The soon-to-be sophomore at Lacosta University started to show signs of maturity and glimpses of greatness as he took the Pimento team on his back with fantastic ball distribution and wise shot selection. The play which best captured the essence of the half was when Sandro Miller had the ball at the top of the arc, beat his man, drove the lane and though interferred with, made the tough lay-in in traffic to bring the Pimentos even. He calmly stepped up to the line and sunk his free throw, completing the three-point play and giving the Pimentos their first lead of the quarter. The quarter would finish with that same margin, Big Pimento leading 65-64.

The fourth quarter was an absolute battle, as the balance of the match swung with every possession. Vilita were fighting to at least take a victory away from this World Cup, while Big Pimento were desperately trying to put in a good performance for the home crowd. Finally we reached the final minute with Big Pimento leading by two. Sandro Miller, Brian Newman and Horatio Carter were swinging the ball around the top of the arc, before Newman collected it to control it for a bit. He then tossed the ball to Douglas standing 18 feet away from the basket on the left wing. Cristiano Douglas stood with his back to the net, Vilitian defender behind him and the chance to put this match away ahead of him. Douglas pivoted forward and took a quick step to the inside, crossed over, pulled back and shot a fade away over the thoroughly schooled Vilitian player. The crowd went utterly silent as the ball floated through the air and the sound of a ball hitting nothing but nylon reverberated through the entire arena amidst a gigantic roar from the crowd. C-Dawg had done it again and Big Pimento was up by four. Vilita then embarked on a vicious cycle of running up the court, taking a quick shot and missing, then fouling the Pimentos to try to get the ball back, just to see the Pimentos drain their free throws. Don’t let the final scoreline fool you, this was a very tight match.

PLAYER PTS AST REB
Roy Ellis 12 4 1
Sandro Miller 16 9 3
J.R. Gomez 7 2 3
Cristiano Douglas 28 2 10
Orlando Santiago 9 1 10
Brian Newman 4 3 0
Victor Daniels 0 0 0
Horatio Carter 9 2 2
Charles Fiend 0 1 0
Rudolph Spitzer 0 0 3
Ron Voloshenko 2 1 5
Fogembe Dalmabo 0 0 3

Cristiano Douglas, for the second match is succession accumulated a double-double, and will likewise receive Player of the Game honours once more, though an honourable mention has to go out to the young Sandro Miller, who also looked impressive during the match. After chalking up a tournament high 28 points among Pimentos, it appears Douglas has really got it in gear for this World Cup. However, Douglas will have to play his best game of the tournament against Hisam, as their star PF Raghan Veraus has been tearing it up in the early going. It will be an interesting battle, since no one gives up anything on the height front, but the bulkier Veraus should have the advantage in terms of strength, while the more athletic Douglas is undoubtedly the quicker of the two men. Which ever big man wins the battle here may well see his team winning the war.

BP 24 18 23 23 88
VIL 19 30 15 14 78

Big Pimento

23-11-2004, 06:12

MATCHDAY 4 SCORES

Big Pimento 101 - Hisam 92
7JM 88 - NEWI Cefn Druids 76

STANDINGS after MATCHDAY 4

GROUP A W D L PF PA PD PTS
Big Pimento 1 0 0 101 92 +9 3
Sarzonia 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Hisam 0 0 1 92 101 -9 0

GROUP B W D L PF PA PD PTS
7JM 1 0 0 88 76 +12 3
Harlesburg 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
NEWI Cefn Druids 0 0 1 76 88 -12 0

TOMORROW'S FIXTURES
Big Pimento vs. Sarzonia (@ Globe Arena, Karlsberg)
7JM vs. Harlesburg (@ Freedom Amphitheatre, Malagi)

Sarzonia

23-11-2004, 16:39

Storm hopes to 'Pop' hosts bubble

It was a matchup that some observers would have hoped would happen in the World Cup of Basketball finals. The top team in the tournament, Big Pimento taking on its regional opponents from Sarzonia who recovered after a close loss in their opening game.

Unfortunately for those observers, this matchup will happen in the semifinal stage. The Storm is the only team in Group A of its three team bracket not to win its group, and it is facing a team that is the odds on favorite to cut down the nets even when the tournament wasn't at home. Add in the home court advantage and Big Pimento is shaping up as a huge favorite, Coach Dick Motta said.

"You've got to think of them as the team that's most likely to win the whole damn thing," Motta said. "We're going to have to play our best basketball and make sure we make the key plays down the stretch."

The Storm is likely going to test Big Pimento from the outside with jumpshots from forward Terry Casterbridge and reserve shooting guard Jamal Standeford, but Motta said the team will also have to handle Big Pimento's vaunted inside game.

"[Center Orlando] Santiago is going to be a load for them," Motta said. "We may shift Tiny [forward Nate Bonner] on him defensively and hope [center] Bennie Malone can make him work offensively. The key there is to not be intimidated and challenge them inside. I don't think the other teams they faced challenged them enough inside."

Storm players also took note of Vilita's close game against Big Pimento, where the Cats made a living from outside. They said dribble penetration would be key to their being able to force the Poppers to make adjustments to them.

"They're going to try to intimidate on the inside. We're going to have to answer that," Casterbridge said. "But we're also going to have to make them work with our perimeter game. Buttehead [shooting guard Jerome Butler] is going to have to get on track for sure."

Butler is only scoring 11.6 points per game on 38.8 percent shooting from the field. He said he's still trying to get his legs after the long layoff between Game 2 and Game 3 of the World Cup.

"I ain't trying to make excuses, dog, but my legs are like lead," Butler said. "I gotta suck it up."

So will the team if they're going to have a chance to advance to the finals. A win by the Poppers clinches a spot in the finals for the new host country, which took over hosting from Castillanos after problems with venue scheduling prevented them from making arenas available for the tournament. Motta said the team would have to overcome the home court advantage for the Poppers.

"It's got to be a huge advantage for them," Motta said. "They're playing in front of their fans. It's definitely not going to be a neutral site. The good thing is that we're in their region so our fans won't have a long trip if they can even get tickets."

A win by Sarzonia would turn the final game between the Storm and Hisam into a one-off chance for the team to advance to the finals. Wins in both games would send the Storm to the finals, while a win over Big Pimento followed by a loss to Hisam would send it to tiebreakers. A Big Pimento win would render the Sarzonia-Hisam game meaningless.

"We've got everything to play for," Malone said. "Everything. We're going to be ready."

Big Pimento

24-11-2004, 04:58

MATCHDAY 5 SCORES

Big Pimento 98 - Sarzonia 103
7JM 81 - Harlesburg 100

STANDINGS after MATCHDAY 5

GROUP A W D L PF PA PD PTS
Sarzonia 1 0 0 103 98 +5 3
Big Pimento 1 0 1 199 195 +4 3
Hisam 0 0 1 92 101 -9 0

GROUP B W D L PF PA PD PTS
Harlesburg 1 0 0 100 81 +19 3
7JM 1 0 1 167 176 -9 3
NEWI Cefn Druids 0 0 1 76 88 -12 0

TOMORROW'S FIXTURES
Hisam vs. Sarzonia (@ The Cathouse, Calista)
NEWI Cefn Druids vs. Harlesburg (@ Pimento City Arena, Pimento City)

Sarzonia

24-11-2004, 05:55

Storm shoots down Poppers 103-98

Trailing by 14 points midway through the third quarter in front of a hostile Big Pimento crowd, the Sarzonian national basketball team had to dig deep. With the Storm desperately looking for a hero, it found one in an unlikely place: reserve guard Dontae Norman. He scored 16 of his 18 points in the second half and the Storm won 103-98 in dramatic fashion.

"I'm very proud of this team," Coach Dick Motta said. "To battle back on the road against the team that's been the class of the tournament throughout shows a lot about our team's character."

Big Pimento jumped out of the gate early, outscoring the Stars 18-6 at the end of the first half to give the team a 11 point halftime lead. The Poppers (4-1) went inside to its big men early and often, drawing three fouls on forward Nate Bonner just eight minutes after tipoff. Bonner played a tournament low 11 minutes as a result.

"We had problems getting the ball inside to our big men and they didn't in the first half," forward Terry Casterbridge (14 points on five for 19 shooting). "We started to pick things up in the second half when we got [center] Ike Mason in there."

Forward Cristiano Douglas wore Bonner and center Bennie Malone (seven points, five rebounds) out in the first half, but Mason (13 points, 10 rebounds) led a defensive charge that limited Douglas to just six second half points. Center Orlando Santiago scored a tournament low four points for the Poppers.

The Storm's big rally began with 5:46 left in the third quarter when Norman hit a three pointer at the top of the key to cut the Poppers lead to 11 and key a 12-0 run for Sarzonia. Norman scored eight of his team's 12 points in the run, including two three pointers and a rim-rattling dunk. After the teams traded buckets to close out the third quarter, the Storm took control with a 7-0 run that included a three pointer by Norman that gave the Storm its first lead since 7-5 in the first quarter.

"I just wanted to get in there and do the best I could," Norman said. "I knew we couldn't lose this game."

Big Pimento had a chance to cut the deficit with less than a minute remaining, but their efforts to foul Mason backfired when he hit three of four shots from the charity stripe to push the Storm's lead to five. The Poppers' last chance to cut into the Storm's lead ended in the hands of Norman, who stole the ball from point guard Roy Ellis with 14 seconds left. When the final buzzer sounded, Norman threw the ball high in the air and the Storm piled onto the court while a stunned Pimento crowd silently filed out of the arena.

"We're going to need to keep our focus against Hisam," Casterbridge said. "If we win, we're in. If we lose, it goes to tiebreakers. We don't want the extra drama."

Harlesburg

24-11-2004, 06:03

Eagles Soar

With an emphatic 100-81 win in their first game of the finals series the Harlesburg "Screaming Eagles" look set to make it into the Final in their first appearnce at the big time.

Harlesburg's win against 7JM has surely got them past the penultimate round.The win looked sealed early on with a 14 point buffer going into the third quarter and that was only increased later on in the game thru some stunning offhandling by perrenial Star Albert Rimmer.

Albert Rimmer who had been struggling for form after being hyped up as one of the stars of the Harlesburg team if not of the Tournement pulled thru a tense opening quarter to finish with 13 points from the field and 3 free-throws were he also posted two assists.

"Yo dude i was like just making up for the other games were i didnt play to par man.I dont know if it was because i gave them to much respect in the early games or if they just knew how to close me down.

In any case Rimmer continued his dazzling display of the 1st quarter with a stunning 9 point hawl in the 2nd consisting of 3 3's then being rested with 5 minutes to go.

The third quarter was much of the same Rimmer posting 15 points and 4 assists while the fourth was more pedestrian with only 7 points but 5 assists and 2 steals.

"yeah that 4th was nice thet started to panic and so i got shut down two-man D and all so i got to dish it out and tally up my A's and then they were rushing and it was easy pickings in the steals department."

With Rimmer off for a large part of the second quarter the team slowed down but with his return the scoring rate returned to what had been the precedent.

I was proud of the way he handled himself out there today he should guts people had been bagging some of his performances including the first game of the tourney when he "took a dive" late in the game."said Coach Swain

The 100-81 win with a differential of 19 points means that any loss will have to be a heavy one to halt their ride into the playoffs.

Harlesburg 28 22 29 21 100
7JM 22 14 29 16 81
5-PG-Albert Rimmer: 47 Points,11Assists,2 Steals

12-PG/SG-Troy Breakspear: 12 Points,6 Assists,1 Steal

3-SF-Ryan Edwards: 8 Points,1 Assist,4 Rebounds

1-C-Jack Taylor: 6 Points,12 Rebounds

10-PF-Jared Jurgonson: 6 Points,6 Rebounds

4-SG(sixth man)-Handsome Edwards:4 Points 4 Assists,1 Rebound
7-PG-Micheal Clarke: 8 Points,2Assists,2 Steals
8-SG/SF-John Rampart:1 Steal
9-C-Oliver Collier:2 Points,4 Rebounds
6-SG-Josh Ballard:1Assist,1 Steal,2 Rebounds
11-SF-Tony Halliburton:3 Points,4 Rebounds
2-PF-Robert Handkoff:1 Rebound

Big Pimento

24-11-2004, 17:16

Pop Secret
"Secret weapon" pushes Big Pimento to victory against Hisam

Observers were hyping this game to be a match-up between arguably the world's two finest power forwards. The tournament's leading scorer, Hisam's Raghan Veraus, squaring against Big Pimento's own Cristiano Douglas. Pundits predicted that the match would be won or lost between the two men, but little did they know that team depth would play the biggest role of all.

Veraus did not disappoint as he put up some massive numbers, going 13-28 from the field, and a near flawless 9-10 from the foul line to finish up the match with 35 points. That's a massive number of points but Veraus' shot selection was to be questionned, as he shot from everywhere early and often.

Douglas on the other hand, put up significantly less points, shooting 9-16 from the floor and going a respectable 5-6 from the free throw line. His 23 points are vastly inferior to Veraus' totals, but his better field goal percentage and tournament high five assists signalled that Douglas had a good game as well. The telling stat was between both players' rebounding numbers, as it was expected the stronger Veraus would dominate in this facet. However, Douglas played him physical in the key the entire match, and his superior leaping ability aided him in snagging down 13 boards to Veraus' 8.

As promised, we were privy to a sensational battle down low, but there were 12 soldiers on both sides fighting to win the war, and the better of the two sides was Big Pimento. Two Pimentos stepped it up big time, lighting it up from the outside. First of which was J.R. Gomez, the Pimentos' starting small forward who has been relatively quiet after the first match. The streaky Gomez started to find his range from long distance early and exploited that shot often. Gomez capped off a sensational match with a highlight reel dunk in the fourth quarter when he posterized Hisam's centre, Caleb Andrews.

The other player to really elevate his game was little used guard, Charles Fiend. Many Poppers supporters questioned Fiend’s selection to the team, as he’s not overly athletic, doesn’t put up eye popping numbers and is just barely a starter on his club team, the Tretiak Tall Dudes. If there is one stat on Fiend that is impressive though, it’s his outside shooting, as he’s lead the BPBA in three-point percentage three of the last four years. Fiend was added as a role player, and did he ever fulfill that role last night. Charles Fiend got his first action of the match in the fourth quarter and made an immediate impact, knocking down two treys within his first two minutes on the floor. Fiend continued to drive stakes through the hearts of Hisam fans, as he went 4/4 from downtown, scoring a total of 14 points in the frame, leading Big Pimento to victory.

“They’re a big team and we couldn’t have our way inside like the previous matches,” said Big Pimento coach Peter Polstedt after the match, “[Fiend]’s got a quick release and he’s lethal from behind the arc. We knew there would come a time where we’d have to beat someone from the outside and we’ve been saving him for that time. I guess you could call him our secret weapon.”

BP 24 27 23 27 101
HIS 23 26 22 21 92

Harlesburg

24-11-2004, 18:43

Harlesburg starters
STARTERS

5-PG-Albert Rimmer(6'3"-186lbs)

12-PG/SG-Troy Breakspear(5'11"-189lbs)

3-SF-Ryan Edwards(6'8"-224lbs)

1-C-Jack Taylor(7'2"-254lbs)

10-PF-Jared Jurgonson(6'11"-242lbs)

4-SG(sixth man)-Handsome Edwards(5'8"-166lbs)
7-PG-Micheal Clarke(6'1"-182lbs)
8-SG/SF-John Rampart(6'3"-196lbs)
9-C-Oliver Collier(6'11"-246lbs)
6-SG-Josh Ballard(5'11"-168lbs)
11-SF-Tony Halliburton(6'7"-222lbs)
2-PF-Robert Handkoff(6'10"-248lbs)

Aquiliana

24-11-2004, 18:49

I finally got my scorinator to work in perfect condition. It's way awesome.

If you want to have a second tournament in a week or two, let me know and I'll host it.

Big Pimento

25-11-2004, 06:21

OOC: Aquiliana - I was just thinking about TGing you and asking you if you wanted to host the second edition. As the metaphorical adoptive father of this tournament, I'd have no reservations at all with you hosting the next edition. You might want to start up a sign-up thread as soon as you get a chance, since I think another tournament would see a bigger turn-out of participants.

Hisam 97 - Sarzonia 104
NEWI Cefn Druids 99 - Harlesburg 98

GROUP A W D L PF PA PD PTS
Sarzonia 2 0 0 207 195 +12 6
Big Pimento 1 0 1 199 195 +4 3
Hisam 0 0 2 189 205 -16 0

GROUP B W D L PF PA PD PTS
*Harlesburg 1 0 1 198 180 +18 3
7JM 1 0 1 169 176 -7 3
NEWI Cefn Druids 1 0 1 175 186 -11 3

*Harlesburg advances thanks to point difference

CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH
Sarzonia vs Harlesburg
Globe Arena
Karlsberg, Big Pimento

Sarzonia

25-11-2004, 07:09

Storm rolls into final, 104-97

Calista, BIG PIMENTO -- With a stirring comeback win over host nation Big Pimento under their belts, the Sarzonian basketball team took on Group 2 champions Hisam in a match that could determine one of the two championship bracket teams in the long-delayed World Cup of Basketball.

The Storm took care of its end of the bargin, a breakout game from center Bennie Malone (26 points, 10 rebounds) and a great all-around effort from forward Terry Casterbridge (19 points, eight rebounds, nine assists, four steals, two blocks) and defeating Hisam 104-97 to advance to the championship game.

"We played really well out there," Coach Dick Motta said. "To face a bracket with two group winners and with us being the only second place team in the group, we had to raise our game to another level to advance and we did that."

The game was tight throughout, with Hisam content to flash deft outside shooting from 15-18 feet while the Storm (4-1, 2-0 in semifinal play) established its inside game. With both Malone and forward Nate 'Tiny' Bonner (17 points, 11 rebounds) leading the way, the Storm outrebounded Hisam 54-33.

"You can't win many basketball games when you're not getting second chances," Casterbridge said. "We didn't give them too many chances to get put backs. We controlled the game down low. It's what our coaches have been preaching all along."

The Storm will face Harlesburg in the championship game at the Globe Arena in Karlsberg. Harlesburg lost to the de facto defending champion NEWI Cefn Druids 99-98, but advanced to the final by having a better point differential in the two game semifinal round.

"That's going to be a tough team to play, but we feel like we've gotten a little toughness from playing in the toughest two groups (Group 3 in the first round and Group A of the second round) in the cup," Malone said. "We're going to look at the game tapes very closely and see what we can come up with."

Pundits are confident that playing near the team's home country will be a boost to the Storm, but sports columnist Alvin Willsey of the Wilmington Daily News said the Big Pimento crowd would be the x-factor.

"They were a huge factor in their first game against Hisam," Willsey said. "Sarzonia was able to take them out of the game in the second half. The question is if Pimento fans are going to get behind us as a region mate or them because they're facing the team that knocked the Poppers out. We'll find out at tip off."

Harlesburg

25-11-2004, 08:21

(OOC)Sweet Mercy, im really happy about this i havent been able to post some really decent things in the last few days ill pick it up now.

(IC)
Harlesburg lose but still advance
After a dramatic competition in pool play Harlesburg managed to sneak into the second round and after the first round bye had an excellent opportunity to dominate the rest of their knockout group.

The win against 7JM was important to the team spirit and their hopes of staying in the competition were increased thru the way in which they demolished their opposition.

Coach Richard Swain had this to say after that first round game.
Yeah the 19 point win really helped us we knew that with our cronic offense we could continuosly post big numbers which is what we did that just meant that if we were to lose all we had to do was make it a close game and we would be assured a place in the final."

When asked of the reason for altering the team late in the buildup for the game against NEWI Cefn Druids he said.

"It was a risky move but we realised that we needed to do two things one make sure all the squad had an acceptable level of game time and two to make some sure some of the well known players were kept safe from unneccasary harm."

Harlesburg

25-11-2004, 18:36

Harlesburg Prepare

With knowledge of their entrance into the Final the Harlesburg team and the people of Harlesburg were overjoyed with delight.

Joanne Black a Mother of two said
"Oh the boys have done very well havent they?Theyve jumped higher and bounced the ball better than anyone theyve faced they are so strong.
Im proud of them."

The whole nation is proud of them and in fact reports that the Duke himself will be their straight from The Wedding of Emperor Marshall I of The Imperial Navy and Empress Teodora I of The Valuan Empire.
In fact the Minister of Trade Minister of Internal Affairs and The Duchess of Kitchenierre will be attending after their long trip as well.

Their berth in the playoffs was a touch and go event after their emphatic victory over 7JM 100-91 which gave them some breathing space but when they lost to NEWI Cefn Druids 99-98 all bets were off until the report from the officials came in with Harlesburg sneaking in on points Differential when that came in a massive euphora swept the crowd as Harlesburg had become their darlings outside of the Big Pimento national team of course.

Harlesburg have decided to keep their regular starting lineup

Eagles Soar

With an emphatic 100-81 win in their first game of the finals series the Harlesburg "Screaming Eagles" look set to make it into the Final in their first appearnce at the big time.

Harlesburg's win against 7JM has surely got them past the penultimate round.The win looked sealed early on with a 14 point buffer going into the third quarter and that was only increased later on in the game thru some stunning offhandling by perrenial Star Albert Rimmer.

Albert Rimmer who had been struggling for form after being hyped up as one of the stars of the Harlesburg team if not of the Tournement pulled thru a tense opening quarter to finish with 13 points from the field and 3 free-throws were he also posted two assists.

"Yo dude i was like just making up for the other games were i didnt play to par man.I dont know if it was because i gave them to much respect in the early games or if they just knew how to close me down.

In any case Rimmer continued his dazzling display of the 1st quarter with a stunning 9 point hawl in the 2nd consisting of 3 3's then being rested with 5 minutes to go.

The third quarter was much of the same Rimmer posting 15 points and 4 assists while the fourth was more pedestrian with only 7 points but 5 assists and 2 steals.

"yeah that 4th was nice thet started to panic and so i got shut down two-man D and all so i got to dish it out and tally up my A's and then they were rushing and it was easy pickings in the steals department."

With Rimmer off for a large part of the second quarter the team slowed down but with his return the scoring rate returned to what had been the precedent.

I was proud of the way he handled himself out there today he should guts people had been bagging some of his performances including the first game of the tourney when he "took a dive" late in the game."said Coach Swain

The 100-81 win with a differential of 19 points means that any loss will have to be a heavy one to halt their ride into the playoffs.

5-PG-Albert Rimmer:

12-PG/SG-Troy Breakspear:

3-SF-Ryan Edwards:

1-C-Jack Taylor:

10-PF-Jared Jurgonson:

4-SG(sixth man)-Handsome Edwards:
7-PG-Micheal Clarke:
8-SG/SF-John Rampart:
9-C-Oliver Collier
6-SG-Josh Ballard:
11-SF-Tony Halliburton:
2-PF-Robert Handkoff:

Sarzonia

25-11-2004, 19:41

Storm gears up for final

A team that began the World Cup of Basketball unsure of whether it could stay competitive on the world stage is now one game away from capturing a high profile trophy for the first time in Sarzonian history.

Since the Storm opened the tournament with a buzzer-beating loss to Group 3 winners 7JM, the team has won four straight, including a 103-98 win over new host country Big Pimento that helped catapult the team into the finals. The team has gotten great inside play from forward Nate 'Tiny' Bonner and center Bennie Malone and forward Terry Casterbridge leads the team in scoring.

"We've got to keep plugging away out there," Coach Dick Motta said. "We're getting good inside play when we need to establish the inside and we've been able to hit a few outside jumpers when we need it. It's been a revelation."

The team's success has buttressed a league that needed a lot of help. The Sarzonian Basketball Association stumbled out of the gate four years ago and actually seased operations for two seasons before trying to start back up with the World Cup.

"Basketball really didn't get much attention over here. This is a football country," guard Jamal Standeford said. "But our country loves winners, so when our teams win, it helps."

Motta said the team will look to improve its shooting from the perimeter with Harlesburg's height advantage at center with Harlesburg's Jack Taylor a full four inches taller than Malone. Reserve center Ike Mason may also get increased playing time after he helped nullify Big Pimento's inside presence in the team's 103-98 comeback win against the Poppers. Motta said the team would consider going to a three guard lineup with guard/forward Alan Bell earning a spot in the lineup and Bonner playing center.

However, Motta said the team would need to focus on improving its defense against the Screaming Eagles.

"We've allowed 97.5 points per game the last two games," Motta said. "They've averaged 99 points a game the last two games. We're going to have to play our half court game and we're going to have to clog up their fast break."

Big Pimento

26-11-2004, 04:05

Karlsberg's Globe Arena (http://www.thesims.de/simcity4/tips/landmarks/screens/globearena.jpg) is packed to capacity in anticipation of the World Cup of Basketball Championship Match. Both Harlesburg and Sarzonia's starting line-ups have been announced and all twenty-four players are on the court, warming up as they drill lay-ups. The lights in the arena are dim, it's not dark, but you definately can't call it bright, with a red glow surrounding the court thanks to fluorescent lights lining the perimeter of the field of play. The sound of the background music slowly increases as the clock clicks down to zero and the sound of the crowd of 18,000 reaches a crescendo. A loud horn is heard all over the arena and the lights flick on. The fans are ready, the players are ready, it's time for this championship match to get underway.

Championship Match
Sarzonia 86 - Harlesburg 89
Harlesburg wins the inaugural World Cup

Harlesburg

27-11-2004, 08:03

Harlesburg Storm Storm

After losing their first match in the competition Harlesburg have turned things around and taken the Competition by storm.

The Harlesburg vs Sarzonia matchup was expected to be hard after the way both teams performed in the pool matches then the semi final rounds.
Both teams should true grit in the way they handled themselves with Harlesburg only losing two games in the comp and one exhibition friendly match before the Semi's.Harlesburgs loses came against Lovisa in game 1 an exhibition match against Redavic Union and the final game of the semi's against NEWI Cefn Druids which was almost treated like a trial as the team didnt want to injure key players

Sarzonia's performance was just as good if not better only losing 1 match in the whole competition and that was the first match but since then they hadnt lost to anyone and even beat host nation Big Pimento in front of a riotous home crowd.

That win against the host nation really put hope into the hearts of all who watched their national team thru the competition.Sarzonia's loss came against 7JM the team Harlesburg thumped to effectively get into final.

While Harlesburg lost to Lovisa in a closely conteted and heated battle that ended in contraversy.

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