Despite missing guard, Carlos Navarro, KDL Group got off to an aggressive, yet efficient, start as Ray Dickman set the tone on offense, slashing to the basket for layups and dishing to teammates for jump-shots. The team spread the floor and made good decisions on offense, easily handling what looked like a disoriented and/or unprepared ServiceMASTER team on the other end of the court. Jay Peak, in particular, seemed dialed in, knocking down several mid-range jumpers in the first half. In the meantime, the majority of ServiceMASTER players appeared to be out of sync on both ends of the floor. Robbie Fullarton looked fatigued and it wasn’t until late in the 1^st when Mitch Grange made his first field-goal attempt. Unable to finish baskets when fouled, Fullarton did manage, however, to shoot a high percentage from the foul line, while Grange started to pour in baskets from all over the court in the late going. They desperately needed to get their teammates on the same page as complimentary scoring threats like Scott Maycock and Scott Young struggled.

The ServiceMASTER fan club made every attempt to rally the team during the game’s opening 20 minutes, but to no avail. They even cheered Robbie ‘Golden Boy’ Fullarton’s success at dislodging the ball when it got wedged between the rim and backboard on an errant shot. There was cheering and applause for Robbie, unlike the stone-cold silence that greeted Dickman’s initial attempt that fell at least two feet short of the ball.

There was a nasty collision of note in the first half as KDL’s Scott Delaney positioned himself in the key to take a charge from a fast moving Robbie Fullarton. As Fullarton jumped and tried to slip past Delaney for a shot, his elbow smashed square across the bridge of Delaney’s nose. To say Delaney was stunned would be an understatement. After 30 seconds he buckled and collapsed to the floor and, according to him, ‘blacked-out for a bit’. After several minutes, Delaney was helped to the bench and play resumed. And Batesy sent Robbie to the line on that one!

With KDL Group on cruise control, ServiceMASTER stumbled its way into halftime down by 14 points (I think) and looked to regroup. For the second consecutive year, right on cue, the First Lady of ServiceMASTER (Robbie’s lovely girlfriend, Courtney), emerged from the crowd, headed to the team bench to rally the troops and launched into a motivational speech right out of a Disney movie. It seemed to have the desired effect.

ServiceMASTER made some defensive adjustments that altered the game significantly. Fullarton and Warren Lindsay switched defensive assignments. With Fullarton guarding Jay Peak and Lindsay checking Kevin Perkins, SM battled its way back into the game. Perkins could not solve the solid low-post defense of Lindsay and Peak’s shot totals diminished greatly in the second half while being checked by Fullarton.

As the game advanced, Peak and Dickman found themselves in foul trouble and spent some time on the bench, limiting the number of offensive threats on the court for KDL Group.  With KDL’s offense at a standstill, Grange took advantage of his opportunities to attack KDL’s weak interior defense and looked to score or dish to open teammates. Scott Young found himself open for many good looks and hit some big shots to lessen the offensive burden on the surging Fullarton and Grange.

KDL continued to battle in the 2^nd, but simply couldn’t match the scoring rate of SM. A very woozy Scott Delaney was called back into game action when either one of Ray Dickman or Jay Peak fouled out. Delaney returned to set a massive screen on Fullarton, which absolutely crumpled Robbie. You need to see Colin’s amazing picture of the screen’s aftermath to fully appreciate it.

ServiceMASTER chipped away at KDL’s lead and went on a bit of a run when KDL started to slip. Missed field-goals and free-throws, picked-off passes and a 41-29 rebounding disadvantage spelled the KDL’s demise. Long story short, KDL simply couldn’t hold off ServiceMASTER despite some opportunities to make things interesting late in the game.

Both teams battled until the very end and provided a great game for those in attendance. It was a fitting end to the playoffs considering that this year’s playoffs were filled with several excellent games. Congratulations to both teams on terrific seasons.

Some quick banquet notes. Anything that happened at the banquet shall stay there and not be posted online, but there certainly were some fun stories that will live on off-line. Everyone was concerned that Colin had flatlined when delivering his barely audible and entirely monotone remarks at the microphone. So much so that a defibrillator was required, until Matt Lundvall stepped-up and saved Jardine from his personal public speaking hell. Of the 45-50 or so attendees, the usual suspects led the charge in terms of drinks consumed and subsequent entertainment provided. There were prizes aplenty, food galore and a wide assortment of drinks consumed, including, but not limited to: water, pop, beer, tequila, tea, miscellaneous shots, fake beer. Some guys were wise and called it a night after leaving BP, while others trekked to either Raxx or the Keystorm.

The Rideau Realty boys were on a very focused mission to secure a replacement for the departing Rodney Smith-Merkley for next season. They solicited some top BMBL talent with a cleverly crafted contract that promised great rewards and incentives and demanded superior play in return.

Another highlight was the commitment of some of our female supporters to pose in the 1^st Annual ‘Girls of the BMBL’ calendar. I think this is a much better idea than Colin’s suggestion of an all-male car wash fundraiser. Stay tuned for details about the calendar!

All in all, everyone seemed to have a good time at Boston Pizza on Saturday night.

Thanks for a great season, guys.

ServiceMaster led a great comeback to take the lead with less than 5 minutes left for the first time in the game, overcoming a 10 point halftime deficit, to beat KDL Group by 4.  71-67 or something similar.

Mitch Grange was later named Playoff MVP for 3 very consistent games.

The annual 3 point contest was sparsely attended, but very highly contested.  The finals at halftime of the big game saw Tyler Bennett easily win, with Colin Jardine finishing second and Scott Burns finishing third.

The party was attended by close to 50 people, good turnout, meaning the free stuff stretched further.  A couple guys enjoyed it way more than a few others.

There were some great prizes donated for the raffle, including a couple of nice gifts from Corel via Mark Walters, Gift cards from Tyler Andress, Zip.ca movie rentals from Ray Dickman as well as the stuff I scored (t-shirts, hats and several nice NBA jerseys).

Award winners were:

Rookie of the Year -  Eric Hendriks (Taylor Auto Mall)
Most Improved – Ray Dickman (KDL)
Most Sportsmanlike -  Ryan Carroll (Ainley)
Defensive Player of the Year – Josh Van Wieren (Podium)
MVP – for the first time ever, voting declared it a tie between defending MVP Robbie Fullarton, and first timer Tim Oribine.

The League All Stars were:
First Team
Robbie Fullarton
Kevin Perkins
Tim Oribine
Ray Pengelly
Nick Briere

Second Team
Brad Speck
Matt Wyllie
Jay Peak
Josh Van Wieren
Rodney Smith Merkley

Big thanks goes out to everyone that attended, all the league sponsors, Boston Pizza, TISS, St. Mary’s and for one day BCI.

Link to pictures from Championship game, none from party, thank god.

Quarters Casco vs Taylor Auto Mall

Quarters KDL Group vs Mincom Realty

Semi #1 KDL Group vs Boston Pizza

Semi #2 ServiceMaster vs Taylor Auto Mall

We have been fortunate to see some great basketball this playoff season and the Boston Pizza-KDL Group game delivered yet another. Prior to tip-off, BP’s Josh Parsons explained that his team would employ a focused defensive strategy. BP managed to minimize the touches of KDL’s main scoring threats, forcing complimentary players to make their collective presence felt offensively. With Jay Peak held to just 9 points, players like Mark Walters and Scott Delaney continued their strong playoff performances hitting big shots when KDL needed them most. Jamie Clarke set a torrid pace for BP in the early stages of the game, leading his team with a game-high 26 points and 9 rebounds, along with a 4-point lead at half-time. While BP’s big men, Martin Osso and Mark Fournier, struggled from the field and foul line, they each pulled down 9 boards apiece. They were unable, however, to contain Kevin Perkins who dominated the glass with 17 rebounds, along with his team-high 14 points. While Boston Pizza outrebounded and fired-up more shots than KDL by a significant margin, they also committed 9 more fouls than their competition, which ultimately proved costly, despite KDL’s continued struggles from the line. Ray Dickman owes a couple of dollars to teammates Mark ‘Scrapes’ Sterling and Ian Spear as the pair was relegated to performing babysitting duties of Dickman’s wandering children during the second half, as Scrapes and Spear didn’t see a second of floor time in the last half of the game. While KDL didn’t have its best game, they did protect the ball far better than a BP team that frequently forced passes leading to costly turnovers that spelled its undoing as KDL consistently capitalized on its opportunities. Despite some hot streaks in the second, KDL simply couldn’t shake the resilient Boston Pizza team. The last minutes of the game were rather dramatic with big 3s dropping from Parsons and Clarke of BP and, once again, Scott Delaney, of KDL Group. The ten-minute rubdown that Parsons received on the court from Clarke’s young lady friend, following a nasty collision earlier in the second, must have done the trick as Parsons made some huge shots in a 12-second span to pull his team within 2 points of KDL. Scott ‘The 3-point Whisperer’ Delaney iced the game with two clutch free-throws with under 6 seconds remaining on the clock, capping a 69-65 win for KDL Group.

After eating a pre-game Angry Whopper, Taylor Auto Mall’s lumbering athletic specimen, Jason Crotty, entered the TISS gym prepared to battle with ServiceMASTER in a game that would determine which team would advance to the BMBL Final against KDL Geriatric Group on Saturday. Unfortunately for Crotty, other than his teammate, Jason Taylor, no players on TAM were prepared to match the intensity of ServiceMASTER in the early going of the game. With Crotty playing aggressive ball in the paint, Taylor bombed away for 13 very fast points, before his offensive output took a drastic nosedive. TAM’s other big men simply didn’t have the games that were needed of them. Eric Hendriks found himself in early foul trouble, while Derek ‘The Viking’ Taylor made a lot of vocal noise, but failed to make much noise in the rebounding or scoring departments. Meanwhile, for ServiceMASTER, Robbie Fullarton capitalized on ill-advised passes by TAM leading to quick transition baskets. If steals were properly tracked, it is believed that Fullarton earned a triple-double of 31 points, 15 rebounds, 15 steals, along with 6 assists. The solid play of Mitch Grange should not go unnoted, as Grange dropped 19 points in an efficient shooting night, while adding 8 rebounds – rebounding totals that the TAM guards could not match. Crotty sparked a couple of late runs for TAM, particularly so when a prime comeback opportunity presented itself as ServiceMASTER was forced to play the final five minutes with only four players due to foul-outs. TAM’s big 3-pt baskets and overall efforts were continually extinguished either by timely ServiceMASTER baskets or costly TAM turnovers. Crotty ended the night with 17 points, 9 rebounds and 4 assists, while Jordan Geurts added 11 points and 7 boards. Five, not-so-busy, TISS custodians watched the game from the weight training area and were heard to utter the old WBNA marketing line, “We’ve got next”, after watching ServiceMASTER advance to the Final with a convincing 79-60 victory over TAM.

We will see Mitch Grange and Robbie Fullarton’s, ServiceMASTER squad of sleek Dobermans pitted against the mean junkyard dogs of KDL Group tomorrow at BCI. It is shaping-up to be the best Final we have seen in years!

Be sure to get to the game tomorrow and most definitely join us all at Boston Pizza for the banquet afterwards. Should be a great day!

BCI is located on Pearl Street in Brockville, near the hospital.

Game 1 had KDL over Boston Pizza 69-65.

Game 2 saw ServiceMASTER dominate Taylor Auto Mall 79-60.

The finals are now set for Saturday at 2pm at St. Mary’s

KDL Group VS ServiceMASTER, #1 vs #2, The old school vs. the new school, The Social Security Crew vs. the Sorority Crew.

We’ll have hot dogs for sale at the championship game, maybe some drinks as well.

3 point contest at 1pm.

The BMBL’s top-notch Game Summary Stats Team found that every team that lost last night should look to its lack of efficiency at the foul line to see where things went awry. The teams that were victorious didn’t necessarily dominate the rebounding battles in the paint or shoot the lights out from the field, but they did manage to have a better shooting percentage from the free-throw line than their competition. Perhaps they might each dedicate some extra practice time at the charity stripe in pre-game warm-ups for Round #3 tonight at St. Mary’s. We aren’t talking about the game, man. We’re talking about practice, man. Practice.

Riverside welcomed the return of Tyler Bennett to game action against Boston Pizza. Bennett’s insertion in the line-up contributed to Riverside’s offensive attack. This game was a relentless back-and-forth affair, with guards Jamie Clarke and Tim Oribine pushing the offenses of their respective teams. Clarke struggled from outside, but made up for it elsewhere posting 29 points and 8 rebounds for BP. Bennett scored 19 points for Riverside, but wisely shied away from the paint looking to avoid further damage to his knee. The teams ran at a tireless pace, challenging every pass and shot. Neither team could pull away, but when either threatened to do so, players like Tom Hoystead; Dustin Drury; Jamie Van Winkle (that’s not a typo); Oribine; or, Clarke nailed clutch 3s to prevent further separation. Oribine slashed and scored for 24 points and added 15 rebounds. Dave Dekker outbattled Mark Fournier on the glass, by an edge of 13 rebounds to 9, but in a fitting turn, both went on to foul out of the game. For Boston Pizza, Josh Parsons struggled from outside (1-10), but scored 20 points on the night. Martin Osso was in familiar territory late in the game and almost wore the goat horns once more for BP, committing a foul with his team leading by 2 with 5 seconds left, sending Riverside to the line (bonus situation). Fortunately, for Osso, Riverside couldn’t convert at the line. Osso redeemed himself by making a big block in the key on Bennett with time winding down. Boston Pizza held on in a dramatic 77-75 finish and advanced to Round #2.

KDL Group had an impressive first half from the field, scoring 50 points against a MINCOM team that was struggling to find its rhythm. MINCOM shot the ball well, but had several turnovers late in the 1^st half to keep them off of KDL’s hot pace. This game was a very entertaining match-up between to aggressive teams. Ray Dickman was on fire early for KDL scoring big baskets and distributing several sweet assists. Jay Peak shot 70% on the night, on his way to 24 points and several cordial conversations with nemesis Dave Burns of MINCOM. Before getting into early foul trouble, Carlos Navarro had a quick 10 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists. Ray Pengelly helped guide MINCOM back in contention, battling for 17 boards, 22 points and 6 assists. Teammate, Bruce Burns, rainbowed in 5 3s and 22 points, while Tyler Andress was also hot from downtown, scoring 17 points. KDL’s, Kevin Perkins, seemed to have an answer for any push that MINCOM made. Perkins had his best game of the year, quashing many runs by MINCOM, and posting 25 points, 12 rebounds and 5 assists. Though MINCOM won the game’s rebounding contest, 46-34, its poor shot selections late in the game proved costly. While neither team was particularly solid from the foul line, the blatant taunting noises and general racket from Ray Dickman’s young family clearly impacted the MINCOM team’s effectiveness at crunch-time. Clutch baskets from Scott Delaney and Mark Walters helped secure the 83-77 victory for KDL Group, who will face Boston Pizza tonight.

The first game at TISS started off very well for an Eastern Engineering team that led ServiceMASTER by a count of 24-20 at half-time. ServiceMASTER’s Superman, Rob Fullarton, was playing more like Clark Kent in the 1^st half, shooting a mere 1-15 to start the game. The offensive lull was short-lived for ServiceMASTER, as the team started with a 19-3 run to start the 2^nd half. Despite his personal slow start, Fullarton eventually put on his cape and scored 19 points, along with pulling down 13 rebounds. Mitch Grange was the game’s leading scorer with 27 points and 11 rebounds. ServiceMASTER’s, Scott Maycock added 17 points, while teammate, Scott Young, grabbed 10 boards. EE was unable to make the most of Fullarton’s early struggles, as the team struggled from the field shooting a lowly 30%. The Kloostermaniacs didn’t pray hard enough, as Brian shot only 2-13 on the night, for 7 points and 14 rebounds. Eastern’s Tim Millar and Tom Curson had 17 and 14 points respectively as well as 8 rebounds apiece. Unable to keep pace with ServiceMASTER in the 2nd half, Eastern Engineering fell 69-44.

By all accounts, Taylor Auto Mall’s, Jason Crotty, played with great energy and competitiveness, leading his team to a 66-61 win over Casco. The teams were on par in the rebounding and shooting departments, except for an edge on the line that went to TAM. That proved to be the big difference in the end as TAM advanced to the semi-finals tonight. The game featured many big-bodied forwards in the paint, limiting lay-up attempts and resulting in a low number of field-goal attempts overall, compared to other games on the night. For TAM, Eric Hendriks scored 19 points, while teammate, Derek Taylor, scored 11 points and grabbed 6 rebounds. Most guys grit their teeth and fight through pain in the playoffs, but Teddy ‘No-Balls’ Butler bailed on his boys due to a little elbow surgery. Candyass! Casco had a 15-point, 5-rebound night from Kirk Tyo along with 17 points from Randy Canham. Nick Briere scored 10 points and Jordan Arthur added 11 for Casco in the loss. Casco’s Achilles heel again proved to be free-throw shooting as the team shot a dismal 9-24 from the line. In a 5-point loss, that’s a tough stat to digest. Taylor Auto Mall will face ServiceMASTER this evening.

Miscellaneous game notes:

1. Matt Lundvall played irresponsible defensively;
2. Kent Watson posted zeroes across the stats sheet; and,
3. Marty McAllister’s shooting percentage dropped even lower.

MINCOM Island City Realty laid an absolute beating on an uninspired Ainley Group team, by a count of 90-56. There were turnovers aplenty by Ainley and almost as many And-1 completions by MINCOM. Missing a crucial piece of its playoff puzzle in the form of do-gooder Brad Speck, who was climbing a little hill in Asia, Ainley managed to fire up more shots and grab more rebounds than MINCOM. All of that was for naught as MINCOM had a superior shooting percentage and got to the line twice as often as the undisciplined Ainley Group. The victors had big nights from many key offensive cogs. Ray Pengelly led the way with 27 points, 16 rebounds and 3 assists. The Burns boys added 27 points, while Tyler Andress posted 21 points and 8 boards. There was little to motivate Ainley Group heading into the 2^nd half, but the team got off to a quick 10-0 run and pulled within 10 points of MINCOM. He may have been the fourth last guy drafted overall this year, but BJ Workman was one of the rare bright spots in the game for Ainley Group, leading the charge with 15 points in the 2^nd half with big shots to keep his team in the hunt. Chris Boston, who had been quiet in the 1^st, nullified the rally with timely baskets, scoring 12 points and adding 6 rebounds and 3 assists. MINCOM never looked back and continued to dominate the game. Matt Wyllie had 18 points, 14 rebounds and 3 assists in the loss. If you were one of the many to bet that Marty McAllister’s shot attempt totals would exceed his shooting percentage (14 shots versus 15% shooting accuracy), then you can collect your money from Colin at the banquet. MINCOM advanced to the second round where they will meet the grumpy old men of KDL Group – a team with a median age of 43 (seriously).

Rideau Realty’s Tom and Scott Burns combined for 30 points and 10 fouls on their way to a 78-69 loss to Eastern Engineering. The Rideau boys seemed to foul everybody in sight, with 29 team fouls – including Rodney Smith-Merkley’s 5 fouls in his final BMBL game. Kent Watson contributed 0 points, while Tommy Mercer required medical attention after choking on five layup attempts. Eastern Engineering took a different approach to the game with balanced team scoring. Tim Millar stepped-up for Eastern in a big way with 27 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists. Young Elijah Wilson added 14 points, while Tom Curson bombed away on 3-12 shooting from outside for 16 points. Brian Kloosterman fell a rebound shy of another double-double with 14 points and 9 rebounds. ServiceMASTER will meet Eastern Engineering in the second round. The ServiceMASTER boys had better say their prayers and eat their vitamins, because Kloostermania is about to run wild this week, brother.

In a battle of teams that seemingly didn’t want to advance to the second round, Boston Pizza pulled off a 55-44 victory over a Podium Sports Therapy team that was on fire heading into the playoffs. The battle of big men, Josh Van Wieren and Mark Fournier was heated at times, and seemed to have the desired effect for BP, as Van Wieren was held to 6 points on 2-13 shooting, along with his13 rebounds. Fournier added 8 boards and 5 fouls. For BP, Jamie Clarke battled through a tough shooting night to pour in 24 points, 7 rebounds and 3 assists. Teammate, Josh Parsons, added 12 points and 6 boards. PST simply couldn’t get its offense clicking as Dennis Dickson stunk the joint out on 1-9 shooting, only to be outdone by the ever-inconsistent Taylor Publow, who shot 4-19 (1-11 from downtown) and added (in what might be a stats-keeping error) 1 rebound. Boston Pizza will take on Riverside Ford in the second round.

A shockingly tight game wrapped things up at TISS, as Casco pulled away in the game’s final minute to defeat Beattie Dodge, 66-61. ‘Downtown’ Danny Preston and Keith Kelsey struggled to find their respective ranges at times during the regular season. Firing up 44 of their team’s 65 shots in this game, the guys hit their marks more often than not against Casco. Kelsey scored 20 points, while Preston added 26 points in impressive shooting nights. As a team, Beattie couldn’t find its rhythm on 2-pt field goal attempts, but was hot from the free-throw and 3-pt lines. Casco’s Kirk Tyo shot the ball 26 times and tied the game-high of 26 points, along with his 11 rebounds. Randy Canham added a double-double of 12 points and 11 rebounds. Nick Briere had a tough shooting night, but made up for it on the glass, pulling down 19 boards. That’s how Casco pulled out the victory, it seems. They dominated in the rebounding department, doubling-up Beattie by a count of 50-24. Casco advanced to play Taylor Auto Mall in what should be an epic clash of atrocious free-throw shooters when The Viking and Nick Briere go head-to-head.