A Win is a Win, Right?

The Cantaloupe picked up their second win in as many games last week as they took down Law of Averages 44-27. An impressive win at a glance, but those in attendance know this game was anything but. The Cantaloupe entered the week 1-0 with a ppg average of 61 while Law of Averages came in at 1-1 averaging just 25.5 a game, but for the first ten minutes of Tuesday's matchup, you’d have thought those numbers were reversed. Halfway through the first and quite a few questionable travel calls later, the Cantaloupe trailed 16-9 with virtually no signs of life as they listened to the roars of a raucous Law of Averages crowd. A tough pill to swallow for all Cantaloupe faithful in attendance as the Law of Averages were getting the better of them both on the court, in the stands, and most certainly from a production standpoint as they had a dedicated camera crew on the scene actually capturing highlights (if you can really consider anything that happened in this game a “highlight” that is). Luckily, Law of Averages were quite content with taking contested shots and as their offense stalled, the Cantaloupe chugged along retaking the lead late in the first, heading into the half narrowly ahead by three, 21-18.

The tension in the stands was palpable at this point and the Cantaloupe sideline looked completely scrambled during the break. A couple of players got shots up, a couple briefly game planned, the rest spread out down or around the bench seemingly avoiding each other, all with a look of either exhaustion or defeat already settling in. Meanwhile, Law of Averages, well aware that they were lucky to only be down three were in a tight huddle as their star overseas player gave a passionate speech trying to will his guys to take advantage of the opportunity in front of them.

A buzz broke out amongst the fans in the Fruit Basket as concerns of losing to arguably one of the league's worst teams began to creep in. The second half got started and fans were treated to more of the same. Law of Averages continued to flounder as Phil pulled the trigger on every shot he looked at en route to what I’m guessing had to be close to a 3-30 night from the floor. Meanwhile, the Cantaloupe continued to play down to their competition as they simply had no fluidity on offense coughing up turnover after turnover for a team total of 19 on the night. Fortunately for the Cantaloupe, the fabric of both the Law of Averages offensive and defensive schemes were seemingly built primarily around running in circles with some fouling mixed in rather than running any kind of plays or defensive sets. The seeming lack of any competence from LoA led to a roughly 8-minute (maybe more) scoring drought that allowed the Cantaloupe to build their lead to double digits, and from that point, the writing was on the wall as Law of Averages simply didn’t have the personnel to overcome that kind of deficit late in the game. The last few minutes ticked away and the final buzzer mercifully sounded as fans were no longer subjected to this sad excuse of a basketball game if you can even call it that. I’m aware of how harsh that sounds, especially after a win, but when 10 minutes of a game goes by and the only stats you have to show from both teams are a combined 6 points, 4 fouls, and 12 turnovers, it’s hard to paint a pretty picture.

Regardless, here are your stat leaders from Tuesday’s dub: Mikey G led the team in scoring with 8 points while adding in 2 assists and 4 rebounds. Lou finished with just one point less, going for 7, 2 assists, 2 steals, and a team-high 6 rebounds. Nick also had 6 boards but was only able to notch 6 points and a couple of assists after deciding he wanted to be a slasher instead of a shooter. Ryan Deal made his return to the court to the tune of 6 points, 1 assist, 2 rebounds, and a steal while Kev, fighting some stomach issues, finished with 2 points, 1 assist, and 2 boards. The Butler Boys had a modest night, Chris with the quadruple-single going for 3 points on 1 made shot, 1 assist, 1 rebound, and 1 steal while Anthony made his only shot of the night finishing with 2 points, and 5 boards (off-season workouts paying off or bad competition? You decide). Ryan W struggled to find his shot putting up an uncharacteristically low number of attempts going just 2-5 from the floor for 5 points and 3 boards. Pendry chucked up a brick and an air ball from beyond the arc but did manage to notch a couple of stats hauling in one rebound and showing off the active hands tallying a steal as well. Last we had Sean who had one of the few genuine highlights, sinking a 3 for his first bucket back from injury as the crowd erupted. The 3 came late in the game and extended the Cantaloupe’s already double-digit lead so once again, for the second week in a row, Sean truly proving to be the difference maker on the floor as he also threw in 2 rebounds and 3 steals. Three feels generous by my count but hey, I guess we’ll let him have it.

The Cantaloupe hit the floor again this Tuesday @ 9:20 pm as they take on the Ballhogz. The Hogz enter this week at 0-2 averaging 40 ppg while allowing a cool 64 ppg to opponents so should be a chance for the ‘loupe to get back on track offensively. As always, we look forward to seeing another packed Fruit Basket, and for any Cantaloupe players reading this, please don't make us sit through another game like that again. See you all there!

Written by: Jonathan Abbott

July 17th, 2022