Cantaloupe Drop Second Straight

The Fighting Cantaloupe dropped their second game in as many weeks last Tuesday, falling to the now 4-2 Hold’Em Hillbillies. Despite a second half for the ages, the Cantaloupe got off to another bumpy start in this one. For starters, as pregame warmups came to an end and with tip-off just minutes away, Player/Coach Sean O’Neill was nowhere to be found. In fact, he wouldn’t arrive at the game until the halfway mark of the first, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves just yet. As the Cantaloupe took the floor with a makeshift lineup, their lack of a coaching presence was quickly apparent as they found themselves trailing early on. The Cantaloupe defense was a bit lackadaisical in the opening minutes while the Hillbillies were bringing the pressure forcing turnovers and getting to the paint with ease. 7 minutes in, the Cantaloupe trailed 11-4 but a huge AND-1 from Ryan would pull the team within 4 with 13:00 to go. As the 10:00 mark passed, Sean finally showed up as Mikey G took on the tallest player on the court for a tough layup to make it 13-9, Hillbillies. Though the Cantaloupe stepped up the intensity on defense, the offense still struggled to find their rhythm as the turnovers continued and shots simply were not falling.

Suddenly, as we hit the 6-minute mark, the mentality on both sides seemed to shift, as the two teams both started pushing the pace on offense. Ryan knocked down a three to make it 14-15, but the Hillbillies answered right back pushing it to 20-14. 4:00 left in the half and Joey hit Kev with a nice dish down low to make it 16-20, but the Hillbillies once again answered back with a couple of jumpers of their own. With just 11.7 on the clock and trailing 20-23, Sean made his most notable contribution of the game, absolutely bricking an open 3 and immediately proceeding to foul in transition. An atrocious sequence at a glance as the Hillbillies were now at the line with a chance to convert a 1-1, but after the hillbillies missed the FT, the Cantaloupe got one more chance and Ryan was not going to waste it, knocking down a massive corner three to tie the game at 23 a piece.

The intensity carried right through to the second half, Ryan picking up where he left off hitting another three to get things going, but the Hillbillies would immediately answer with a three of their own. Joey then came back down with a nice jumper, but the same Hillbilly answered with yet another 3 to take the lead, followed by another Hold’Em jumper to extend the lead to 3. Ryan hit another three to tie it at the 16:30 mark, but that only sparked a quick 7-0 Hillbilly run over the next few minutes. Lou stopped the bleeding with a nice corner 3 to make it 35-38 with 11:20 to go, neither team letting up. Fast forward to 3:30 left on the clock, and the Cantaloupe had clawed their way back, tying the game at 42 after a nice take from Lou. The Cantaloupe retook the lead after Ryan sank 1-2 from the line but they came right back down and gave up two offensive boards on the ensuing possession as the Hillbillies jumped back in front by one. Lou wasn’t done yet though as he knocked down ANOTHER clutch three to make it 46-44, but, like clockwork, the Hillbillies answered with another three of their own, 47-46 Hold’Em with about 3:00 remaining. Another bad Cantaloupe turnover made it 49-46, but Ryan had one last gasp, knocking down a step-back three to tie it once more.

Already in the bonus, the Hillbillies went up 1 after a FT the next possession, and after a Cantaloupe miss were content to start running out the clock. The Cantaloupe, now forced to foul found themselves down 3 with 45 seconds left before Hold’Em’s gentle 6’6 giant came down with one last rebound to ice the game. He made the first FT to push the lead to four and that was all she wrote, the Cantaloupe losing this one 53-49.

Ryan once again led the team in scoring, knocking down 4 threes en route to a 25-point night. After his late-game heroics, Lou was the team's second leading scorer with 12, followed by Joey B who continued to be a catalyst on both sides of the ball finishing with 8 points, 1 assist, 2 rebounds, and 2 steals. Kev had another nice night considering he was battling roughly an 8-inch height differential in the paint for most of the night tallying 5 points, 1 assist, 3 boards, 2 steals, and a block while Mikey G was right there with him leading the team with 5 rebounds and helping patrol the paint with a steal and a block of his own. Mikey also notched 2 points and an assist as he was the only other Cantaloupe player to record a basket. Sean, Nick, Chris, and Anthony all combined for just 4 assists, 6 rebounds, and 3 blocks.

The fellas look to bounce back tomorrow night, as they take on the 2-4 Fat Dads. The Fat Dads have had a tough go of things so far this season, averaging just 37.17 ppg, and currently find themselves in the bottom three of the division standings. With just two games left after this, one of which being against second-place Malice at the Palace (5-1), tomorrow night's matchup is big if the Cantaloupe want to keep their playoff hopes alive. They currently sit 5th in the rankings, one game back on both the Hold’Em Hillbillies and Certified Buckets, both entering the week at 4-2. The Cantaloupe get the early slot again as Tuesday’s Week 7 matchup is set to tip-off @ 6:30 pm, Total Turf Court #5. The regular season slowly winding down, and we look forward to seeing another packed crowd as the Cantaloupe’s playoff chase continues!

Written by: Jonathan Abbott

August 8th, 2022