Early Exit For Cantaloupe

After taking some time to grieve, here’s what you missed last week. The Fighting Cantaloupe took on Win or Booze in a gritty first round playoff matchup that was deadlocked from the start. Both teams struggled to get their offenses going early forcing Win or Booze to turn to their big man. With Pondo unavailable, the 6’5 220 pounder’s size proved to be an issue for the Cantaloupe, as he picked up a few easy buckets getting Win or Booze out to an early lead. Maybe outsized, but never out-hustled, Torney and Kev went to war with the big man, constantly fighting for position and forcing the ball elsewhere. The Win or Booze guards tried to pick up the slack but after some bricked 3’s and a a layup attempt that Tim sent four rows deep in the bleachers, the offense had once again stalled out.

With the first half almost over, the Cantaloupe still found themselves with just 2 points on the board forcing Coach O’Neill to call a timeout. Fans waited anxiously to see the chair toss or the clip board over the knee, something to get the team fired up but O’Neill stayed silent as the team took it upon themselves to hold each other accountable and talk through what adjustments needed to be made. Sean stepped in halfway through the timeout to give them the game plan and some parting words of encouragement and we were back to the action. After seeing Tim send his second victim to the shadow realm with another massive block, the Cantaloupe finally got a spark as Nick knocked down a big 3 followed by Torney (who was questionable with an illness up until an hour or two before tip off) laying in his second basket of the night to help cut the lead. A few more minutes of tough D and some scrappy offense saw the Cantaloupe trailing by just 1. Win or Booze leading 12-11 with just seconds left in the half chucked up a late shot, and as Kev jumped to secure a seemingly meaningless rebound to end the half, he caught a wildly unnecessary elbow to the back of the head that sent him crashing to the floor. With Refs issuing a warning to the fans who were (rightfully) up in arms over the egregious foul, the Win or Booze forward stood over Kev with a smile seemingly signaling that the gauntlet had been thrown down for the second half.

Luckily the Cantaloupe are no strangers to confrontation, if it was a fight they wanted, it was a fight they were going to get. The second half off to a physical start, saw the Cantaloupe offense finally find their rhythm after Ryan remembered the game started and when Win or Booze tried to counter by forcing the ball down low, Torney put the absolute clamps on continuing to set the tone on defense. After some back and forth, the refs inevitably made themselves known, and it was time for Stache to announce his presence as only he can, making the old ‘this is my gym it’s a foul if I say it is’ defense when confronted about a couple of questionable calls.

Though the Cantaloupe continued to keep Win or Booze’s big man at bay on offense, height can impact the game in more ways than one. The second half now winding down, he began closing out on everything swatting jump shot after jump shot out of the air. With the Cantaloupe offense slowing down again after struggling with the full court press, #8 decided he had seen his team miss enough open looks and decided to close the game out himself. A few tough takes and back to back 3’s later he did just that stealing the lead back late, ultimately proving to be the difference maker as the Fighting Cantaloupe lose their final game of the season 43-38.

Another season in the books, and another tough playoff loss sends Coach O'Neill back to the drawing board as his elusive quest for another ring continues. Let's take a brief look at the season in review:

When you look at the numbers, the only thing holding this team back was themselves. The offense wasn’t particularly efficient for most of the season shooting just 36% from the field, 29% from 3 and 37% from the free throw line (including going 1/11 from the line in last weeks loss) but there’s no sense in dwelling on that now. We also got to see a few longtime Cantaloupe make their returns this season in Trevor, Torney, and Tim. Though Trevor wasn’t active for half the games he showed off his 3 point skills to go with his bag of post tricks. Despite his flu-game last weak ending in a loss, Torney made his presence felt every week as he tied Kev for the team lead in rebounds with 43. Last but certainly not least, Tim did a bit of everything this year finishing third on the team in points (75), assists (14), and rebounds (33). With the plenty of roster decisions to be made this off-season, be sure to stay tuned for updates, we’ll see you in the Winter Cantaloupe fans!

Player Totals:

Written by: Jonathan Abbott

December 1st, 2021