The Saints Dominate the Stripling Warriors

The first game of the ZBA season was expected to be thrilling in every way. The Saints and the Stripling Warriors were two teams thought to contend for the region championship. At the end of the day, one team still maintains those dreams while the other has many questions to answer about their ball club. The Saints dominated in every single category of the ball game: They out-scored the Warriors 42-26, Pulled down more rebounds than the opposition (27-20), and had four more assists (14-10).

The Saints were led by their star Ulric Fumanchu. He scored thirteen of his eighteen points in the first half. He also collected seven rebounds, and had two assists. Other key contributors include:
C - Josh Brown - 6 pts - 10 rbd - 5 ast
SF - Hank Dice - 8 pts - 5 rbd - 3 ast

The Saints won the game, but they were not without flaws themselves. They only shot 42% from the field, and 33% from downtown. Their defense was fantastic though. They did not allow a single offensive rebound, and they held the Warriors to shoot less than 30% from the field. They also limited Xalo Charles, one of the top players for the Warriors, to only a single point.

For the Warriors, they have many questions to ask themselves. They shot a horrid 28% from the field, including one for eight form behind the arc. Perhaps they had stage fright as they were kicking off the first ever ZBA basketball season. They scored only two points in both the first and third quarters. Winston, who normally is a fine leader at the PG position, put his team in a big hole. He was three for seventeen from the field, and just one for six behind the three point line. He is one that is not shy to take the ball, but when he struggles the rest of the team follows.

Xalo Charles (prounouced Shay-lo) is normally a leader for the Warriors, but he only took three shots. His only point came from a free throw near the end of the 4th quarter. Without Xalo, this team will struggle mightily to win games this year. He needs to step up and help his team succeed. After this game he had this to say, "This is a frustrating loss. I really can't explain it right now. I hope that when I wake up tomorrow, I can shake it off and start over. As a team, that is exactly what we have to do. If we hang our hat on this performance, and hold on to it, we will struggle like this the rest of the season. I have to believe that we are better than this. I know that I am better than what I showed out there on the court, but I have to step out on the court in our next game and show that."

Score______1st __2nd __Half __3rd __4th __Final
Saints _____ 9 ___13 ____22 ___9 ____10 ___42
S Warriors __2 ___10 ____12 ___2 ____12 ___26