Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Reignmakers Falter After First Round Bye

After an improbable regular season where the Reignmakers finished 10-1 securing a first round bye in the playoffs, everything looked good heading into the post season.

But alas, is was not meant to be.

After a two week hiatus from basketball, the Reignmakers struggled on the offensive end and it cost them the game, mustering only 47 points and losing to Sidelines.

The Reignmakers shot only 21% from three and 29% from two and had one of their lowest rebound totals, 26, of the season. Leading scorers Jason and Brandon Hunter combined 3/19 from beyond the arc, and without a scoring punch, the Reignmakers needed better play on the defensive end.

They failed on that regard as well. Sidelines had two players hit from deep time after time and decimated the 2-3 zone that has worked so well this season.

A long layoff seems to be the downfall of the Reignmakers season. Their only loss of the regular season came off of a week long wait against Fighting Fancus, and the team also struggled in a win after another week layoff a few weeks later. But the two weeks seemed to have got the better of them this time.

"We failed on both ends of the floor," veteran Kerry Hunter said after, "We didn't hit our shots, we didn't play defense. We can't blame the time off, we have to be ready.

The Reignmakers were also struggling with their manpower as well. Coach Jason Hunter had been battling the flu and wisdom tooth issues the past week, Clinton Weigel has a possible broken thumb on his shooting hand, Kerry Hunter is still working through his bad back, and Mike Petrilli was also battling and illness that him and Jason seem to share.

"No excuses. We can't make excuses. There is no tomorrow after Sundays game," Coach Hunter replied when asked about his mid-game blowup Monday night. "They had two guys killing us. I was frustrated, we couldn't score, I couldn't score. There isn't much we could do when they have guys on fire like that. We picked a bad night to have a terrible game offensively."

The Reignmakers will play Your Carpenter on Sunday in the lower half of the playoff bracket. A loss will eliminate either team from the playoffs. The road to the championship does not get any easier with that in mind and the Reignmakers will now have to win two games in a row, if they get that far, in the championship game to win it all.

The Reignmakers were awarded a forfeit win against Your Carpenter in the final game of the regular season when the team did not show.

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