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Game of the Week: Knicks struggle to score, lose in Championship Game

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Sam Kuhna ’13 | Staff Writer

After defeating the defending champion Kings in the semifinals, the Knicks fell to the Bucks (UofD) 37-18 in the Neighborhood Club Basketball Championship on Sunday, Feb. 10.

Following their win over the Kings in the semifinal matchup 30-28, the Knicks unlikely playoff run continued all the way to play the Bucks, who defeated the Nets (North) in overtime.

“I’m not saying we wanted to beat the Kings more than we wanted to win the Championship,” said forward C.j. Elliott ’13, “but it definitely made the loss a little more bearable.”

Although the Knicks lacked scoring, Elliott can share none of the blame. His ten point and eight rebound effort, which included a three pointed on the Knicks’ first possession, was more than half the total points scored for his team.

However, unlike the semifinals, the Knicks couldn’t get scoring from everybody, with only four players scoring.

“It’s tough to win when you aren’t knocking down threes,” said guard Josh Gall ’13. “When we make them, we win. When we don’t, we lose.”

Although the threes weren’t falling, the Knicks were able to keep pace with the bigger, more athletic Bucks team. For the second straight game, the Knicks went into the half trailing.

“We just didn’t feel the momentum that we felt against the Kings,” said Elliott. “We just didn’t feel that against the Bucks.”

The Knicks offense continued to flounder in the third quarter, scoring only four points to bring their total up to 13 through three quarters.

However, the lack of shooting wasn’t the story anymore as neither team was shooting the ball well. It had changed to rebounding, especially the lack of rebounding for the Knicks on the defensive end.

Despite rebounding being a strong point in the semifinal win, it was their biggest weakness in the Championship Game. The Bucks totaled 14 offensive rebounds in the game, which led to numerous second chance points.

Throughout the second half, the Knicks never got closer than 12 points. Three point specialist Gall was held to only three shot attempts and zero points.

The Knicks finished the season with an 8-4 record. An unlikely playoff run was capped off by a defeat in the Championship contest, which despite the score, didn’t seem to be so crushing.

“Two Championship appearances in three years is pretty impressive,” said center Meade Maxwell ’13. “It was a crazy ride to say the least.”

Photos By Harrison Krasner ’14

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