Just three weeks into the 2003-04 San Diego Hoops basketball season there is only one undefeated team left standing. Morgan Stanley is standing alone in first place with a 3-0 record, but with three teams on their heels with 2-1 records, the lead might not last for long.

Week three of the season started with Morgan Stanley facing Fusion, both with 2-0 records going into the night. The game started off fast and furious, with Fusion taking the first possession of the ball at the tip off. During the first half of the game the ball was spending nearly equal time at both ends of the court, but Morgan Stanley was connecting for shots when they just wouldn’t fall for Fusion.

“They played really great team defense,” said Fusion coach Stuart Leung following the game. “We started off in a zone. We didn’t get out and didn’t extend far enough and Paul [Demke] hit a few threes and that kind of ignited them and got them going. If you don’t hit your first few shots that like that, it kind of sets a tone for the rest of the half, and they got those first few shots.”

Going into the half Morgan Stanley held a 29-13 lead and Fusion tried to mix things up on the defense.

“We tried to play man [to-man], and we went on a run for a little while but we just weren’t able to sustain it,” Leung said. “We were missing Dan Moser, who is probably our second biggest scorer, so that was kind of tough. He is a rebounder too, so we definitely missed him this week.”

Fusion pulled within nine points of Morgan Stanley over the course of the second half, but in the end Stanley held on to win the game, 50-36.

“It was a battle of the unbeatens so it shows the parity of the league, because after two weeks there were only two undefeateds left,” said Morgan Stanley coach Paul Demke. “We knew it was going to be a tough game going in, but defensively we did a really nice job in shutting them down in the half court set and getting them in their transition.”

Standing out among the Morgan Stanley team was their center Dan Newbold, who scored 18 points in the game.

“Dan was a stud tonight,” Demke said. “We were missing two players tonight who are out because of injuries, so we knew it would be a tough game. Dan just came to play offensively; he was really the difference in the game for us. He really took it to the poles strong for us.”

In game two The Loft and Powerhouse Gym matched up with a low scoring first half. In the second half The Loft came out strong to take a slight lead, but Powerhouse tied it up at the buzzer behind the play of Josh Logan and Chris McBride, and forced the game into overtime. Overtime play was evenly matched until Powerhouse pulled away with a couple of consecutive buckets to win the game, 48-44.

In game three, despite having an on court advantage, Powerhouse tied it up at the buzzer — five on four with three subs on the bench — Kickers went into the half with only a one point lead over Hummingbird/Brians.’ Things started to break down for Hummingbird/Brians’ in the second half, as they were hindered by the lack of players. In the final minutes, Amy McClure fouled out leaving only three players on the floor for Brians’ as Kickers went on to win the game, 73-65.

Dwight Dunn led the Hummingbird/Brians’ team with 32 points, while Amy McClure followed with 20. For Kicker’s, Brian Jennings scored 22 points, Robert Wiggins had 20 and Mo Martinez had 19.

The final game of the night was a match up between Pecs and Moby Dick’s. First half play was even from both teams, with Moby Dick’s holding a 24-21 lead. In the second half Eric McDaniels took over for the Moby Dick’s team, leading them to a 47-38 victory. Eric McDaniels led the Moby Dick’s scoring with 24 points, while Greg Torrence was the top scorer for Pecs with 16 points.

Basketball will be taking a break for Thanksgiving on Wednesday, Nov. 26, but will return to the courts on Dec. 3.