After taking a hiatus for the holidays, the San Diego Hoops basketball league resumed league play this past week with make-up games for the ones cancelled the week following the firestorm in October. As a result, this was the first time any of the teams playing had faced each other on the court, and third place Moby Dick’s proved they were a serious threat, serving up Morgan Stanley’s first loss of the season.

Game one had fourth place Kickers facing the fifth place Loft. The Loft started the game off with no subs on the bench, giving Kickers the advantage of being able to keep their players rotated in and out and fresh for most of the game. Kickers jumped out to an early lead and, facing a 14-8 deficit halfway into the first half, The Loft used their first timeout to regroup and reorganize on the court. After making some adjustments to their play, The Loft got back into the game, narrowing Kickers’ lead by exercising their height advantage under the hoop to capitalize on rebounds. However, their shots were still not falling. With 30 seconds on the clock and the ball at their end of the court, The Loft fought to sink a shot and tie the game going into halftime, but it wasn’t in the cards for them as the buzzer sounded with Kickers in front, 20-18.

In the second half Kickers slowed their game down and began passing the ball around and building a lead over The Loft. Things got worse for The Loft as Jaquin Frazier injured his right ankle with 16 minutes left in the game and ended up on the bench, leaving The Loft with only four players on the court.

“It definitely was a close game,” said Brian Jinings, coach of the Kickers team. “I think once we started playing really patient basketball and started moving the ball around and playing good defense is when we pulled ahead and came together as a team.”

Not giving up hope, The Loft hung in to keep Kickers from building an insurmountable lead, and with seven minutes left in the game they brought Frazier back into the game. But with his ankle still tender he was kept on defense under the hoop for the rest of the game, breaking up Kickers’ fast break attempts, giving the Loft a second chance to get back into the game.

“They ended up throwing up a couple of three-pointers that they ended up making, and there was really nothing we could do about that,” Jinings said. “We played good defense, but they were hitting their shots in the last minute.”

The game came right down to the wire. With four seconds left on the clock, The Loft trailed, 45-43, and Kickers was at the free-throw line. Robert Wiggins sank one of his shots for Kickers to make it a 46-43 ballgame. Julius Williams brought the ball back down the court for The Loft and launched a shot from the field goal line in a last ditch effort to tie the game, but the shot fell short and another game slipped away from The Loft.

“It was another tough loss we’ve had quite a few this year,” Dan Taylor, who led The Loft in scoring, said following the game. “We’re entering the second half of the season and I think we are coming together as a team. Even though we only had four people on the court when Joaquin was out for most of the second half we still were able to stay with it, and I think that had more to do with our teamwork. We got to know each other in the first half of the season, and I think it’s going to help us through the next half of the season.”

In other week-nine basketball action, Fusion had a rough time with Pecs, but came out on top in the end by a score of 42-36. Missing their big center Jeff Wyngaert, Fusion had to battle to beat Pecs, who are currently tied for last place in the league. Things got worse for Fusion early in the second half when their top rebounder, Trevor Kuecker, fouled out of the game, hampering their play under the hoop.

Game three of the night shook up the league, with Moby Dick’s pulling out a victory over Morgan Stanley. The 61-55 defeat of Morgan Stanley marks their first loss of the season and puts them in a tie for first place with Fusion, both with 8-1 records. Moby Dick’s, who suffered a week one loss at the hands of Kickers, are just one game out of first place with a 7-2 record.

In the final game of the night Brians’/Hummingbird defeated Powerhouse Gym by a score of 67-51. The win improves Brians’/Hummingbird’s record to 4-5 and moves them out of a tie for fifth place with The Loft, who sink to sixth place in the league.

Now in the second half of its 2003-2004 season, the San Diego Hoops Basketball league plays every week at the Golden Hills Recreation Center on Wednesday nights starting at 6:00 p.m., with games continuing through 10:00 p.m.