In the San Diego Hoops basketball league, a pair of upsets marked the 2003-04 quarterfinals last week proving once again that the regular season play is just a warm-up for the all-important playoffs.

The quarterfinals got underway with Brians’/Hummingbird taking on Moby Dick’s and it was the third time the two teams had faced each other this season. After an early loss in the season to Moby Dick’s, Brians’/Hummingbird reorganized in the second half of the season and put their defense together to handle Moby’s big shooters Eric McDaniels and Bryan Leigh. The changes helped them pick up a major win and put them on track for the playoffs.

“We learned when we played them last time,” Randy Jackson, the Brians’/ Hummingbird coach said. “With the man-to-man defense, it worked a whole lot better than the first time we played them when they blew us out. We went into this game with the same strategy and we just had to fight until the end.”

The quarterfinals got underway with Brians’/Hummingbird taking on Moby Dick’s. Brians’/Hummingbird jumped out to a quick start, taking a 17 to 5 lead until Moby’s Eric McDaniels got into the game, helping to even the score up to 20-20 at the half.

Both teams played a balanced game in the second half, but with one minute left in the game it looked like Moby Dick’s was going to take it with a 61-55 lead. However, Brians’/Hummingbird kicked up their scoring and with 28 seconds left on the clock they sank a free-throw in the bonus to make it a 62-61 game.

“[W]e didn’t give up when we got down by six points with less than a minute to go, even after the technical foul,” Jackson added about the turning point in the game for his team. “We still fought and it fired the team up and we managed to do what needed to be done.”

Moby’s had the final possession of the ball with less than 10 seconds on the clock. Eric McDaniels brought it down for Moby’s and passed it off to Brett Drake who had an open shot. Drake put one up at the buzzer that fell just a little wide, bringing Moby’s season to a close.

“The thing that frustrates me the most is not that we lost, but that we had the last shot planned out and we had it worked out to a ‘t’ and the ball just wouldn’t roll in,” Moby Dick’s coach David Valenzuela. “It just doesn’t get any closer than that.”

Leading Brians’/Hummingbird to victory was Dwight Dunn with 30 points. Bryan Leigh was the high scorer for Moby Dicks with 27 points.

“We had a great season,” Valenzuela added. “I have no problem, I have no shame about how we ended up. We played a team that just gelled and, like I said before, there are teams that are gelling and they are one of them and unfortunately we came up against them.”

Game two of the night had the number-two seeded Fusion taking on number seven, Powerhouse Gym. Stuart Leung was on fire in the first half for the Fusion team, but Powerhouse kept up the pace with their run-and-gun offense. At the half, Fusion held a 6-point lead.

In the second half the great play from both sides continued. Powerhouse kept the game close, but could never get over the hump and Fusion went on to take the game 55-51. Stuart Leung led Fusion to the win with 30 points and Chris McBride was the top scorer for Powerhouse with 14 points.

In game three it was Morgan Stanley taking on Pecs. Morgan Stanley got out in front, quickly taking the lead, and at the half they were ahead by eight.

In the second half Morgan Stanley proved that they were determined to continue on to the next round of playoffs and went on to increase their lead against the shorthanded Pecs team. In the end it was Morgan Stanley 59-43. Leading the way for Morgan Stanley was Dan Newbold with 23 points. Greg Torrance was leading scorer for Pecs with 17 points.

The final game of the quarterfinals had Kickers going up against The Loft. Kickers was out to take revenge on The Loft, who beat them last week, knocking them out of the tie for second place in the league. Both played a great first half, with The Loft taking a commanding 7-point lead at the half.

In the second half, The Loft proved to be too much for the out-manned Kickers team. The Loft continued to play a great team game and pulled away from Kickers to win it 53-39. Dan Taylor was the leading scorer for The Loft with 30 points. Jonathan Knapp chipped in 21 points for Kickers.

With the quarterfinals out of the way, the stage is now set for the basketball semifinals this week with Brians’/Hummingbird taking on Fusion in game one and The Loft against Morgan Stanley in game two. The winner of this week’s games will advance to the championship game taking place at the Golden Hill Recreation Center on Wed., March 10 at 8:00 p.m.