The 2004 San Diego Hoops basketball season came to a close this past week with its championship and consolation games. The night kicked off with Brians’/Hummingbird facing off against The Loft for third place in the league. Following them it was the number-one ranked team in the league, Morgan Stanley, against Fusion.

In the consolation game things started off tight and close with The Loft holding a 16 to 14 lead going into the half. In the second half, The Loft managed to build on their lead and in the final two minutes of the game Brians’/Hummingbird took to fouling The Loft to keep them from wearing down the clock. Despite that, The Loft continued to sink their free throws and ended up winning the game 39-30.

In the big match up of the night, Fusion was the first team to get on the board but Morgan Stanley kept the game close through the first 10 minutes of the half. The turning point in the game came with eight minutes left on the clock in the first half. Fusion’s Trevor Keucker, taking a shot from the outside, just missed his target with Morgan Stanley’s Paul Demke waiting for the rebound under the hoop. Stuart Leung, Fusion’s coach, drove to the hoop, rebounded the ball in the air and put it back up to score a two and give his team a 12 to 11 lead. There was no looking back for the fired up Fusion team from that point. They went on to end the first half with a 25-12 lead, holding Morgan Stanley to only one more point in the remainder of the first half.

In the second half, Fusion kept the momentum on their side, putting the breaks on Morgan Stanley’s attempts to get on a run.

“These guys are like sharks in the water,” Leung said about the Morgan Stanley team. “Once they see that you’re bleeding a little bit they’re going to keep clawing at the wound. They went on a couple of runs and we had to make sure we stopped the bleeding and one way is to get foul call or be aggressive rebounding.”

In the end it was the underdog Fusion who came out on top 46 to 31.

“I’m very thrilled. Those guys had us on the ropes the whole season,” Leung added. In regular season play, Morgan Stanley beat Fusion twice. “The old adage, I guess the third time is the charm. Finally! We all really wanted to beat them and we had a lot of support. I’m just glad we came to play, showed up, did well and we were the aggressors. I don’t think they were used to that.”

The loss was an especially painful one for Demke who has led the Morgan Stanley team to a first place finish in regular season play three years in a row. Despite that, the team has not been able to capture a first place finish in the championship.

“It’s a little hard to take,” Demke said. “They just came out and they played hard defense. They came out ready to play and we didn’t. Hats off, especially to Stuart… He had a couple of big shots in the first half and that kind of opened it up for them.”

With the 2004 season coming to a close the league will wrap things up with their annual league banquet on Wednesday, March 24, at The Center where the league will name it’s all-star team and hand out individual and team awards.