The first round of playoffs in the San Diego Hoops Basketball League have come and gone and it’s down to the final four.

The big upset this week was number five seed Numbers knocking out number four seed Lips in the first game of the night. It was a rematch of last week’s final league game, where Lips lost to Numbers, playing shorthanded with only four players. This week Numbers was the team playing shorthanded, with only four players, but they earned their way into the final four by beating Lips, who showed up with a full squad on the court.

“They’re a very good team,” said Greg Torrence of Numbers. “We felt like if we could contain Brian Leigh and Dan, stop them from shooting three-pointers and keep the score low, we figured we could stay in the game.”

Their strategy worked in the first half, with Numbers ending the period with a 16-13 lead, but Lips started moving the ball around early in the second half to wear down the Numbers defense, then took the lead for the majority of the half until Torrence tied things up after sinking two free throws to make the game 30-30 with just two minutes left in the game.

Numbers capitalized on the shifting momentum in the game to take the lead. Lips took to fouling Numbers, now in the bonus, to force them to the free throw line to keep them from running down the clock. Going into the final seconds of the game Numbers gave Chrissy Ingalls an open lane and she scored to make it 35-38. Inbounding the ball, Numbers attempted to keep passing it around to wear the clock down, but ended up throwing it out of bounds with just one second left on the clock. In a do or die moment, Lips inbounded the ball to their star player Brian Leigh, who put up a three-point shot before the buzzer could sound, but the shot missed, giving Numbers the victory.

“Stuart [Leung’s] really good about penetrating and dishing the ball to the open man,” Torrence said of the Numbers upset. “We were able to score each time we were down and we knew if we could stop them from scoring we’d end up with more points at the end of the game.”

Stuart Leung and Greg Torrence provided the team offense for Numbers, scoring a combined 36 points. For Lips, Bryan Leigh and Dan Mosher scored 18 and 10 points, respectively.

“That was rough,” Leigh said about the loss, but looking back on the season for Lips he added, “It was fun. I really looked forward to Wednesdays because we had a really fun group on our team.”

In game two it was number three seed Moby Dick’s taking on number six seed Kickers. Could it be that Moby Dick’s is unstoppable since Dustin Mears joined the team mid-season? In the quarterfinal game, Dwight Dunn led Moby Dick’s with 20 points and Mears was close behind with 19 as they led the team to a 48-33 victory over Kickers. Jeff Wyngaert scored 15 and Jackson Addlington added 10, but it was just not enough.

No surprises in game three between Powerhouse Gym and Bourbon Street. Bourbon Street started the game with only four players and had no one else listed on their roster. Half way through the first half Junior Buenida, their fifth player, showed up and entered the game as an illegal substitution, drawing a team technical. Despite the setbacks, they kept the game close, and at the half the score was 35-29 in favor of Powerhouse. In the second half Powerhouse Gym came out to win as they poured it on, outscoring Bourbon Street, 13-2, in the first four minutes of the second half. Brandon Culley led Powerhouse Gym with 26 points, while Brett Drake led Bourbon Street with 17.

Last, but certainly not least, it was number one seed Morgan Stanley against number eight The Loft. It was Jose Renteria at 6’8” versus Paul Demke at 5’9” at guard. Add determination and a quest for a semi-final spot, and what a game it was. Demke led Morgan Stanley with 32 points, while Jose Renteria answered for the Loft with 24 before fouling out. Unfortunately for The Loft, Morgan Stanley had too many weapons up their sleeves as six of their seven players scored in the 65-49 victory.

This week Powerhouse Gym has their work cut out for them, facing Moby Dick’s dynamic duo of Dustin Mears and Dwight Dunn in the 7:00 p.m. game. Then at 8:30 p.m. it’s going to be Morgan Stanley taking on Numbers, who hope to be the Cinderella of the playoffs. The winners advance to the championship game on May 21 at 8:00 p.m. at the Golden Hills recreation center.