4th Grade Hosts a Scrimmage at Home

4th Grade Uptempo Hoops vs. UC Kings

May 11 at 8pm was set for a scrimmage between two strong Union City youth basketball organizations.  Uptempo Hoops hosted the UC Kings.  It was a friendly match up between two groups filled with familiar players.  The UC Kings are a seasoned ball club.  Our boys can stand to learn from this scrimmage.  The first half was hesitant on both sides, but growing increasingly aggressive.  The lead changed many times. The game stayed close.  UH may have opened up the scoring, but the next 2 points belonged to the Kings.  It went back and forth like this the first half.  The UH boys seemed a bit out of sort with their playing.  There was lack of communication and maybe some nerves as shown with the less than perfect dribbling.  UH needed to heat up.  They needed to show more aggression.  I can't remember who led at the half, but I know only one basket separated winner and loser.  Our coaches had to do some serious talking to our boys.  They were not meshing well.  There appeared to be a lot of focus on technique, but not a lot of effort on execution.

J. Duenas playing center had a great night of rebounding

Players watching, waiting, anticipating.

Second half was a different story.  The UH boys came out charged and owning the court.  Quickly, they pulled ahead by 4 points, then 6 and so on.  Their strong defense caused turnovers and the rebounding was a 110% better than in the first half.  They were blocking out and getting the second chance points.  As a spectator, you can hear more communication on the court.  The UH boys came back from their huddle with new found spirit.  This may be a scrimmage, but they understood to treat this like any other game.  They knew they had to hit the floor feet running and balls bouncing.  There was no time for them to find themselves out on the floor.  Half of a basketball game can go very fast.  The bigs had some awesome blocks. The guards stole and drove to the hole, not looking back.  Finally, the forwards stepped up by rotating to the basket, protecting the rim and setting up screens.  There was more passion on the court. 

Players waiting for an inbound

The game grew intense.  Emotions were worn on their sleeves, or, rather, their jerseys.  Both sides clung to the ball creating a lot of jump ball situations, neither side ready to relinquish control.  Bodies, dove to the ground, causing a thump on the floor and squeaking of skin against hardwood.  Arms were thrown during rebounds and bodiless hands caused turnovers.  Players slammed the ball, driving down the court, until finally putting the ball out of its misery by sinking it through the rim.  The UH team continued to pull ahead until...count down... 10 - 9 - 8 - 7...the ball is owned by UH... 6 - 5 - 4...now the ball belongs to the Kings... 3 - 2 - 1... game ends with a UH victory by 12 points.