Academy vs Entourage Basketball Inc. 63 – 69

A nervous start led to E.B.I-Weekend trailing by 8 points early in the game as Academy, led by National Team Backup and former Slinger, Folkoff, hit most of their jumpshots in the first quarter. The grey and blue clad opponents featured a guard-heavy rotation, with only one frontcourt Big, leading to long stretches of “small ball.”

Small ball forces traditional lineups into mismatches on offense, as the smaller team can isolate or draw out forwards and centers in 1-on-1 matchups, creating the fast vs. slow matchup. By the second quarter though, EntourageBBall Inc. hat closed the gap, relying on stifling defense….

….and impressive hustle to get back in rhythm. Outside shots were not falling on this day, so the taller E.B.I frontcourt players crashed the boards, creating second chances while dominating that facet of the game (49 rebounds to Academy’s 32).

The low-scoring game, halftime score was 29-27 for Academy, remained close throughout most of the 3rd quarter but Academy held on to a 6-Point lead. That is until E.B.I starting Point-Guard, Aitor, went on his own personal 9-0 run, hitting three straight deep 3-Point shots early in the fourth quarter.

This was the launch point for a fantastic offensive outburst in the fourth quarter, 28-16  for EntourageBBall, which also secured the win for the Threepeat Crossover League Champions.

Apart from sharpshooter Aitor, E.B.I’s  starting Center Jean-Baptiste (16-point, 14-rebound double-double) who sank his last four Freethrows in crunchtime to help keep the lead, returning veteran Tony (8 points, 8 rebounds) and rookie forward Arno (6 Pts / 10 Rbds / 4 Asst) were vital in starting the new season off well with a victory.
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Entourage Basketball Inc. next faced Hoops Factory, losing the physical game against the Filipino squad 62-67. Game 3 of the BPL regular season was against old adversaries, Proform, which turned out to be an early candidate for game of the season. (Report to follow).

Statistics via BPL.
Game footage courtesy of Jeremy @SG.BALLERSLIFE