Giardina and Bressett Pulls Away Late in Giorgi League Title Game
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. -- Given a choice between the big city and bragging rights, Keiland Cross had no trouble making up his mind.
"Honestly, I had another championship game tonight [in Boston], and I chose to come to this one instead of the other one becuase I just wanted to beat these guys one more time," Cross said on Wednesday.
Mission accomplished, as his Giardina and Bresett PC squad defeated Team DB, 78-60, in the John Giorgi Summer Basketball League A Division title game at the Armory.
"I definitely made the right choice," Cross said.
Hayden Bird led a balanced Giardina and Bresett offense with 24 points. Brandon Davis scored 16, and Seth Shepard added 12.
Cross scored 11 to go with a team-high 13 rebounds as Giardina and Bressett (10-1) avenged a 58-47 loss to Team DB in the season opener and handed Team DB (9-2) just its second loss of the season.
The game turned with about six minutes left in the second half, when Giardina and Bressett got a big bucket from Bird to start a 12-0 knockout run.
For a while in the second half, it looked like it would be Team DB delivering the knockout blow.
After Giardina and Bressett opened the half with a 9-2 spurt to open a 50-37 margin on Shepard's putback with 17 minutes, 16 seconds on the clock, Team DB held its opponent scoreless for the next six minutes.
In the meantime, Quentin Gittens (team-high 21 points) scored eight points, including an and-one in transition, to help bring his team within three at 50-47.
It was down to a one-point margin when Team DB's Deonte Sandifer (14 points) drove the right wing to make it 52-51 with about 10 minutes left to play.
But Lucas Shatford hit a 3-pointer at the other end to keep it a four-point margin, and Team DB never got within one possession again.
It was only a four-point margin, though, when Gittens hit a free throw with 6:14 left to make it 59-55.
Bird responded at the other end by driving the lane and scoring to put his team up by six. Moments later, Davis knocked down one of his four triples, and Giardina and Bressett was on a roll.
Shepard hit a 3 with an assist from Cross, Davis scored in transition, and Bird converted an assist from Reece Racette (seven points, 11 rebounds) to push the lead to 71-55 with about four minutes left.
Quincy Davis scored 12 points for Team DB, which got eight rebounds from Tayvon Sandifer.
Team DB missed the presence of big man Carter Mungin, who had a double-double in Sunday's semi-final and was a top 10 rebounder in the league this summer.
Cross said Giardina and Bressett made a choice to answer with a smaller lineup of its own, and it paid off.
"We normally have big guys who play, but they didn't today," Cross said. "They made a sacrifice for the team. We went a little smaller, and Brandon Davis came up huge, playing good minutes and just making shots.
"We just made the right play down the stretch -- got in the paint, kicked it out, everybody made the right play. Good basketball."
