The Virgin Daiquiris secure the Folsom Draft championship in a "defensive slugfest"

The Virgin Daquiris

In UH games across the country, 43-31 is a scoreline you would likely see at halftime. That was not the case in the Folsom Draft League championship game last night, as the Virgin Daiquiris defeated the Moscow Mules 43-31 to win the summer season title.

Folsom league coordinator, James Doran, called the game a “defensive slugfest.”

There are a few reasons why this game was a bit of a slog. Both teams played in the semifinals earlier in the night, and the Moscow Mules had just played in an overtime game right before the championship. The Virgin Daiquiris got the advantage of playing in the first semifinal for going 7-1 and earning the 1-seed in the playoffs.

In a game that featured two names making references to alcoholic beverages, it may have been natural to think both teams were drunk, leading to the poor offensive performance. That was not the case, but food may have been a factor.

“I also had some pizzas for people to eat and watch the game so that may have been a factor as well,” Doran said.

You can look through the box score and see how tough it was to score in this one. There were a total of 58 shots in the 44-minute game, an average of 1.3 shots per minute. These teams combined to make 21 field goals, good for 36% shooting.

A big reason for that slow pace was the amount of free throws taken in the game. There were 47 free throw attempts, almost equalling the amount of field goal attempts in the game. That was where 22 of the Virgin Daiquiris’ points came from, good for just above half of their total for the game. That’s also where Mike Martz made a living in the game, as 13 of his 27 points came from the line.

Martz was clearly the MVP of the game, as he was the only player to score more than 10 points, and he almost outscored the Moscow Mules by himself. He added a game-high nine rebounds as well to help secure his third UH title in just his sixth season.