Marc Jean and Blue Storm drop defending champions Gale Force to 0-2 start
Marc Jean
Gale Force defeated Shore Shack 60-53 in the Garden City Draft League championship game just over a month ago, which stopped Shore Shack from winning their fourth straight title.
They were easily the two best teams last season, but that championship game is starting to feel like a lot longer than a month ago. Last night, both teams lost close games to fall to 0-2 this season.
The defending champs were defeated 69-64 by Blue Storm. It was a well-rounded performance by Blue Storm, as four different players scored 10 points or more, and three different players had 10 rebounds or more. They were led by Marc Jean (who played for Shore Shack last season) who scored a team-high 21 points, adding 10 rebounds and four assists.
“We were down by 12 at the half, so we just made some adjustments, played hard, you know, really went out there and got the W at the end of the day,” Jean said in a post-game interview with Anthony Leo.
Gale Force saw a typical offensively-dominant performance out of Richie Byrd, who scored a game-high 39 points, but offense was a struggle for the rest of the team. Byrd scored 61% of his team’s points, and the rest of Gale Force scored 25 points on 8-26 shooting.
This is not that unfamiliar for Gale Force, as Byrd averaged 34.6 points per game last season, 51% of Gale Force’s 67.3 points per game. This season, Byrd has scored 38.5 points per game, 57% of Gale Force’s 67 per game. Byrd had a little more help last season, as Dylan Harlem averaged 14.4 points and Sky Khaleel averaged 12.3. This season, the second-leading scorer is a tie between Maxx Rosenbloom and James Whitfield with 6 points per game, while Khaleel is down to 5.5 points per game.
As for Shore Shack, they fell 65-64 to Team Boom last night. Shore Shack out-rebounded Team Boom 52-38, shot better from the field and better from deep, but the play of Calvin Brown was too much to overcome. He led the game in points, rebounds and blocks, with 29, 14 and two respectively.
Shore Shack has suffered two defeats by a total of four points this season, so these woes won’t likely continue. They lost 67-64 to Blue Storm last week, so Blue Storm, a team that has little experience playing together, is 2-0 against the two best teams from the summer season, establishing them as a contender early this season.
This just goes to show the parity that can take place season-to-season in draft leagues. The Garden City league is a little different, as captains can keep one player, which helped Chris Frey and Chris Pisciotta win three straight titles. That still leaves five new roster slots each season, and that’s enough for captains to draft well and create rosters that can contend with dominant duos. That’s what we’re seeing early this season in Garden City, and we’ll see if it lasts into December.