The Hooligans are one of the most decorated franchises in the history of UH New York, winning nine championships over the course of eight years. A lot of these came in a draft format as well, so it wasn’t just captain Jay Harris stacking his team with the best players in the league. He consistently drafts good teams that compete for championships regularly.

That made their start to the winter season of the Syosset Vet League utterly shocking, as they entered Week 8 0-7.

“For the Hooligans to be 0-7, you would think there was like a Big Foot sighting or the Titanic came above water,” Harris said in a post-game interview.

The Hooligans are no longer winless, as they picked up an 82-72 win over Lottery Picks last night.

They were led by Justin Dattolo, who scored a game-high 29 points on 12-22 shooting from the field, adding five rebounds, four assists and two steals. He’s been the team’s leading scorer all season, averaging 21.6 points per game.

Harris was also exceptional last night, as he had a double-double of 15 points and 10 rebounds while shooting a perfect 6-6 from the field.

This win will serve as a confidence boost for Harris and the Hooligans as they head into the playoffs, as seeing anything besides a 0 in the W column has to be a relief.

“We feel good, we got the win. Some Hooligans’ seasons we lose the first game and then we kind of roll, this time we lost the first seven. Doesn’t matter one way or the other, we’re ready to roll now,” Harris said.

They are now set to face Unstuck in the first round of the playoffs, as Unstuck fell to Let’s Do This 85-71 last night, which gave Let’s Do This the top seed in the playoffs.

Unstuck have won 12 championships, all coming in the open or draft league in Syosset. This will be their first chance at a vet title, but they played without team captain, Michael Mastro, last night, as he was out with an injury. It’s unclear if he’ll be able to play in the playoffs next week, which will significantly alter how that game is decided.

It won’t be the same if Mastro can’t suit up, but it’s still a historic matchup between two titans of UH New York.

“It’s the two most storied franchises in maybe Ultimate Hoops history playing against each other, in Unstuck’s first season in the vet league, you can’t ask for anything other than that,” Harris said.