Vancouver Metro Basketball League

Feature Game

SWAT (5-0) 90 – Heart, Hustle & Soul (3-2) 86

The return of Andrew Sturgeon to the SWAT line up sparked a gritty 90-86 win over the mighty H.H.S. squad. Sturgeon produced 31 points in his 2010 season debut, filling the shoes of SWAT’s leading scorer Clayton Crellin who did not play. H.H.S. led the game going into the half 42-40, but SWAT kept pace, even taking over the lead, 63-61, around the 15 minute mark of the second half. H.H.S., however, used a 12-4 run to take an eight point lead, 75-67, with just ten minutes to go. SWAT would then break their cold streak and swing the momentum with an incredible Andrew Sturgeon alley-oop dunk, posterizing  one of the H.H.S. big men. SWAT would close out the game from there, out-scoring H.H.S. 21-11 down the stretch to earn the win. SWAT remain undefeated so far this season, while H.H.S. drop their second in a row. Jason Birring was lights out for H.H.S., scoring 48 points including five three-pointers. Birring’s 48 points are the highest point total so far this season.

Other scores from Week Five

Bullets (4-1) 68 – Sonic Boom (1-4) 63

Vancouver United (5-0) 92 – Velvet Hoop (1-4) 75

Team Serbia (3-2) 94 – Nike (1-4) 70

Remix (2-3) 80 – EA Sports (0-5) 70

Feature Game

Vancouver United (4-0) 75 – Heart, Hustle & Soul (3-1) 69

Vancouver United improve to 4-0 with 75-69 win over a depleted H.H.S. squad. With H.H.S. leading 44-36 at the break, Van United clawed back in the second half taking advantage of H.H.S.’s ice-cold shooting, who were playing without power forward Mark Tasic and point guard Karlo Villanueva. Hardeep Bassram was his usual self for Van United. Bassram led United with 24 points, while Kerri Westmore dropped 14. H.H.S. top-scorer Jason Birring led all scorers with 29 points. Van United remain on top of the Metro League standings, while H.H.S. lose their first regular season game since the fall 2009 season, going 14-0 over the span.

Other scores from Week Four

Remix (1-3) 77 – Velvet Hoop (1-3) 72

Diego scored 29 points to lead new- comers Remix to their first ever Metro League win. Velvet Hoop’s Jordan Hunter scored 24 in a losing effort.

SWAT (4-0) 83 – Sonic Boom (1-3) 61

SWAT’s number one option Clayton Crellin dropped six from the land beyond, putting in an incredible 37 points to lead SWAT to a 83-61 win over Sonic Boom. Lonzell Webster led the Boomer’s with 13 points.

Team Serbia (2-2) 77 – EA Sports (0-4) 62

Led by the dynamic duo of Vlado Ruzic (24 points) and Igor Dutina (19 points), Serbia improve to .500 with a 77-62 win over the Metro League’s basement dwellers, EA Sports. Mike Schmidt and Greg Washington led EA with 12 points.

Bullets (3-1) 77 – Nike (1-3) 65

Ben Lee scored a game-high 23 points to lead the Bullets to a 77-65 win over Nike.

Feature Games

Heart, Hustle & Soul (3-0) 95 – Sonic Boom (1-2) 68

H.H.S. get 28 from Jason Birring and 21 from Mark Tasic handling Sonic Boom with ease, 95-68. Lonzell Webster led the Boomer’s with 26 points.

Bullets (2-1) 84 – Remix (0-3) 62

Adam Rattray put in 24 strong points leading Bullets to a 22 point win, 84-62, over Remix. Doug Plumb led Remix with 25 points.

Other Scores from Week Three

Vancouver United (3-0) 76 – EA Sports (0-3) 70

SWAT (3-0) 92 -  Nike (1-2) 89

Team Serbia (1-2) 86 – Velvet Hoop (1-2) 74

Feature Game

Bullets (1-1) 86 – Team Serbia (0-2) 83

Led by a balanced attack that saw five players reach double-digit scoring, the Bullets pulled off their first win of the season with an 86-83 victory over Team Serbia.
Jumping on the Serbians early in the game, the Bullets got off on a 17-7 in the first ten minutes with forward Adam Rattray leading the charge. Serbia settled down and began to find a rhythm but couldn’t take over the lead in the first half. After 25 minutes the Bullets held a 42-37 edge, with the second half shaping up to be a good one.
The pace began to quicken at the start of the second with both teams trading baskets. Serbia, down 61-54 at the 15 minute mark of the half, begin to catch fire scoring on nine straight possessions, taking the lead at one point only to see the Bullets battle back. With the score 73-72 with under five minutes to play, Bullets forward Nick Vojic hits an and-one to give his squad a 76-72 lead, but Serbia would nail a three to cut the lead to one. The Bullets would then score four straight buckets, but a three and two from Serbia keep them close with under two minutes remaining. The Bullets used the clock to their advantage knowing that they still owned a two-possession lead, forcing Serbia to foul. Vojic would knock down one of two, giving the Bullets a five point lead. Serbia go down the floor quickly attacking the hoop. Igor Dutina, who was battling the flu throughout the game, knocks down one of two from the charity stripe, cutting the lead to four. Serbia would then get a turnover and go down the floor getting a deuce, to cut the Bullets lead to two. With the time ticking down, Serbia would once again have to foul to stop the clock.  Bullets stud Jamie Robinson calmly knocks down one of two, giving his team a three point lead with just seconds remaining. Serbia would inbound and chuck up a prayer but it was not to be. Team Serbia drop their second in a row while the Bullets earn the hard fought W.

Top Scorers

Bullets – Ben Lee & Adam Rattray (17)
Team Serbia – Vlado Ruzic (17)

Heart, Hustle & Soul (2-0) 84 – Remix (0-2) 80

H.H.S. get a scare but hold on with an impressive 84-80 win over a completely different looking Remix squad. Jason Birring (37 points) and Mark Tasic (29 points) led the charge as usual for H.H.S. who remain undefeated so far this season. Remix, a new team to the Metro League, debuted a couple of players that will be ones to watch throughout this season. New-comers Doug Plumb (24 points) and Reece Gavin (12 points) were keeping Remix in the game but it wasn’t enough as H.H.S. went to Birring and Tasic down the stretch to hold off a very improved Remix team.

Top Scorers
H.H.S. – Jason Birring (37)
Remix – Doug Plumb (24)

Other scores from Week Two

SWAT (2-0) 66 – Velvet Hoop (1-1) 50

Vancouver United (2-0) 67 – Sonic Boom (1-1) 51

Team Nike (1-1) defeated EA (0-2) in OT (score to follow)

Jason Birring (H.H.S.) – 33
Lonzell Webster (Sonic Boom) – 28
Jean-Marc Saldini (Remix) – 28
Mark Tasic (H.H.S.) – 25
Clint Lomax (SWAT) – 23
Anthony Lao (Nike) – 23
Hardeep Bassram (Van United) – 23
Hunter Jordan (Velvet Hoop) – 23
Yapo Alle-Ando (Sonic Boom) – 21
Igor Dutina (Team Serbia) – 20
Jamie Robinson (Bullets) – 20
Kerry Westmore (Van United) – 20

The fourth season of the Vancouver Metro League got underway this past Thursday with ten of the strongest teams on the West Coast. One of the teams missing from this year is three-time reigning Metro League champions, Canada One. C1 have run the table in the Metro League during it’s conception, but with them not in the league for this year- one thing is for certain. There will be a new champion this season.

Feature Game -

Heart, Hustle and Soul (1-0) 88 vs Team Serbia (0-1) 83

Week One’s feature game featured  Heart, Hustle and Soul vs a new-comers Team Serbia, in what could  be a preview of this seasons final.
H.H.S. won the regular season race in the Fall, going an impressive 11-0 before getting upset in the first round of the playoffs. Serbia, a team that is new to the league, but just by title. The Serbs feature many familiar faces including Igor Dutina -formerly with Sonic Boom, Mio Kovacevic & Srdjan Vujovic-formerly with Vancouver United and Neb Aleksic-formerly with SWAT. Dutina & Aleksic were both First-Team Metro League All-Stars in the Fall while Kovacevic made the Second-Team, proving that this team is stacked and this game would be tight. And it was.

Led by Jason Birring’s 33 points and Mark Tasic’s 25 points, H.H.S. pulled off an impressive 88-83 victory  over a very talented Serbian squad. After flip-flopping the lead seven times in the first half, the half ended with H.H.S. up 40-39. The second half, however,  proved to be  a much different story. Tasic and Birring kept up their torrid scoring pace helping  H.H.S. hold the lead from the start of the second half right to the buzzer. Birring was especially dynamic, driving to the hole, hitting threes and knocking down his trips to the charity stripe.  Dutina lead Serbia in scoring with 20 points but it was a balanced attack from Serbia that kept them in the game, with five Serbs scoring in double-figures. H.H.S. are now 12-0  since last season in regular season play. Serbia drops their debut in the Metro League, though don’t be surprised if this is their only loss of the year

Vancouver United (1-0) 76 vs Bullets (0-1) 73

Van United secured their first win of the year barely getting by the always tough Bullets, 76-73. Led by Hardeep Bassram’s 23 points, United staved off a feisty Bullets team that got 20 points from star Jamie Robinson and 16 from the always consistent Ben Lee. The Bullets held the lead at times through the first half but couldn’t contain Bassram in the second half, who scored 17 of his 23 in the final 25 minutes. Kerry Westmore dropped 20 for United as Ben Dove added 15 for the Bullets.

Sonic Boom (1-0) 81 – Nike (0-1) 71

Lonzell Webster was the difference as Sonic Boom’s dynamic point guard went off for 28 points backed by five three-pointers in Sonic Boom’s 81-71 win over the new and improved Nike team. Former Canada One stand-out Anthony Lao, whose now on Nike, did his best to keep his new squad in, putting down a team high 23 points including a couple of huge baseline dunks. Webster, however, was too hot to handle. Of Lonzell’s 14 points in the first half, 12 came from the land beyond.  Yapo Alle-Ando added 21 for Sonic Boom as Noah Levy contributed 15 for Nike in the loss.

SWAT (1-0) 86 – Remix (0-1) 68

A new-look SWAT squad cruised to their first win of the year 86-68 over new-comers, Remix. SWAT, who’s line-up has changed many times through the seasons, were led by a strong 23 points from Clint Lomax. Lomax was owning the lanes getting to the hoop with relative ease throughout the game. League president Mark Starkey also supplied 17  for the winners. For Remix, former Canada One member Jean-Marc Saldini had a great game leading all scorers with 28.

Velvet Hoop (1-0) 80 – EA (0-1) 53

Hunter Jordan put in a game high 23 while teammate Chris Horwood dropped 18 as Velvet Hoop picked up their first win of the season with a 80-53 win over EA. EA was led by Matt NG’s 13 points.