6 Ft Over's Finest Hour

6 Ft Over refused to lose Tuesday night and posted a riveting come from behind victory that left Team "Ace" in disbelief. Down by as many as 10 points for the entire game 6 Ft Over took their 1st lead with 1:30 to go and barely held on to win their YMCA league debut.

The YMCA league features a running clock consisting of 2 20 minutes halves. This rule made the comeback last night possible. Team "Ace" lead comfortably throughout the 1st half as 6 Ft Over missed a half dozen layups and carelessly turned over the ball.

Early in the 2nd half 6 Ft Over tied the game at 34 apiece on a Richard Dengler hook shot. Playing without subs began to take its toll on the starters and their quick footed opposition went on a 10-0 run to make it 44-34.

Rathering than wilting under the pressure 6 Ft Over took advantage of another great YMCA league rule….the timeout. With their strategic use of two 2nd half timeouts 6 Ft Over was able to catch a 2nd wind and began the run that ultimately won the contest.

It started on a Justin Hasenmiller 3 that cut the lead to 7 with 5 minutes to go. Hasenmiller and Shupert were remarkably accurate last night from downtown each hitting several key bombs that kept the squad in the game (3's count in this league as well).

Dengler picked up the pace from there and played the closing minutes of the game with a mean streak. Who ever told Dengler that the Cavs trailed by 19 at halftime last night deserves the game ball because that inaccurate information pushed Dengler to a fury that he unleashed on his poor defender down the stretch. (Cavs led by 8 or 9 at halftime)

Rich scored on a hook shot, Shupert mixed in a layup and Rich scored again after clearing out his man with a blatant offensive foul. Suddenly it was a 1 point game with 2 minutes to go.

After throwing in wild shot after wild shot in the 1st half Team "Ace" could not buy a basket down the stretch. Reiners, who was held in check all night, finally got a good look with 1:30 left and drained a long 2 over a 6-6 ogre.

With 6 Ft Over now up by 1 the game became very tense. The author must admit the sequence of plays is somewhat of a blur but I recall a wild scramble for a loose ball and the other team yelling at each other.

Team Ace burned a timeout with 11 seconds to go and setup a play. To their credit the play worked perfectly and they set up their ogre for a easy lay up which he promptly missed. Hasemiller secured the rebound and was sent to the line via an intentional foul. Justin calmly sunk both free throws putting 6 Ft Over up 3 with 2 seconds remaining.
After another timeout Team Ace setup another play to free a 3 point shooter but he threw up an airball as the horn sounded. 6 Ft Over had literally stolen the win. They led only for 1 minute and 30 seconds of the 40 minute contest. The important thing was they led at 0:00 which was the only time it mattered.