Golds Gym Comes Back Late To Defeat Dyckman And Advance To The Championship At Hunter

August 8, 2006
By Sam Blake Hofstetter

The second semifinal Tuesday night at Pro City pitted Coach Couch’s top-seeded Dyckman Gold’s Gym.
Last Thursday, in the final game of the regular season Dyckman suffered their only loss when they fell to a bitter United Brooklyn squad who missed the playoffs by way of tiebreaker. Gold’s, a finalist last year, and two years removed from a ‘Chip may have been seeded fourth, but are always dangerous in the playoffs.
Partially because Golds Gym lived up to there reputation as the NY Yankees of Hunter, importing newly acquired Milwaukee Buck and NY-native Charlie Villanueva to suit up (NBA’ers Samuel Dalembert and Mike “The Amityville Horror” James played during the season).
Gold’s definitely needed the support of the UConn standout as Dyckman had Celtic Ryan Gomes (Providence) wearing their orange for the second-straight game.
The score stayed tight in the first quarter. Gold’s had the largest lead when Villanueva (27 points, eight boards, six turnovers) soared straight up above the rim to slam home an alleyoop giving them a five point edge, but the opening stanza ended 26-25 in favor of Dyckman.
Tied at 34 with 7:18 left in the first half, former Rice and Seton Hall standout Andre “Dre 3000” Barrett started using his blazing quickness to dart around the court prompting “Big Brawley” on the mic to forgo the nicknames in favor of sound effects every time Barrett touched the ball.
“It’s the sound little kids make when they’re racing,” Brawley said of the laser sound effect accompanying the 5’10 Barrett who finished with game-highs in points (29) and assists (8) and also collected six rebounds. He was off the floor for just 1:27 of the game. Brawley also warned “speed kills” speaking of Barrett as he lead Dyckman to open up a lead.
The crowd burst into a complete frenzy when Gold’s Herve Lamizana (18 points, 13 rebounds, three blocks, four steals) posterized Rob “Affirmative Action” Thompson as the half drew to a close.
Dyckman led 56-47 at the break. They shot 48.8% from the field while Gold’s Gym only managed a 39.6% clip.
The second half started giving the fans what they wanted to see: the NBA-on-NBA matchup of Gomes and Villanueva (both players entering their second year in the League).
Gomes (20 points, four rebounds, two assists, one steal) went to work on Villanueva, drawing a foul and after converting at the charity stripe gave Dyckman their biggest lead at 66-55.
The teams traded baskets for much of the third, and Villanueva took a seat about halfway through the quarter. Dyckman led 90-79 after three, on the strength of the two-man game between Barrett and Gomes.
With 9:45 remaining before one team was sent home, Gomes took his first break of the half – Villanueva was still on the other bench. A couple of minutes later a block by Lamizana leads to a Gold’s layup that cuts the lead to seven, 100-93 with 7:01 left on the clock. Dyckman, sensing the momentum swinging, calls a timeout to regroup and get Gomes back into the game.
The break doesn’t stop Gold’s onslaught and a Joe Forte (UNC) steal leads to a Jermaine “Maniac” Wright basket that cuts the deficit to five. Forte finished with a team-high seven assists to go along with 15 points and three steals. Maniac had 12 points and five boards.
Once again Dyckman can’t convert on the offensive end, leading to Gold’s Tommy “TE” Eddie (23 points in 20 minutes) slashing to the hole, getting the bucket and the foul. He makes the three-point play and all of the sudden it’s just a two point lead, 100-98 with 5:45 left.
A well rested Villanueva checks back in 25-seconds (and two possessions) later and on Dyckman’s next trip up the floor Jerry “The General” McCullough (12 points, eight boards, eight dimes, five steals) takes it to him. “The General” draws a fourth personal on Villanueva, but only converts 1-2 from the line, Dyckman leads 103-100 with 4:40 left.
“TE” comes right back at the other end, working inside to cut the lead to one and the following trip down he completes the comeback, tying the game at 104 from the foul line.
After a Gomes miss, Villanueva makes a runner and gets hacked, seizing a 107-104 Gold’s lead with 3:34 remaining.
Trailing 111-106 with 2:34 left, Dyckman regains their composure when Jared Johnson hits two FTs followed by a forced a turnover and Barrett feeding Gomes inside who cuts the lead to one from the line.
The last two minutes of the half, both teams head to the line on all fouls. The game is tied 112-112 with 70 seconds left to play.
Each team missed eight free throws in the second half, mostly down the stretch. Missed jumpers and loose-ball fouls lead to Dyckman’s Boaka Lalygba (23 points on 9-10 FG) reclaiming a one-point lead with 38-seconds remaining.
Gold’s fails to get a basket but with 18 seconds left Villanueva has the play of the game, stealing the inbounds, making a runner and getting fouled – which he converts to give Gold’s a 2-point edge with 17 seconds left to play.
Down 116-114 Barrett drives and draws a foul. He heads to the line with 4.3 seconds on the clock and Gold’s uses their final timeout to try and ice him. After Barrett misses the first FT, Dyckman calls for time and the crowd begins to wonder if they are setting up a play for him to intentionally miss the second. Instead he converts the second FT and Dyckman fouls immediately.
Gold’s Mike Wilson (17 points, four assists) makes both for a 118-115 lead. After a final timeout Dyckman gets to advance to half court (NBA rules) and has one last shot. Barrett inbounds to Gomes who gives the ball back to Dre to launch a three that caroms of the backboard and rim and rolls of the iron.
Gold’s Gym wins after being outscored in all but the fourth quarter. They make their third straight trip to the finals on the strength of 57.1% shooting from the floor in the second half while holding Dyckman to 40.0%. In Thursday’s championship they will face defending champs Nike “E” One in the title game for the third consecutive year.

Note: Gold’s Gym wore black patches on their uniforms to honor the memory of Todd McNeil, the brother of their former teammate Shandu McNeil.

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