Nike "E" One Makes It Two In A Row At Hunter

PRO CITY FINAL

Nike “E” One 118, Gold’s Gym 97
August 10, 2006
By Sam Blake Hofstetter

The season came down to one game between the two teams who had won the previous two championships, Nike “E” One and Gold’s Gym. Before this final, the teams had a combined four titles and four runner-ups.
Last year Nike “E” One won 106-102 in the title game, as Tyrone “Dolemite” Grant was given MVP honors and Gold’s Joe Forte took the Sportsmanship Award.
Nike One returned the same core group of players and mixed in some new guys. Gold’s Gym had many returning guys in their trademark bright yellow unis and also had a revolving door of NBA talent throughout this summer’s season. The Sixers’ Samuel Dalembert played much of the beginning of the summer and Mike “The Amityville Horror” James (who recently signed with the T’Wolves) led the squad in their final two regular season tilts.
For their Tuesday semifinal win over No. 1 seeded Dyckman Gold’s was led by NY-native Charlie Villanueva (newly acquired by the Bucks). Nike One had to take care of Ron Artest, Marcus Toney-El and PDG Queensbridge to advance to the final.

The Hunter Gym was packed for the final, both sets of bleachers fully extended and filled with a hyped crowd. The MSG Summerball crew had Boobie “The Mayor” Smooth doing pregame interviews at midcourt as the gym filled to capacity.
Overheard before the game was Coach Couch (who’s Dyckman squad fell to Gold’s after a late push in the semifinal) telling Nike One’s Garnett “Big Ticket” Thompson, “take care of these guys for me.”
Thompson replied, “I’m healthy now,” with smile and a nod.
The crowd seemed to be behind the champs, when ‘Big Brawley” introduced them as “representing Brooklyn to the fullest, the defending champs…” the noise filled every last inch of the packed house.
Thompson was feeling it from the jump, getting the ball to Junie “Mr. Excitement” Sanders who fed Thompson down low for the game’s first hoop. Thompson then blocked Reggie “High Five” Freeman’s shot at the other end.
Tyrone Grant dominates inside the next two trips up the floor giving Nike a quick 6-0 lead.
With 4:52 left in the opening stanza Gold’s calls for timeout, trailing 22-11, after Gray threw a one-handed alleyoop pass from his hip that Thompson slammed home. Nike One is dominating, playing full team ball, all five guys on the floor involved, exploiting their advantage inside.
Chudney “Lights Out” Gray (16 points, seven assists) put on a clinic creating openings for all his teammates and feeding them perfectly as well as forcing turnovers on D.
Charlie Villanueva made a late arrival late in the quarter and checked in for Gold’s with 29-seconds left in the opener.
Nike One’s D in the opening period was tenacious, challenging every pass and position in the paint making Gold’s work hard for every basket. Nike One led 29-20 after the first.
Junie “GE” Sanders (17 points, eight rebounds, two assists, two steals) checked back in and immediately is matched up on Villanueva. Sanders fakes him with a stab move, pulls up and nails a jumper right over the NBA’er.
Villanueva takes a seat after the next possession and would not return to the game. After the late arrival, he played just 4:55, was 0-4 from the floor with one rebound, one assist and a turnover. He appeared to be icing down one of his legs on the bench the rest of the game.
John “Mookie” Thomas the former St. Francis star who Brawley calls the Road Runner checks in and instantly has an impact with his high energy intensity. The crowd goes wild after two Mookie steals in a row at midcourt, the first leading to a Charles Jones dunk.
Nike One calls timeout with 4:37 left in the half after two straight Gold’s hoops cut the champ’s lead to 43-32.
A few minutes later after Dolemite (21 points, seven boards) hits two FTs, Reggie “High Five” Freeman (17 points, six rebounds, six assists) comes down the floor and nails his third three-pointer to cut the lead to 45-40.
With 1:30 left in the half Freeman makes a baseline leaner to tie the score at 45. CJ (22 points, six rebounds, six assists) answers with a 3-pointer (he went 4-10 from behind the arc). On Nike One’s next possession CJ drains another three, this time with Jermaine “Maniac” Wright draped all over him. Maniac (four points, two assists) answers with a jumper and Nike goes right back to CJ who misses.
Nike One leads 51-47 at halftime. The champs shot 45.2% (19-42) from the floor and 91.7% (11-12) from the line in the first half. Gold’s shot 42.6% (20-47) from the field and was 4-of-6 from the charity stripe.
During the break the crowd is entertained by B-Boy London and the Triple-A All-Stars. 27 kids from Yonkers who perform an exciting dance routine.
With just over six minutes left in the third Junie starts to feel it, kissing a jumper off the glass in front of his bench to push the lead back to six, 66-60.
Tommy “TE” Eddie’s energy keeps Gold’s in it after the break, scoring 10 of his 19 points in the third period (he also had five assists and three rebounds).
CJ commits his third personal with 4:11 left in the quarter and the foul puts Nike One over the limit. Herve Lamizana (Rutgers) can’t convert the three-point play but Joe Forte (UNC) winds up with the ball and gives Gold’s their first lead of the game, 69-68.
The next few minutes of game action feature both teams making quality baskets. The back-and-forth action gets the crowd on their feet screaming. Forte (19 points, five assists) drives hard and goes up for a dunk but is blocked by Thompson, sending fans into a fever pitch.
With 7.2 seconds left in the third, Nike One runs a beautiful out of bounds play: Mookie inbounds the ball from the corner to a streaking CJ who catches the ball in midair and puts in the shot – all in one motion. Gordon Malone (11 points, five rebounds) is blocked on his last-second heave by Thompson, Nike One leads 82-79 after three.
Nike One come out pumped, getting two quick baskets to increase their lead to seven before a minute has ticked off the clock.
CJ and Chudney Gray start working the clock on each possession. With seven and change left a loose ball shows the effort of Nike One, as Mookie, Gray and Thompson all make floor-skidding dives to tip the ball away from Gold’s.
Nike One leads 97-83 with 6:50 left, Gray and CJ controlling the pace, “Big Ticket” (10 points in the fourth) and “Matter of Fact Zach” Williams (Ohio State) working the inside and Mookie providing the intensity.
Gold’s Steve Burtt Jr. (10 points) cuts the deficit to 14, trailing 105-91 with just over four minutes on the clock.
Down 107-92 with 3:48 left in the season Gold’s subs in the whole bench of guys who had yet to play (other than Burtt Jr.).
Mookie (12 points, five assists, four steals) hits two long jumpers in a row. Every time he touches the ball in the final three minutes the crows behind the Nike One bench chants “M-V-P! M-V-P!”
Nike One’s Tim “Headache” Gittens gets into the game for the final couple of minutes and the crowd beckons to see one of his crazy handle moves.
A CJ high-bouncer sets up a “Big Ticket” slam for the final nail in the coffin, as the 118-97 win makes Nike “E” One the first ever back-to-back Pro City champions.
Gold’s Tommy Eddie wins the Sportsmanship Award and Garnett “Big Ticket” Thompson is named MVP, finishing with 30 points (on 13-19 shooting), 11 rebounds, four blocks, three assists and two steals.

POST GAME CELEBRATION QUOTES:
Tyrone “Dolemite” Grant:
“I told you this a long time ago: we always gonna win the tournament, it’s up to us. We win the tournament, we lose the tournament, it’s up to us.”
On being the first team to win back-to-back, “We deserve it. You know why we deserve it? Because it ain’t all about me. It’s all about them other guys. I didn’t do nothing special and they ran with the tournament. They won the tournament, I was part of the team. It was all about us.”

Charles Jones:
“For me it’s better for them [the fans] that we won. This is for everybody, the guys that never won it here. It goes to everything that we’ve been saying this whole year, we were playing team ball. You look at us sometimes and think that we have a lot of individuals, but we play together, that’s how we won.”

Chudney “Lights Out” Gray:
“This is my first [Pro City] championship…it’s great to come in and play with a great group of guys.” Gray did not play at Pro City in 2005 and joined Nike One this season.
“Everybody’s got a role to play. [This is one of the better teams I’ve been on], we’ve got veteran guys…you can’t say much more about them, they know how to play.”

Dean “Superman” Murray (who used to play for and now coaches the squad):
“It feels great, we’ve been the best for the longest here in New York, anybody who wants to question that can come here to Pro City – the best tournament in the City. We the best.”
On winning two in a row, “we knew that from the time we won it last year, everybody made phone calls in the off-season and said, ‘let’s go back and repeat’ and that’s what we did, it’s our destiny.

Garnett “Big Ticket” Thompson:
“I’m like Robert Horry, I play hard during the season, but when the playoffs come I step it up. It feels great, we’re a dynasty. We know no one can stop us when we’re playing defense and holding teams under 100 points.”

Mookie:
“It was great. I mean, I’m home. These aren’t just fans these are a bunch of people that really know the game.”

PRO CITY LEAGUE CHAMPIONS HISTORY
Year – Champion (Runner Up)
2006 – Nike “E” One (Gold’s Gym)
2005 – Nike “E” One (Gold’s Gym)
2004 – Gold’s Gym (PDG Queensbridge)
2003 – United Brooklyn (Nike “E” One)
2002 – Gold’s Gym (Uptowners)
2001 – Dyckman (United Brooklyn)
2000 – *Prescriptive Fitness (Strawdogs)
1999 – United Brooklyn (Nike “E” One)
1998 – PDG Queensbridge (Nike “E” One)

*Note: Prescriptive Fitness became Gold’s Gym

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