In a rematch of the February 26th seesaw battle between the Mavs and the Jazz, the Mavs were down a player, so referee Frankie Alameda blew the whistle to start a four-on-four contest. But before the jump ball, the Mavs Aidan Ostermaier entered the P.S. 89 gym, stripping off his outer layers and grabbing his headband, tossed from the stands, to make it five. And in his first play, he set a pick for teammate Tyler Adams.
The Jazz followed with a nice possession, with a well-practiced back and forth passing game by Niall Gallagher and Brody Sharoff, resulting in Gallagher’s first of three buckets in a Manhattan Youth Basketball League game last week in the fourth and fifth grade division. Will Goldstein, high scorer for the Mavs with a total of 11 points, snuck in for a sweet layup. Then “The Tylers,” Adams and Rohan, shot, missed and rebounded three times in a row before Adams scored for the Mavs. Both teams did well defensively in the first quarter, and even though Jacob Roter scored with three seconds left for the Jazz, the Mavs were ahead 6-4 at the whistle.
In the second quarter, Rick Mortenson’s field goal brought the Jazz ahead for the first time. Will Goldstein was in a bit of a jam until brother Trevor helped him out by sinking his pass for his first of three baskets. But Sharoff was just starting to warm up for the Jazz, nailing his third of an impressive nine baskets, ending the first half with an 11-10 lead for the Jazz.
Will Goldstein started the second half with a singing layup and followed that up by breaking up an offensive charge by Devon Minnihan. Mortenson made his way past the Mavericks’ up-stretched hands for his first basket. Adams sent a behind-the-back pass to Rohan for a power lay-up. Sharoff answered with another basket as Paget Williams played appropriate background music. Will Goldstein laid another one up, but Sharoff responded in kind. The Mavericks coached called three consecutive time-outs to try to get the team back on track, and Rohan responded by going up the left side for a fancy lay-up. The Jazz Deejai Rangkrul grabbed a rebound and sent it back up for his first basket of the evening, and teammate William Eng provided consistent support.
The Mavericks continued to work hard, with Jim Huynh rebounding and passing to Adams for another two-pointer. The Jazz wouldn’t let them move ahead, though, with a Minnihan to Sharoff to Mortenson, bringing Mortenson to a total of 11 points for the night. The Mavs had a frustrating thirty seconds, when they had five possessions with a field goal percentage of 0% without a single rebound. Sharoff rubbed salt in the wound by stealing the ball on the sixth possession and brought the Jazz to 29 points to the Mavericks’ 22 at the end of the third.
In the beginning of the last quarter, a well-rested Gallagher came in and snuck thru the Mavs defense for a layup and his third basket. Rohan, who led his team in rebounds, took possession of the ball after Will Goldstein heeded his plea to pass it. The Jazz were taken by surprise that Will didn’t just go in for the layup, and Rohan charged in for his third basket. Teammate Ostermaier set another pick for Adams, but the taller players on the Jazz were able to get three to four times the number of rebounds, and that made the difference in the end. The Jazz won 39-30.
