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Confidential Report

SKIEVASKI SHINES AS TRI-STATE ENDS REGULAR SEASON ON HIGH NOTE

Defeat a Powerful NYC Fury Team in Emotional 66-61 Victory to Claim #2 Playoff Seed

Playing his finest game in his young TSIV career, forward Kevin Skievaski excelled on both ends of the court in a stupendous all-around effort against the NYC Fury. Statswise, he posted 13 points on 5/12 shooting and 5 rebounds, but his contribution to the win was far greater than simple numbers can express. Not only did he make two clutch free throw to help thwart a Fury comeback, but even more importantly he kept All-Everything Shawn de los Reyes in check with 11 points on 4/11 shooting and probably a career-low 1 rebound (SDLR did much of his damage with Kevin on the bench).

Guard Ian Yu bounced back from a bad performance against the Cruisers to lead the team with 15 huge points, including the game winning free throws with under a minute in the game, plus 8 rebounds and 4 assists. Varun Bhartiya and Eljay Aguillo were key components of the defensive stand with 6 and 5 steals respectively. Eljay iced the game from the line with 4 super clutch free throws, while Ryan Degracia chipped in 10 points. AK-47, in action limited by a hand injury, scored 6 points and soared for 8 big rebounds and a game-changing 3 blocks.

FASTBREAK LEAGUE HOSTS WINNER TAKES ALL TOURNEY

See below for info - go to www.fastbreaknyc.com to enter

Tri-State InvAsian Extends Domination to New Jersey

Crush the Competition on the Hardcourts of Piscataway

The away team of Officer Jay Yee, Vegas Dave Wong and Jersey native Andre Liu took on all challengers at the bi-annual Ball for Boobies charity 3-on-3 tourney this past weekend in Piscataway, NJ.

Although Justice Jiang Yu was originally also slated to play, he had to drop out at the last moment due to an emergency. The remaining 30+ year olds still looked like the favorites to take the title in the double-elim format, until a car full of DLNY regulars pulled into the Livingston Athletic Center parking lot, fashionably late as all Manhattanites will be. Sporting their badass shades and sauntering onto the court like they owned the place were none other than the Fury's Jeff Moy, GenX's Sung-mo Cho and Joe Yen, and the Sea Slugs' Jimmy Nguyen.

"Uh oh, now it gets interesting." commented Vegas Dave.

The InvAsian dispatched their first two opponents with ease, 15-5 and 15-6. The only highlight came in the second game, when they encountered a trio of very self-confident college guys who, probably accustomed to dominating their RU Asian intramurals, didn't take well to being humiliated by 3 veterans. Their big man (somewhere between 6'4" and 6'7" but impossible to tell due to his Albert Einstein electric shock hairdo) displayed some pretty awful attitude right from the start and nearly got into it with Big Jay Yee. Kudos to Officer Yee for displaying the calm and reserve that honored New York's Finest.

In the finals of the winner's bracket, Tri-State jumped all over Dream League and sent them packing to the loser's bracket with a 15-8 victory. In the finals, Dream League brought it strong and held the lead for the early part of the game. But Vegas Dave hit a huge bank three (good for 2 points), and Jay scored on a clutch turnaround jumper to give us the lead. Up 13-10, Andre faked the three then drove in for layup (1 point). Sung mo hit a clutch trey, and then Jeff Moy scored on a jumper to close the gap to 14-13, but then Vegas Dave craftily beat his man for an offensive rebound putback to win the championship.


Tri-State of the Nation: the 4-1 InvAsian return to Dream League action on October 2, with a much-anticipated matchup against the mighty Spartans...currently TSIV sits atop their conference and will secure the #2 seed for the playoffs if they can finish the season on top.

NEW LOOK INVASIAN WIN SEASON OPENER

After the first half in TSIV's season opener against powerhouse franchise NYC Fury, the radically new lineup wasn't exactly in disarray, but it had raised more questions than it had answered. Trailing 31-23, league pundits started wondering aloud:

This team has all the talent necessary, but can these new parts mesh together to become an efficient offense?

Will they be able to play the type of team defense needed to stop the elite teams from scoring at will?

After a rousing rally in the third quarter, followed by a nip-and-tuck affair in the fourth, those questions were answered: YES.

Not a single individual player felt that they had a great day offensively. Yet clutch performances by every single player when it mattered most led to a two-point comeback victory after trailing for all but the last 51 seconds of the game.

Akshat Tewary's stunning block of good friend Mo Ghumman, then his incredible and-one.

Mo Hoque's defensive energy (3 steals) in the fourth, and clutch free throw.

Eljay Aguillo's confident, daring passes to teammates under the basket, leading to layups and free throws.

Ryan Degracia's confident shooting, especially that 4-bounce rim-rocker that finally went down.

Ian Yu's full court one-man press and jumping of the passing lanes, aggressive drives to the hoop and that big three.

And finally, Varun Bhartiya's big rebounding, free throw, and tipping away of Fury's last ditch effort to tie the game.

It's only one game, but it was against an elite team, the finalist from last season, who arguably got much better with the addition of Mo Ghumman and Harris Chung over the offseason. So after the final buzzer, the league pundits had a new question:

When is the next TSIV game???

Tri-State of the Nation: AK, Mo Hoque, and Vick have hit the road for a big Desi tourney...Tri-State Uprising, TSIV's youth developmental squad plays its second game of the season, this Sunday 2:30pm versus Rage...TLC's developmental squad has entered the DL AAA division.

You've been Herb'd

Yes, you are not imagining this, your site has been herb'd

TRI-STATE INVASIAN WIN FIRST ROUND PLAYOFF MATCHUP VERSUS GENX

Full Team Present and Accounted For...Once!

Even an injury to guard Mario Salazar couldn't keep him from coming to this one. All eleven members of Tri-State InvAsian were in uniform for last night's playoff game against #7 seed GenX.

Despite the usual strong play from GenX's Danny Wang, and an efficient effort from their center Brandon Chock, the deep TSIV bench and waves of substitutions that we threw out there were simply too much for them to handle.

The red-and-black-attack was led by dominant offensive performances by two bigs: Justice Jiang Yu (16 pts, 12 rebs, 6-7 shooting) and Migs Noble (13 pts, 8 rebs). Guard play was spectacular, led by the all-around efforts of Jon Llave (4 rebs, 4 assts, 4 steals), and the quick to-the-ball speed of Eljay Aguillo (season high 9 rebounds, 2 steals). But this was a total team effort, from Chris Clemente's huge jumpers, to Vegas Dave's big three and great drives to the basket and dish offs, to AK's excellent zone-busting high post play, to Ian Clemente and Leo Yanagocio's tough-nosed defense on GenX's Danny Wang.

No letup as our next opponent will be the reigning champion Cruisers.

TRI-STATE SECURES #3 SEED WITH SHORTHANDED VICTORY OVER SHORTHANDED M&A 101

Vegas Dave and Jon Llave Lead Team of 5 to Key Late Season Victory

It seems that every season there comes a game late in schedule, usually a very important one, in which fate conspires to make TSIV very shorthanded. This season was no different. With huge seeding issues at stake this past Sunday riding the outcome of our game with the commissioner's M&A 101 squad, the following Tri-Staters would be out of action:

1. Chris Clemente (ankle injury)
2. Curt Clemente (ACL)
3. Eljay Aguillo (family matters)
4. Migs Noble (overseas)
5. Akshat Tewary (tourney in DC)
6. Ian Clemente (car trouble)
7. Mario Salazar (phone trouble)

Needless to say, it was with a certain degree of nervousness that the remaining players arrived, all hoping that we'd have enough guys to compete. And we did, but just barely - with Justice Jiang, Jon, Leo, Vegas Dave and Andre in uniform.

M&A 101 themselves were severely shorthanded as well, suiting up only 6. We suffered through a very tough first quarter when all our shots refused to fall. But Jiang and Leo anchored the zone defense, and Vegas provided the offensive spark with a series of drives/reverse lay-ins and running bank shots. Jon had his finest game to date as an InvAsian, driving to the basket with impunity and making huge plays on defense.

We dominated play in the 2nd and 3rd quarter, turning a 4-point deficit into a double-digit lead in the early going of the 4th. M&A 101 wouldn't quit, they came fighting back with some crazy threes and frenzied full court pressing, but never got it down to one possession with the ball.

Our last game of the season will be this coming Sunday against Da Bien.

THREE GAMES IN TO THE NEW SEASON

Too Easy on a Tear Since Blowout Loss to Spartans

After Tri-State's humiliating loss to the Spartans on opening night, a 23-point loss that wasn't even that close, Chris Clemente broke his brooding silence the next day in a private email to Andre. His statement? Simply this:

"We are never gonna lose like that ever again. You've put together too good a team for that [expletive] to happen."

It's one thing to say stuff, but Chris has since then backed up his words with actions. LOUD actions. In the following game, a defensive battle against A Ball, the eldest Clemente posted a double-double with 15 and 10, complemented by Leo Yanagocio's stat-stuffing 12, 6 and 3 (assists) to secure an early season must-win. Then, in a blowout victory against arch-rival GenX, Too Easy was simply terrific from start to finish, posting another 23 and 10 double-double, and 7 assists thrown in for good measure. Justice Jiang came back from his wedding in Vegas and absolutely destroyed his counterpart Brandon Chock, posting 22 and 14 and locking out the Landlord.

Chris' play is getting major notice around the league, as email chains have been pointing out his virtues. But don't bother letting Too Easy hear it, he couldn't be more uninterested. His focus is 100% on the next game, this Thursday night against former champs M&A 101.

Tri-State of the Nation...Migs' daughter Isabella was a big hit at the last game, as the league photographer took more pics of her than the game...Migs himself started the game despite a sprained ankle and Isabella screaming her cute head off on the TSIV bench, taking a foul to get a game played in the books. When jokingly told that his 15-second game would cut his scoring average in half, he responded without smiling "Scoring average? What's the importance of a scoring average? The only thing that matters is winning."

CONGRATS TO TLC

Tri-State's Brother-in-Arms Captures Hoopsville USA Championship

In an entertaining, high-energy game that had the fans jumping up and down with each play, Coach Moses Serrano's TLC ascended to the top as they defeated the Wolfpack on Sunday night to clinch the Hoopsville USA league title. Dustin Coloso and Ian Clemente provided the bulk of the scoring, Justice Jiang locked down on the Wolfpack's import big man, and John Llave/Chris Clemente ran the show with poise and savvy. It was a fantastic crowd-pleasing game that should have been much closer on paper given the hugely talented Wolfpack squad, but TLC played better defense and hit clutch shots all night long. When the Wolfpack made a spirited comeback to tie the game early in the second half, they didn't even have time to feel good for even a second before a brilliant over the top pass from John to Chris, who had his man sealed. The bucket and one basically took the air out of the Wolfpack comeback, and within minutes the TLC lead was back to 10+. That was the turning point of the game.

Tri-State would like to take credit for a bit of the fire and passion shown by TLC, by administering upon them a beatdown the previous day up in Rockland (admittedly, it was a TLC squad missing some key components) and not letting them get too full of themselves and rekindling that eye of the tiger. But seriously, a huge congrats to Coach Serrano and TLC for a job well done...hopefully we can replicate that sort of success in the Dream League this season!

Tri-State of the Nation: season likely begins next week, schedule not finalized yet...center Akshat Tewary will be sidelined for the first 2-3 weeks with undisclosed injury...Tri-State (and friends) advance to the championship game of the TLC Rockland Invitational, dropping a 10-point decision to Maximum Output...along the way they also defeated Boston and NY Young Gunz.

INVASIAN TO REPRESENT AT TLC ROCKLAND INVITATIONAL

January 12th Tourney Will Feature Tri-Staters on Three Separate Teams

The Tri-State InvAsian has confirmed it will compete in the TLC Rockland Invitational Tourney, this coming Saturday, January 12th. With Tri-Staters Jiang Yu, Jon Llave and Chris Clemente slated to play with host TLC, and forward Leo Yanagocio with Dabu squad, TSIV will call upon the services of SK War Dogs Eljay Aguillo and Aly Govani, as well as Vick Bhartiya (formerly of Ghee Unit and GenX) and Varun Manchanda (Gotham Games champion NJ/Cali Soormay Franchise). Tri-Staters comprising the core of this traveling squad will be Vegas Dave Wong, Marcos Palacios, and Andre Liu.

For any teams interested in entering this one-day tourney, please see www.tlcbasketball.org for more information, or contact Coach Moses Serrano at (845) 300-3730.

Tri-State of the Nation: Tri-State veterans Albert Oh, Eric Yu and Jen Chang will spearhead our most recent spinoff, Tri-State InvAsian Old School, which is slated to compete in the upcoming AAA season. Joining them will be crafty veteran Marcos Palacios and rising start son Marc, as well as former TSIV'er Arif Ansari, and GM Andre Liu...founding Tri-State InvAsian and the team's first bonafide superstar Marshall Cho, in a rare visit from Mozambique, joined a joint TSIV-BTR squad this Saturday and torched the nets for 35 points on 7-9 shooting from beyond the arc...congratulations to our brothers-in-arms at TLC as they upset #1 seed Cruisers en route to a spot in the finals of the Nutley league.

Swishy Mehndi Video

Part 1 of 2

Part 2 of 2

GOT SOYMILK.

Tri-State Invades World Journal Vitasoy Open

The new unis were on full display this past Saturday, as three Tri-State teams participated in the 2007 World Journal Vitasoy 3-on-3 Tourney in Chinatown.

In the Open Division, Ian, Chris and Jiang fell to the eventual winners (The NY Ducks), in controversial fashion and even then, did not advance to the finals due to a ridiculous technicality. Not going to get into it here, but it was ridiculous and no amount of debating in Mandarin with the tourney directors could make them see the light of reason. They were not experienced tournament organizers and they were certainly doing their best; and so we took it with grace.

In the Under-17 Division, the Palacios Brothers teamed up with Coco Clemente and Jared "Baby Beast" Yu and went all the way to the final triangle, where they actually defeated the champs but finished third due to the point spread. Nonetheless, a terrific showing against 17-year old competition by the 14 and 15 year olds!

And in the Over-30 Division, Vegas Dave was unstoppable and Marco kicked it Old Skool, supported by Andre and also DL Commish and InvAsian for a Day, Brian Yang. They romped over the competition and went undefeated for the day in taking the championship. Marco received the trophy as we designated him tourney MVP, with Vegas Dave a close second.

When all the spoils of war had been garnered, the hardest part of the day began - somehow getting the massive amounts of soymilk back to our houses. Fortunately the Palacios' had driven, so head out to Brooklyn if you're thirsty!

New Unis + Slow Start + Big Fourth = Win

Tri-State Dominates 4th Quarter Again En Route to 55-38 Win Over X-Men

Looking at the quarter-by-quarter box score, one would believe that it was a simple story: the InvAsian started cold, then quickly righted the ship and won the next three quarters including the fourth in blowout fashion to come away with a comfortable win. But sometimes the scorecard can be deceiving...this was a back and forth affair, a game of runs by both teams with the game a close 4-point affair in the fourth quarter.

For the second straight game, the InvAsian came out of the gate slow but finished with a jaw-dropping kick that left the opponent stunned and dismayed. The X-Men were right in it, but in the end it was too much Marco Palacio (15 pts, 5 rebs, 3 steals, 2 blocks...in his finest game to date as an InvAsian) and too much Ian Clemente (20 pts, 6 rebs, 3 assts). Point guard tandem of Chris Clemente and Owen Wang ran the point with aplomb against a quick, pressing team, and Kevin Park was everywhere, as usual. Justice Jiang Yu had an off game offensively, but grabbed 11 huge rebounds in a virtual one-man stand against the enemy's minions. All this added up to an 18-5 run to close out the game, turning a tight affair into a laugher. We won the fourth quarter 23-10.

Playing with poise, Tri-State exploited the X-Men's aggressiveness and drew 26 fouls (to our 11) and even though it was a tough night on the charity stripe (we went 12-26, 46%), our aggression paid dividends again and again.

Defensively we were a rock all night. Holding the X-Men to a paltry 25% fg percentage, we also forced them into 17 turnovers and held them to a mere 1-9 from beyond the arc. The Tri-State defense has improved with each game, which bodes well for the team down the stretch.

Tri-State of the Nation: nearly a one-month layoff in the DL schedule, our next game versus A Ball is not until September 13th...in the meantime an away team will represent at the Dreamleague Labor Day Las Vegas Invitational...several Tri-Staters will play in this weekend's World Journal 3-on-3 tourney, with Justice Jiang, Ian and Chris playing in the open division, Vegas Dave, Marco and Andre (and joined by DL commish, Brian Yang) in the Over-30 event. There will even be an InvAsian junior team in the under-17 division, with Jiang's kid brother and Marco's kids!

OPENING STATEMENT

In opening game, Tri-State blows open a tight contest in the 4th; first win ever vs the mighty Cruisers

Hello world. With the last minute signing of veteran forward Marco Palacios, the wheeling and dealing was finally done, the roster for the upcoming season all set, and it was time to meet new teammates and figure out a way to get a win against no less than the stalwarts of NYC, The RL Cruisers.

After a propitious 4-0 start, the Cruisers' all-star shooting guard CB Liu took over and starting draining jumpers from all over, propelling his team to a 13-6 lead. But the Clemente Brothers led us back with a few long range rainbows of their own, a 7-3 run to pull us with 16-13.

Tri-State veterans Justice Jiang Yu and Kevin Park then shook off some early rust and began to dominate. KP, Ian and Chris consistently ripped the ball away from Cruiser ballhandlers with opportunistic and predatory defense, while Justice and Marco crashed and battled the Cruiser big men down low to a standstill. The Cruiser's Tony Hu was superb with 20pts and 12 rebounds, but in the late going Justice and Marco were able to stifle him and Justice scored twice in the post off nifty interior passes from Marco and Chris.

With the game still close in the fourth, a sudden surge led by KP's hot hand (13pts on 3-3 shooting in the final frame) and Ian Clemente's defense (8 steals, sick) led to a 20-11 dominant clutch performance. Ian put an exclamation point on this opening game statement with a steal and two-handed dunk to seal the InvAsian's first-ever victory over the Cruisers.

So things are looking bright in Tri-State InvAsian Nation. Still, the team needs to get better with every game, find a way for all the guards to work together (Owen and Felix couldn't make this game), and simply familiarize with each other. This experiment in merging two teams (the Clementes and Marco are all from TLC of the SIPAG league) came up aces on day one, but it's a long season and top-to-bottom, a very strong league. But for now, mission accomplished.

Tri-State of the Nation Notes: Owen Wang missed the game due to work responsibilities, player-coach Felix Shen was absent due to an unexpectedly long 7:45pm corporate league game, but both were effusive after the game and looking forward to meeting their new teammates...many InvAsian playing the Rockits-sponsored outdoor 3-on-3 tourney this weekend and next...Tri-State InvAsian registered for Labor Day Dreamleague Las vegas tourney, although final roster is still up in the air...see you all at the Dreamleague fundraiser tonight at White Rabbit (145 East Houston) from 6:30-9:30.

SMOKIN' ACES

Vegas hits miracle three to push Tri-State to 3-0

Down by 10 at the half and playing like a bunch of lazy dogs, Tri-State was not looking good against a determined A-Ball squad. Even though the team had only managed a pathetic 14 points by halftime, KP made the main problem all too clear with his one-liner: "yo guys, our defense sucks."

In response, the InvAsian came out determined to turn things around in the third. Switching from man defense to a 3-2 zone, we held A-Ball scoreless for over 7 minutes and went on an 13-2 run to take a brief lead before a late back-and-forth flurry gave Jae Ha Hwang's team (resplendent in new red threads) a two-pont lead going into the fourth. Disaster struck late in the third when the indomitable Kevin Park, who had been carrying the team both offensively and defensively, went down with a bad ankle sprain.

With Tri-State's MVP down and in agony, the team had KP in mind as they battled A-Ball to a standstill in the final quarter. Vegas went on a tear in the fourth, hitting four straight buckets to keep pace with A-Ball's balanced scoring. But with only six seconds left in the game, Mark Kiang got an uncontested rebound off a Danny Chin miss and laid it in for a two point lead.

With a foul to give, A-Ball hacked Justice in the act - but a bad call by the refs backed Tri-State into an almost hopeless situation, down two with 8/10 of a second left. A play was drawn up in the huddle for either Justice or James to receive the desperation look, but tight defense by A-Ball changed everything. Vegas found himself the recipient of the inbounds pass, 23 feet from the hoop. Catch, jump, adjust, release, buzzer sounds, the world holds its breath...swish. Disbelief. Euphoria. Mad celebration!!!

Without a doubt, this goes down as one of the greatest regular season moments in Tri-State history. Certainly the most dramatic.

With the win, the InvAsian find themselves one of only two undefeated teams left (along with the Renegades), and in sole possession of first place in the Shanghai Conference.

Vegas took top scoring honors with 13, while both Justice and David "Manchild" Ha both snared 10 rebounds each. KP had 9 points and 6 steals before his injury.

Tri-State of the Nation...KP prognosis unknown but was given a long list of "things to do" by teammates, called up to complain that ice was too cold and was given a severe tongue-lashing by AXL...next game versus Brian Yang's M&A 101 squad in 12 days.

OFFICIAL TSIV FAN MERCHANDISE ONLINE STORE OPENS!

Servers Crash on Day One Thanks to Mad Onrush of Buyers

With great fanfare, Tri-State InvAsian brass have announced the opening of the official TSIV online store. Tri-State fans brought the servers down as soon as the announcement was made, as seemingly everyone just had to have an InvAsian tee shirt, mousepad, or hoodie sweatshirt. Other hot-selling items included the messenger and tote bags, coffee mugs, and yes, the InvAsian thong. The Tri-State teddy bear proved to be a big hit amongst our overseas fanbase. Items are offered at no markup whatsoever, a way of saying thanks to all of our loyal fans. Please visit:

www.cafepress.com/tsiv



Tri-State of the Nation: doubleheader on January 6th in the Chinatown Maxout League, versus Rockits and MaxOut...January 20th sees the InvAsian in all-day action in Neptune, NJ at the annual Rebounds Tourney.

JOHN STARKS PRE-GAME PREDICTION COMES TRUE:

Prior to Tri-State's first round showdown with #6 GenX, center "Justice" Jiang Yu corralled former grocery clerk-turned-Knicks-star-guard John Starks and talked his ear off, giving Starks the entire scenario facing TSIV. After patiently listening to Justice for over five minutes, Starks thought for a second and boldly predicted: "no question, you guys will take it in the last 10 seconds, and I'm thinking it's gonna be something funky going down that decides it."

The man can separate paper from plastic, shoot the three, defend, he's got a heart of a lion and sick ups as well (who can forget "The Dunk?" Not us! http://www.nba.com/inside_stuff/five_dunks_041229.html). Now add master prognosticator to that list.

In a back-and-forth affair last night, in which lead changes were as common as scarlet (Knight) tee shirts were in Piscataway, the InvAsian played a complete game, got contributions from everyone, and outlasted a tough, tough GenX squad on yes, a totally unexpected last second play that we'll get to later.

First order of business: props to the opponent. GenX plays us tough every single time we match up. Their center, Brandon Chock, is a total beast. He wreaked so much havoc in the low post that the TSIV coaching staff were smashing their heads against the Lycee Francais bleachers. Their guards, D-Yang and D-Wang, are deadly, clutch, and almost unguardable. Swingman Sung-mo Cho is a total bitch to track, moving well without the ball and dangerous whether he's under the post all the way out to the three-point line, and one of the most intelligent players in the league. Last night, GenX had all four pistons firing and you could tell in the first quarter that it was going to be a war.

But in a game that former TSIV incarnations might have choked away, the new InvAsian known collectively by fans as "The New Justice League" (referring to the recruiting efforts of our own big man) - that would be PG Owen "Oh! Oh! Oh!" Wang and SG Ming "The Merciless" Mui - came up aces in their first Dreamleague playoff game. They scored 14 and 12 respectively on stellar shooting, a combined 11-18 (61%) and 3-6 (50%) from beyond the arc. Ming posted 5 boards and 4 steals, while Owen distributed to the tune of 4 assists. An anonymous member of GenX after the game was quoted as muttering: "Man, I liked it better when TSIV had busted up, slow guards. Those two new guys, they (bleep)ing killed us all game long."

But let's not forget the InvAsian veterans...coming off a 37-point performance in some imaginary league of his scumbag imagination, "Vegas" Dave Wong indeed looked sweet last night. It started right off the opening tip for a quick, record-setting layup (1.3 seconds elapsed off the game clock) and continued all night long. Vintage Vegas: bank three, NYC-playground stylin' teardrop runners, juking his defender into fouling him on a trey and canning all three freebies, outhustling everyone else on the court to corral 8 rebounds (to match Brandon Chock) and get this, a personal-best 5 assists. And the last of these five would go down in Tri-State legend. But again, we'll get to that later.

With Brandon Chock going wild in the first half like drunken college girls on spring break, Justice and Swishy rose to the challenge, with some key doubleteaming help from Ming as well. Getting physical with Chock was a key to the second half defensive plan. Meanwhile, league leading rebounder Justice Jiang roared like a lion while grabbing a game-high 15 boards and totally dominated the glass for us, not to mention two huge, key blocks. Swishy Rassiwalla, coming off a three week long sabbatical from basketball to deal with "personal issues" in Chicago (yeah, he's in love - this is one guy who is definitely from Marz) didn't look at all rusty as he hit huge baseline jumpers and a big three during a stretch in which it was all about Swishy, just the way he likes it when he's hot!hot!hot! And his ability to guard Chock for a key stretch (when Justice got into foul trouble) was damned important.

Right - let's bring this to a close. Here's the situation: down two with ten seconds to go and it's crunchtime baby. Vegas gets the pass at the top of the arc and to no one's surprise, he drives it straight down the gut. GenX is obviously expecting this, Vegas has been known to lose his mind and force things on occasion, and so he's met by two, now three vicious defenders. Now here's where it gets John Starks funky. Suddenly, most unexpectedly, Vegas zips a no-look pass to Owen behind the three point line, almost as if he planned it. "Holy crap," thinks Owen, "the Scumbag actually passed up a last second shot? I...I...I better make this!" Launch. Too strong and way left. Bank. Swish. Joy. Timeout GenX.

Game winning bank shot three by Owen with a Vegas assist? Now I have seen it all.

Yeah, there were a couple of missed GenX shots after that, a free throw by Justice too. Last second attempt to tie by D-Wang is off the mark, and the InvAsian pull out one for the ages. Thank you, Johnny Starks. Now we'll truly never, ever forget you.

Tri-State of the Nation: semi-final game will be against winner of #2 Renegades and #7 Philosokicks, but will take place after Thanksgiving...InvAsian team members welcome to meet for early team dinner on Sunday afternoon (AXL is buying) after Jurassic Park game...congratulations to Ming Mui for winning conference Player of the Week honors for his 15pt, 10 reb, 3 blk performance in the win against Da Bien, his second POW selection this season...batterymate Owen Wang and Justice Jiang have also collected a POW honor each.

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