pump update

The Pump N Run team played their second game of the day on Saturday and came out slow and sluggish against an athletic and young team from Stockton, the Stockton Boys Club, which initially led after the first three minutes 14-2, but in the end, Pump N Run won by more than 30. . . that's what a lazy start and a fast finish will do. But these Stockton guys were pretty impressive and tough, and for at least a good portion of the first half, they gave the Pump N Run guys a scare. The Stockton team, according to their coach, is a team which was "put together just for this tournament" but which has guys from four different schools in the area. With no size to speak of except for Aaron Stallworth (6'-6" Fr. F), they managed to get some excellent shooting from guys like Joel Stallworth, a junior from Samuel Hancock HS and Herb Joseph, a junior from Bear Creak. The roster for Stockton didn't list height or numbers so it was hard for us to tell who was who. With the loss, Stockton is now 0-2 in pool play, having lost to a Lodi #1 team earlier in the day and they appear headed for the Bronze (3rd place) or Platinum (4th place) bracket of single elimination.

With the win, and the margin of victory at more than 20 in each of the first two games, even if there's a loss, Pump N Run has probably assured itself of a match in the first round of single elimination on Sunday against the winner of Pool H, which we're guessing will likely be the Rockfish Barracudas.

The intensity of the play is also picking up a bit and with it the injury factor may also begin to play a role with some of the teams at the tournament, and P&R is certainly not immune; Torin Beeler played the second game with a sore back, having slightly injured it during a dunk; Bakari Altheimer sat for a long stretch of the second game with an minor ankle injury which should be fine by the third pool game, and Jason Carter's knee is sporting a bump the size of a golf ball from a collision with another player which resulted in a hard fall to the floor. The majority of the guys though remain healthy and the team, coached by Brian Camacho (who was recently named the AD and girls coach at Bell-Jeff HS, congrats to Brian on that), has really started to gell. Dustin Villapigue, David Gale, Marques Crane, Jason Carter, Quinn Hawking and Justin Burns really stepped it up in the second half of the game against Stockton, pushing the ball at every opportunity and they helped take a slim lead at the half to more than 30 with just under four minutes to play.

Pump N Run faces Lodi #1, aka "Lodi Flames" today at noon, and don't let the sizes on the Lodi roster fool you into believing that this is a team that will be a pushover. We watched a little of their game against Stockton this afternoon, and they are a fast, tenacious bunch of guys,and they have some very talented juniors and sophs. Here's the roster for Lodi:

Jon Lapachet	5'-11" Jr.
Greg Gresham	6'-2" Jr.
JC Villanueva	6'-4" Jr.
Allen Mahlhaff	6'-4" Jr.
Chris Duke	6'-3" Jr.
Casey Luiz	5'-9" So.
Scott Mackey	6'-0" Jr.
Robbie Hilder	6'-2" Jr.
Clayton Worfolk	6'-4" Jr.
Scott Woznick	5'-11" So
Ezra Kiedrowski	6'-0" So