Don't Sleep on Richmond

Sleep? What’s that? Don’t sleep on VA they got Ballas! Early Wednesday morning I got a wake-up call from Avery [Watkins Enterprises-Camden] telling me that his team was playing in a one day voter tourney in Richmond. I tell him, “I got fam in VA [Cuzzo Dave aka Latino Heat], what time are they starting?” He tells me 9 AM. I haven’t slept well since then. I call my cousin & then I Google the city, b-ball, voter registration.... Bingo! Generationengage.org and then I get Richmondmbl.org [Midnight Basketball]. So Friday night my brother JP and I jump on that crowded shiny bus, with the skinny dog on the side, about 11:30 PM. I can’t sleep with some sister’s elbow in my back…[I can see why the dog rides on the outside of the bus]…I box out and try to catch a few winks. We hit Richmond about 6:30 in the A.M. We get to the hotel, unpack and catnap [painfully] until about half-time of game one. I haven’t slept well since then.

We taxi to the Arthur Ashe Athletic Center [He was from Rich/Va]…A small crowd outside, folks handing out Millions More March on DC info…I’m feeling this already. Inside the cavernous arena, I wipe the sleep from my eyes & see that the rafters are laced with Virginia Union Championship banners, from the 60’s through the 90’s. Game one is over. The voter registration is in effect. Not a large crowd, but the place is packed with legitimate ballas from the Richmond Midnight Basketball League!

Game 1-Richmond’s Finest had already sent The Crusaders to the loser’s bracket, by the score of 56-53. An offensive barrage by Clarence “Quiet Storm” Thorton [30 pts] elevated Richmond’s Finest to the next round. Game 2-Team XO is coached by Anthony [Always Has a Bomb Squad] Callicutt. Today would be no different. Team XO eliminated the Tri-State All-Stars led by Lantrice Green [Virginia Union] who dropped 28 points with six tres…The final score in this one 79-52. Game 3-Strictly Business squeezes past The Churchill Ballers in a close one. This one could have gone either way. For Churchill, Nathaniel Pollard had 21…For Strictly Biz Kevin Smith had 12 and crowd favorite Ed Riley had 11. Final score 49-45 in favor of Strictly Business. Game Four-Watkins Enterprises led the entire game against The Crusaders, however second half heroics from Jonathan Hargett [West Va] lifted The Crusaders over Watkins 56-53. Hargett had 26 pts & Chew Bostic had 16 pts for Watkins Enterprises of Camden, NJ.

In the semi-final game Team XO was victorious over Richmond’s Finest with explosive play from Tyriq“The Flame Thrower”Wallace [Arkansas] 27 points. Every time the Finest knocked on the door to get back into this game, Tyriq answered with a long distance tre or an attack at the rack. Richmond’s Finest was led by Derrick Stewart [Varina HS] with 17 pts, Vosean Smyree [Viginia] a combo player who gets to the bucket with ease bagged 18 pts. The final score, in this hotly contested game, was 90-76. In the other semi-final, The Crusaders ran out of gas against the youthful Strickly Business. The big man, Kevin Mayo[Henrico HS] had 18 pts & Greg Smith had 16 leading the energetic Strickly Biz over The Crusaders 74-65. I stretch & get ready for “The Chip”

Strictly Business & Team XO clashed in the “2005 Dunk the Vote Final”…Both teams exchanged the lead early on and down the stretch Team XO pulled away for the “W” 79-68. The XO combo of MVP Lamar Gregg [33 pts] and Tyriq Wallace [18 pts] proved to be too much. Smith[24 pts] Mayo[15 pts] for Strictly Biz. Back at the hotel- Just as I nod off, there is a knock at the door…It’s my cousin Dave aka Latino Heat! He drags us to The Cotton Club at 1 A.M. Don’t sleep on Virginia…They got Ballas!