May 8, 2001; A decidedly pudgy Cutters side met with cocky expansion team "The Backyarders" (kudos on the name fellas) for the first time last night at the Marden Exhibition Centre. After a bye last week, the Cutters were obviously out of practice and out of synch as the Backydoorers ripped them a new one, 18 - 46 in a decidedly one sided affair.

 

Despite the stellar emergence of Vanderbom as a premier shotblocker (6 blocks, 11 rebounds), and a slight improvement in Cutters defensive strategy, the Backyarders turned the Cutters offense into a no-show. The normally composed human highlight film Johan was restricted to only 6pts, one of his lowest totals for the season. The sloppy shooting efforts of the rest of the team was no help, inspiring a glory hungry Kroon to switch up his game and bomb nothing but half-court three pointers for much of the game, only connecting once. 

 

An immature display of crying like a baby by a certain Backyarder centre saw a fired up Schumann almost come to blows with feeble (but taller) opponent in the second half. After being restrained by several team mates and made to settle down, Schumann was left to settle the matter the only way he knows how, by driving strong to the hoop and scoring on his unwary opponent.

 

Bottom Line: Two weeks between games, poor defensive dedication by certain players (M.K.) and precious little practice time is killing the Cutters franchise slowly, after a relatively strong start to the season. The Cutters risk losing star PF Vanleeuwen and even their solid frontman LeVene in the off-season if they cannot string together some wins soon, as both become free agents at the end of the season. Team owners have apparently offered Kroon (No position registered) a sizeable redundancy package and a villa in the West Indies to consider leaving the team.

 

Diamond Cutters Basketball

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