SE Washington DC- It was "Old School Tuesday" in the gates of the Barry Farms Coliseum as two competitive games of basketball that featured the BF Crazies vs the Young Guns and the headliner that showcased Rare Essence against the HOBO team.

Miles made it official and declared that from now on, the musical selection will be strictly old school on Tuesdays.  The melodic R & B sounds of The Whispers, James Brown, Bell, Biv, DeVoe among many others flowed thru the speakers of the gates to an eager crowd of all ages.  One thing that proves true is that classic music is timeless no matter the age of the listener. 

Before the game Rasheed "Sheed Dollar" Allen, co CEO of 3rd Eye was talking about his road trip with the group 112 and had this to say, "Providence was crazy, Phoenix was crazy but it was exposure for Q and the other 112 artist who are working on solo projects and it's good to be back home."

In the first game the BF Crazies jumped out to a 10-1 run on the Young Guns until the 8:48 mark of the first half.  Stan from the Young Guns began to make his mark on the game and scored six points in a matter of 3 minutes and he led his team on 17-1 run to overtake the BF Crazies and secure the lead at halftime 21-12. 

Donnie, a shooting guard with the BF Crazies played solid in the first half but the team as a whole only plays well in spurts and then seem to fizzle out either from fatigue or lack of motivation.

In the second half, the Young Guns continued where they left off and opened up the score to a 12 point lead 26-14 at the 12 minute mark.  The BF Crazies made a short but unsustained run and managed to shrink the lead down to 8 with 9 minutes left but the Young Guns had too much firepower as a team and closed the game out 45-33.

In the headliner game, Rare Essence, loaded with great talent, was fighting to get to a .500 record on the season.  Lonnie Baxter (Maryland), Nat Burton (Georgetown), and Ricky Shields (Rutgers, Overseas) are extremely gifted ballplayers but all the loses have been close.

Lonnie B. and the RE team jumped out early to a 7-0 advantage over HOBO.  Lonnie and Nat Burton's intentions were to kill the will of the HOBO team and make it an easy night but it was not to be, not on this night,  not in these gates. 

The HOBO team had some answers and one was their superguard by the name of Corey who was relentless in his persuit of victory and willed his team all night.   HOBO battled back into the action but balanced scoring, passing, and rebounding of the Essence team keep them on top until around the 7 minute mark of the first half. 

HOBO's Kentucky, Omar Weaver, and Corey seized the lead at the 5 minute mark on hustle, attacking the basket, and aggressive defense by 6' 9" shotblocker "The Project".   Ricky Shields converted on a driving, weaving layup at just under the 5 minute mark and then converted a couple free throws to maintain a slight lead but a dunk from HOBO's Corey briefly put them on top.  The halftime score was 51-50 HOBO in a toe to toe battle that would last to the finish.  Superstars on each team lived up to their billing.

HOBO's Corey opened up the second half with six straight points including a dunk and helped his team open up a seven point lead.   The Project started to dominate down low for HOBO but the Essence team would not be denied tonight.  The RE team had too much experience and game saavy to lay down.  Ricky Shields (Rutgers University), Nat Burton, and Lonnie B just continued to be what Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, & Kevin Garnett are to the Boston Celtics, the big three.

Despite the fact that HOBO guard Corey was driving the heart of the Essence offense, Essence was happy to trade buckets and then assert themselves in crunch time.

Ultimately big game experience proved an asset as Essence opened up a slight 3 point lead with a minute left in the game.  HOBO's Corey (27 points) would not die and Essence couldn't kill him and he hit a late three pointer to get his team to within two but Shields free throws sealed the win 87-85.  Rare Essence is now 2-2 on the season.

Ricky Shields said after the win. "We pulled it out. We controlled the tempo and forced them to make some mistakes down the stretch."

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