For the Family it's all love amongest them.  Word has it they are connected by more than just association, hence the feeling of a "family."   This "connection" seems to translate well to the basketball courts as they seem to relish their underdog status and play all out for 40 minutes.

Matt Burks, (Oakland University) who hasn't played all summer, flew in from Michigan to join his teammates for his historic run to the title game.  Burks told me on Thursday he was trying to get his wind back but seemed to get acclamated well after two strong days of play.  The Family's other super guards "No Fear Kenny" (Long Island University) and Kevin have been putting on their own brand of end to end basketball with slashes to the rim and dagger like outside shooting. "JV" and T-Pain have been holding down the boards and playing lock down defense in the paint.

The Roc Boys, the No. 2 seed entering the tournament, fell victim to the oldest pitfall in sports, overlooking their opponent.   When teams traditionally look ahead to a future matchup and not prepare mentally for those right in front of them, bad things happen.  For the Roc Boys this seemed to be the case. 

On paper, The Roc Boys had the speed (Easy E)  height (Lonnie "L Train" Harrell) shooting (Norman) and athleticism (Pee Wee Lynch) at the guard positions as well as the power underneath, (Super Dave), and (Young Zo).

Sound familiar? It seemed that the many, many years ago a young 17 year old boy and future king David didn't have a chance on paper against a much larger and powerful opponent "Goliath."  Goliath's size and arrogance proved his undoing.

For the first two minutes of the first half, both teams were cold from the field.  The Roc Boys Young Zo and Easy E got on track and opened up slight lead 11-7 at the 13:15 mark.  L Train Harrell didn't have his best game shooting but guards Pee Wee Lynch, Easy E, and Young Zo started to force their will on The Family's cinderalla hopes and opened up a 40-29 lead at the 3:40 mark on the first half after a thunderous dunk by Young Zo. 

The Family that stays together, plays together as they dug in and were absolutely relentless.  Guards Matt Burks, Kevin, and "No Fear Kenny"  opened up and started to run. The Family, on the strength of their guard play,  pull to within two at the half 40-38.

The tone was set for the rest of the game.

In the second half, a combination of The Roc Boys incredibly poor shooting from the field, uninspired play and free throw line woes, coupled with the Family's relentless end to end attacking of the basket broke the game open.   Matt Burk's coast to coast layup opened up a 60-50 lead for The Family.   After every Roc Boys miss, all five Family players raced to the basket on the other end to convert buckets.  They basically ran the Roc Boys out of the building.   The score was 72-60 Family at the 2:42 mark of the second half and the onslaught continued until Miles called the action at the 1:06 mark of the second half.

The final score was The Family 80-64. 

 For Cinderella "The Family" Matt Burks gave his perspective.  "We looked up to these guys.  We grew up watching and admiring them but we're here for a reason.  I stepped up today, we all stepped up today.  They (Roc Boys) wanted a slower pace with precision plays so we just speeded everything up.  I said, let's run and they just couldn't keep up the pace.  We were also deep."

Cinderella hasn't struck midnight yet.  "The Family" will meet Shooters I and "The Sponge Bob" in the championship series which starts Friday. 

Shooters coach Lavelle Patterson is definitely cautious and is fully aware of his upcoming opponent. "I haven't seen them play but they have my respect.  I'll make sure my team doesn't underestimate them."

The Goodman Finals will be play Friday and Saturday.  A final game on Monday if the series continues.

For the Goodman League finals writeup come back to www.dcmetrosports.com

For archived Goodman articles go to www.dcmetrosports.com/dcmsblog.