The All In Hoops basketball league held its championship game Saturday at Dupont Circle’s All In Hoops gym, with the second-seeded Dreamcatchers defeating eighth-seeded the Truth 98-92.
Though neither team was a stranger to the finals, Jermaine Brown’s Dreamcatchers entered the game 13-point favorites. But the Dreamcatchers got off to a slow start, as the Truth’s one-two-three punch of Justin Harrison, Hakim Warrick and Ryan Jones broke down the zone defense and opened up a 56-42 lead to close out the half.
The Dreamcatchers shifted gears quickly in the second half, switching to a man-to-man defense that confused their opponent. During a crucial 14-0 run over a three-minute stretch, the Dreamcatchers tied the game with 10 minutes remaining, with Randy “White Chocolate” Gill (17 points) and Bobby Bones (40 points) scoring all of the team’s points during that span.
With two minutes left and the score tied following five straight lead changes, Bobby Bones drove to the basket, was fouled and scored in acrobatic fashion. The Truth’s Amadou Kilkenny-Diaw protested the call and received a technical foul, resulting in two free throws and a follow-up basket as the lead grew to seven with little time elapsing.
The Truth managed to close the gap to one with 45 seconds to go, but a clutch 3-point shot by Gill and foul free throws by Bones put the game out of reach.
The win marked the second back-to-back All In Hoops title for the Dreamcatchers.