Colorado Springs Military Newspaper Group

11 SWS hits stride as playoffs approach

Maurice Gale pulls up for two of his 34 points during 11 Space Warning Squadron’s 76-44 win over 3rd Space Operations Squadron at the Fitness Center Jan. 22. (U.S. Air Force photo/Scott Prater)

By Scott Prater

Schriever Sentinel

Occasionally, intramural sports competition places players in awkward positions. Take Jan.22 for instance.

Sitting in third place in the league standings prior to their game against second-place 3rd Space Operations Squadron, 11 Space Warning Squadron players were amped up in preparation for an epic showdown with the defending league champions.

Trouble is, 3 SOPS started the game with only four players.

Torn between empathy for their opponents and a desire to play all out, 11 SWS found some place in between, at least for the game’s first 10 minutes. Ultimately, 11 SWS pulled away for a convincing 76-44 victory, despite missing two of its most prominent players.

Shooting guard Maurice Gale hit six 3-pointers and finished with a season-high 34 points while Jerome Wesley scored 14 and Wade Bryant added 12 for 11 SWS.

“It was hard to be aggressive at the beginning because they only had four players,” Gale said. “I knew that if I kept shooting that my teammates would feed off my aggression. Then everybody started hitting shots.”

Behind the efforts of Jay Worrell and Marvin Banks, 3 SOPS kept the game relatively close while playing short-handed.

John Frye entered the game for 3 SOPS with six minutes remaining in the first half. At that point 11 SWS led by 16 points.

Frye provided obvious energy for 3 SOPS, but the move finally allowed 11 SWS to unleash its full offensive power.

Following a 3 SOPS timeout, Kevin Ball tipped a rebound back in and sank a short jumper. Gale followed with an off-balance jump shot from the left wing, then capped the scoring in the first half with his third 3-pointer of the game.

Thanks to the late spurt, 11 SWS led by 20 at the break and never looked back.

Wesley, the team’s captain, said it was good to see 11 SWS perform so well while missing two of the league’s best big men in Joe Johnson and Jacob Burtschi.

“Everybody on the team scored,” he said. “We started out with good chemistry, moved the ball around, got good spacing so we could get shots and penetration… and we made sure to play good defense. Defense is the key. We feel that we have enough scorers at each position to be effective, but a lot of the time our defense lags. We just want to make sure we put forth the same effort on defense as we do on offense and we did that today.”

Meanwhile defending champion 3 SOPS suffered only its third defeat of the season. Worrell scored 10 of his team-high 14 points in the second half, Banks added 11 points and Brandon Ray finished with eight.

Both teams will finish among the top three as the league prepares to enter the playoff tournament the first week in February.

“Guys are finding their roles on the team,” Gale said of 11 SWS teammates. “We’re playing aggressive, we’re playing better defense and we’re finding our rotation among our lineup so we’re going into the playoffs strong.”