On July 7, 2035, tragedy struck the NDL. New York Chargers executive Tom Takamine and his wife, Kimberly, were found stabbed to death in their vacation home in upstate New York. It was later determined that Kimberly’s ex-husband, Kris Williams, had broken in while the couple were asleep and attacked them with a steak knife. Things would only get worse when Tom’s father, Chargers majority owner Ryūsuke Takamine, turned on the TV to abruptly learn of the murder of his only child. In shock at the news, the elder Takamine would suffer cardiac arrest for the second time in 18 months, and would soon pass away as well. Within the span of less than 24 hours, the patriarchs of dashball in New York were both gone.

Both New York and Long Island would finish the season wearing patches containing the trio’s initials and their surname written in kanji: 高峰. Unfortunately, that would only be the beginning of the off-court drama for New York. It turned out that the succession plan for the franchise did not account for such a tragic scenario, leaving the fate of the Chargers organization up in the air. The only remaining Takamine descendant was Tom’s daughter Emma Takamine, but she had been almost entirely written out of her family’s inheritance after publicly distancing herself from her family, denouncing their accrual of wealth, and advocating for a higher tax on the rich. Given that Ryūsuke had always intended to pass the team to Tom, many believed it should naturally be handed down to Emma. Others, however, argued that the Takamines’ shares should be sold off, contending that the Takamines had never intended to pass control of the team to Emma, and that their lessening of her inheritance indicated as much. The two loudest voices in the latter camp were minority owners Austin Diamond and Daizuan Thomas, who were seen as likely candidates to buy the shares should they go up for sale. Ultimately, there would be a long legal battle ahead, and things would not be sorted out until after the season was over. In the meantime, the remaining board members of the Takamines’ holding company would control the team, with Brendan Schafer acting as chair.

While all this was going on, the Chargers still had to play dashball, and their season on the court mirrored the chaos happening off it. New York had a rough start to the season, but went on a tear through April and May, leading the front office to swing a couple big deals in the spring, adding F/ZB Dakota Valdez from Atlanta and B/K Trev Crawford from Orlando. Their most surprising trade, however, was a deadline move with yet another South Division team - the Miami Palms. The reigning champions had also stumbled out of the gate, but weren’t able to recover, and with a repeat looking more and more out of the picture, made the controversial decision to part with B/ZB Gerald Hartline. Hartline was 38 and on an expiring contract, but it was still a bold move given that he was less than a year removed from leading them to a title. The Chargers won the sweepstakes, and added Hartline to an already-strong roster. With all these roster moves, however, there was some difficulty getting everyone on the same page, and New York was frustratingly inconsistent for much of the second half. They were able to lock up a playoff spot with just over a week to go, and opted to rest many of their aging starters the rest of the way, dropping them from 6th to 8th. Overall, it was a true rollercoaster of a season, but a disappointing outcome for a roster with a lot of talent.

Another contributing factor was the division they had to play in. The DC Statesmen, led by B/ZB Ethan Keller and F/ZB Ziad Abdel, couldn’t replicate their run to the top seed a year ago, but did return to the postseason, claiming the seventh seed after leapfrogging the Chargers. Philadelphia, who had been floundering for the past couple of years, saw a return to form. The offseason additions of HC Dax Pistorius and W/ZB Horace Yazzie worked out wonderfully, with the latter posting 26.5 points and 24.4 points assisted per game on his way to winning Offensive Player of the Year. The Row also made their own deadline addition, trading for Yazzie’s former Hogs teammate, B/C Tiziano Torres, after losing their young star B/C Mario Avala to a season-ending MCL tear. Their season did come with some controversy, as shortly after B/ZB Kenton Snowberger suffered a season-ending quad injury in early May, the 39-year-old announced his retirement, allowing the Row to take his cap hit off the books and add more salary, like Torres’, from other teams. None of that is against the rules, of course, but that didn’t stop dashball Twitter from airing their gripes regardless. Philly finished at 38-28, good enough to claim the #5 seed. They did have to give up 24-year-old B/C Adrien Camfield in the Torres deal, and he looked like a stud in Toronto, a positive sign for the Hogs’ continuing rebuild.

Finally, the Boston Commodores, widely expected to finally take the next step and make their first postseason appearance, did a little bit more than that. The Dores tore the league apart, finishing with the most points scored and the fewest points allowed, leading to a 57-9 overall record - the best in the league, and in fact the best anyone had achieved since the Row went 58-8 in 2031. Head coach Michael Stader won Coach of the Year, as nearly every single Commodore on the roster showed improvement over last season. This made for one of the deepest teams in the league, and they played like it, with just about every player able to pass, shoot, or make a stop on defense. The best player on the floor was different nearly every night, and while B/C Ryan Alamos continued to be the fan favorite, youngsters like B/ZB Aaron Gain, W/ZB Nkem Carter, and W/ZB Joel Turkiewicz also had excellent seasons. This marks the first time in NDL history that an entire division has qualified for the postseason, and it sets up an enticing Boston-New York matchup in the first round.

Another intriguing playoff matchup could be the 2-3 semifinal - assuming upsets don’t prevent that from happening. If not, we’ll see yet another iteration of Lights-Lions, as Minnesota and California finished with identical records for the second time in three years. Unlike last time, though, the Sea Lions won the tiebreaker, earning them the #2 seed for the third straight year and home-court advantage if and when they do face off. The teams’ paths to 48-18 were wildly different, though. The Lights saw their top two players, F/ZB Kevin Simmons and W/K Richard Singh, continue to play brilliant dashball, with Simmons winning MVP and Singh winning his third consecutive Defensive Player of the Year award. It marked the first time in NDL history that two different players from the same team won MVP in back to back years, and the first time that two teammates each won a major award. Minnesota also saw vintage seasons from seasoned veterans B/ZB Dewitt Golf and W/C James Pitts at 37 and 38, respectively. In San Jose, however, the Sea Lions’ top two players both missed huge chunks of the year with injuries. W/ZB Matt Powers spent much of the year on IR with a hamstring injury, but was able to return towards the end of the season. F/ZB Michael Basch wasn’t so lucky, suffering a torn Achilles in late May which would force him out until at least the start of the next season. Thanks to players like W/ZB Isaiah Graves, W/ZB Colton Harvey, and F/ZB Brent Justice, California was able to weather that storm, but many have wondered what they would have been capable of had they stayed healthy.

Adding to the Sea Lions’ impressive feat was that they did all that despite having to contend with a division rival breathing down their necks. The Sabertooths were expected to struggle after star B/ZB Roy Lalanne left in free agency, but they weren’t fazed in the slightest. Several players stepped into the vacated spotlight, including B/C duo James Gray and Ben Elkins, F/ZB pair Joseph Kirtland and Christian Casey, and 2029 first overall pick B/ZB Christopher Strine, who led the league in points assisted with 33.1 per game. They couldn’t keep up with California in the long run, but still finished 39-27 and earned the #4 seed, their highest finish since all the way back in 2022. Such a season from the Tooths must have frustrated Lalanne, who had a great season in Montréal, but much like his time in LA, didn’t get a lot of help from his teammates, especially in the scoring department. After quite the overperformance last year, the Magma underperformed this year and missed the playoffs despite Lalanne’s efforts. The good news is that their young players came along really well: B/ZB Riley Dobbins, the first overall pick in 2032, had a breakout season in his second year in the bigs, and W/C Andrew Romagna got called up from Laval and worked his way into the Magma’s starting lineup at just 22 years old.

Only three teams finished below Montréal, and strangely enough, all three finished with the same record. Even stranger, that record was 22-44, by far the best worst record in league history. It was enough to be an improvement for the Sawyers, who saw some development amongst a very young roster, but not enough to draw many fans in their final year in Seattle. They did get the favorable draw in the tiebreaker, so fans in Colorado will be disappointed that the team traded that pick two offseasons ago, meaning the rights to draft top prospect B/ZB Cameron Beaufort now belong to Orlando. The other two teams were not so happy to be there. The Chicago Frost kicked off the post-Tony Bennett era with a real whimper. Injuries played a part, but the team just didn’t have much depth past their few star players. Nashville dealt with a similar problem; after signing F/ZB Eddie McDonald and W/ZB Arthur Julian to a pair of eight-figure contracts, the team was forced to make sacrifices when it came to the remainder of their roster. Even worse, neither of those players performed as expected. The Fugitives and their fans are hoping that they can bounce back quickly, though, as they’ll have $15 million in cap freed up when W/K Will Orleans’ contract expires this offseason.

With Nashville in freefall and Miami selling at the deadline, the South Division was wide open. Atlanta was never going to win it after a 7-win season last year, but they did get a lot better, finishing tied with the Palms and beating them on the tiebreaker to technically finish as the first team out of the playoffs, even if they were 5 games back. Last year’s top pick, W/ZB Phil Jones, was especially promising, only spending a few months in Charlotte before the big-league Records called him up. He’s looked solid, if still a bit rough around the edges, against NDL talent so far. No, the South was won, almost by default, by the Orlando Orbits. W/ZB Frank St. Peter finally stayed healthy, and finally got some of his supporting cast to step up, with F/C Mike Mill returning to form and B/ZB Ben Umbs posting the best season of his career. It was honestly just an okay season, but it was certainly better than their last two, and it was good enough for a division title and a date with Minnesota in round 1.

That, finally, brings us to the Texas Redbacks. After nearly two decades of being the dashball gods’ favorite team, the Redbacks had begun to look mortal as of late. They had gone to Game 7 of the first round each of the past three years, but had lost every time. Even still, it was hard to believe they were really finished, especially after they nearly pulled off a historic upset last season. This year, though, Texas didn’t just look mortal - they looked dead. W/ZB Larry Whitt and W/C Elide Amigazzi looked every bit of 38 and 41 respectively, and a litany of injuries spanning the end of the lineup, the bench, and even the NDDL team in Fort Worth, left them lacking the depth to keep up over a full season. The Redbacks finished 26-40, their worst record by winning percentage in club history, and missed the playoffs for the first time since 2019. It was truly the end of an era.

Last edited by ItDoesntMatter (11/14/2025 8:01 pm)

Well, since my Palms are out, I guess I'll have to cheer for someone else. From who made it, I suppose that's Orlando.

It's always odd to see the Redbacks not dominating, but it's refreshing. More opportunity for teams to succeed gives more opportunities to build longterm fans, in my opinion.

Lets Go Lights!

Thanks everyone for your comments! Glad to see people still come back to this thread after so much time away.

Wallflower wrote:

So apparently there were knives...

Wild start to the season.

Yeah, no kidding! I've had a version of this story floating around for years now (both IRL years and in-universe years) so it's good to finally get it out on the page. (Readers who have a really good memory will remember that I foreshadowed it two offseasons ago). It wasn't gonna involve knives until H-Town popped in and asked about them, and I figured it'd be funny to tweak the story in that direction (before that, the Takamines were supposed to die in a boating accident). There's a lot more to come, so stay tuned.

Oh, and minor point - July 7 is actually around the middle of the NDL season, which goes from mid-March to late August. I'm sure you meant the start of the season post, however. 🤓

Dan O'Mac wrote:

It's always odd to see the Redbacks not dominating, but it's refreshing. More opportunity for teams to succeed gives more opportunities to build longterm fans, in my opinion.

Yeah, it's definitely odd for me too, lol. It'll be really weird having a playoffs without them; it's been almost eight real-life years since I'd last posted a season where Texas missed the postseason. I'm with you that it's a net positive for the league, but we'll have to see if fans stay engaged without being able to root against the Redbacks.

Last edited by ItDoesntMatter (11/17/2025 8:29 pm)

Both of these teams came into the playoffs after disappointing seasons. DC had taken a step back after a surprising run to the top seed in 2034, while California still had a great year, but suffered injuries that prevented them from being even better. Such as it was, there was a pretty clear favorite coming into this series, so it was surprising when the Statesmen came out and took a 20-point lead in the third inning. The Sea Lions would fight back, going on a run before halftime to cut into the lead and getting within a single point late in the sixth, but DC would pull away again, and a 5-point kick from B/K Paul Gartside was the dagger, putting the Statesmen up 13 with just under a minute to go. California would hit one desperation 5-pointer, but their comeback would fall flat.

The Statesmen had made a big statement with an upset win in San Jose, and the Sea Lions were determined to return the favor in Game 2. They did exactly that, with a 162-102 drubbing to swing momentum back in their direction. W/ZB Matt Powers, despite still not being back at 100% full strength, led the team in points contributed with 29 scored and 24 assisted, while F/ZB Brent Justice led the team in pure scoring with 36. In Washington for Game 3, it was more of the same. DC hung around a bit closer for a bit longer, but the Lions were making their mark on the series, and after two straight dominant wins, their grip on the series seemed stronger than ever.

DC had other plans, however. They treated Game 4 as a must-win, and it showed from the opening tip. They were already up by 8 in the second inning when they went on a 21-5 run, and were nearly about to go into the half up 18 when the Sea Lions stole some of their momentum with 8 quick points in their last two possessions. California proceeded to steal the rest of the momentum after the half by making up all 10 of those points to enter the sixth inning up by 1. From there, it would go back and forth, with each team making little runs, but the visitors would start to pull ahead late. A deep 5-point jumper from B/ZB Connor Mason with 3:02 left would permanently extend the Lions’ lead to two scores, and they would finish with a 9-point win to steal both games in the nation’s capital.

Returning home for Game 5, the Sea Lions were not about to let DC come that close again. They looked at Game 2’s 60-point margin and said, “we can do better than that,” and then they did, beating the Statesmen so bad you’d be forgiven for forgetting that DC had won a game in this series. With four straight wins, California was advancing to round 2.




The biggest storyline of this series was the head coaches, who were both in their first year with their respective teams. The Sabertooths’ Sacha Ponce, who led the rival Sea Lions to the first two championships in NDL history, came to LA and immediately led his new team to their first top-4 seed in over a decade. In contrast, Dax Pistorius had zero NDL coaching experience before 2035, coming over from Berkeley with plenty of doubters, but proved them all wrong, lifting the Row out of their brief doldrums and into second place in a very tough East Division.

Things went sideways for Pistorius and their team in the very first inning when B/C Tiziano Torres, acquired by Philadelphia to replace the injured B/C Mario Avala, fell victim to an injury of his own: a concussion which would ultimately leave him sidelined for the next several games. Philly would turn to their only remaining center, B/C Jonathan Han, who was quickly overwhelmed by the Los Angeles attack. 44 points assisted by B/ZB Christopher Strine and 33 points scored by F/ZB Joseph Kirtland led a Game 1 drubbing for the Tooths. By halftime, LA was up by 35, and while it wouldn’t get any more out of hand, there would still be plenty of time for both teams to empty their benches as the Tooths cruised to a 40-point win in Game 1.

Pistorius shuffled their lineup around for Game 2, pairing Han with B/K Rufo Torrez in the hopes that having a better defender behind him would increase Han’s confidence, or at least clean up some of his mistakes. It did a little of both, and with Philly able to keep more control over the pace of play, they managed to keep things close. That is, until the final inning, when W/ZB Jase Manley came to play. Manley dropped 12 of his 26 points in the eighth to help the Tooths pull away and claim a 2-0 advantage.

The Row held fast to their strategy, and it continued to pay dividends in Game 3. Like in the previous game, the score stayed close until the very end, but thanks to a boost from the raucous Philadelphia crowd, they were able to pull ahead. Up by four in the final minute, Torrez made an acrobatic save to rob LA W/K Richie Pinnix. Han was able to collect the rebound and find W/ZB Horace Yazzie upcourt, who dished to W/ZB Tyler Blouse for the dagger 3-point jumper that locked in the final score at 120-113.

Philly was back in the series, and they were feeling pretty good until Game 4 got underway. Ponce pushed his players to turn up the heat and play at a faster pace, and while the Row were able to reach their highest point total of the series, so were the Tooths. Kirtland led the way with 41 as Los Angeles took a commanding 3-1 series lead. Back in SoCal for Game 5, it was more of the same as Philadelphia trailed 76-44 at the half. They were able to keep things more-or-less even in the second half, but they just couldn’t go on the kind of run they needed to get back in the game, and midway through the eighth inning, Pistorius waved the white flag. The Sabertooths coasted to a 128-95 victory, and would advance to the semifinals for the second time in three seasons.




Despite being the 1-8 series, this was probably the most talked-about matchup of the first round. After all, there was an argument to be made that despite being the much lower seed, the Chargers were the better team on paper, especially given their huge advantage when it came to postseason experience. The added layer of the storied rivalry between Boston and New York made for must-see TV, and Game 1 more than lived up to the hype. Aside from a brief 11-point lead by New York in the sixth inning, the teams stayed within single digits the whole game, and things started to get a bit chippy here and there. Boston would battle back to take a late 3-point lead with just under a minute to go. The Chargers would tie the game on a pass from B/ZB Gerald Hartline to F/ZB Dakota Valdez, but would leave enough time for the Commodores to have one more chance. The ball would quickly find its way to W/ZB Nkem Carter, who dropped the ball to his feet to try to get around B/K Trev Crawford. Crawford, clearly about to get beat, grabbed Carter’s shoulder and dragged him to the ground. Some extracurriculars ensued, but after things cooled off, the foul would give Carter ball in hand with 4.2 seconds on the clock. With time and space, Carter would trust his jump shot, and sunk the 3-pointer to give Boston the win in the opener.

Early in Game 2, the Commodores took a pretty major hit, as star B/ZB Aaron Gain tore his meniscus and would be out for the series. At first, it didn’t seem to affect much, as the teams sat deadlocked at 71 at the break after another half of physical play. It was shaping up to be a second straight instant classic, but unfortunately, nobody told the Chargers, who went on a 19-0 run in the third quarter, thanks largely to stifling defense, including a couple of fantastic sixth-inning saves by B/K Jim Pair. Once the run ended, the teams more or less continued trading scores, which was just fine by New York. As the series headed to the other Garden, the defense continued to be the story. While Boston stepped up their defensive game, allowing just 119 points, they were well overshadowed by the Chargers’ D. The ‘Dores struggled to get much of anything going all game, and came up just short of 100 points, a mark they’d only failed to reach thrice during the regular season. Suddenly, New York was in the driver’s seat with a 2-1 series lead.

Game 4 was looking like another runaway win for the Chargers, as they came out firing on all cylinders in the first half, jumping out to a 21-point lead just before halftime. Boston, however, would not go down easily for a second straight game. The Commodores tightened up their defense, and got on a bit of a run down the stretch in the sixth that pulled them back into the game. They would keep chipping away at the lead throughout the final quarter, and with under a minute left, Nkem Carter made a gorgeous backdoor pass to F/ZB Andrew Burns for an easy goal that gave Boston its first lead in over an hour of game time. New York would respond on their next possession, with Hartline executing a perfect give-and-go with W/ZB James Bottoms and retaking the lead with a 3-point floater. Once again, Boston would have one more possession to make something happen. The ball made its way to B/C Jacquille White up top, and with time ticking down and Carter failing to escape a double-team, White seemed to panic, throwing up a jump ball to the end zone which was easily swatted away by B/ZB Brandon Walter. The Chargers had eked out a third straight win and were just one win away from moving onto the semifinals.

Needing a win to stay alive, the Commodores came out strong in Game 5, taking an 18-point lead at the end of the first quarter, but New York punched back soon thereafter. By halftime, they were back within five, and they would take the lead midway through inning number 5. The two dance partners would mostly stay in lockstep from that point on, with Boston leading most of the rest of the game but New York always lurking just a few points behind. That was certainly the case as the game headed to its final possession, with the Chargers getting a stop to keep their deficit at two with 12 seconds to go. Gerald Hartline made a fantastic pass inside to W/ZB Ha’Dori Robinson, but he was bottled up near the three point line by the combination of B/C Ryan Alamos on the D-squad and B/ZB Aaron Boldt on the O-squad. Robinson found his only available option, kicking it out to B/C David Reinink on the perimeter, but his pass was a little bit high. Reinink was able to corral it, but had to rush the jump shot as a result, and was only able to hit the backboard. Boston had survived by the skin of their teeth.

New York still had two more chances to close out the series, including one at home in Game 6, but Boston had clearly found their stride after pulling out Game 5. The ‘Dores put together their best performance of the series thus far, with Carter and F/ZB Jerry Miller leading the way with a pair of 26-point showings to push the series to a Game 7. Back at TD Garden, with all the momentum they could want, Boston got out to a solid start, leading by 7 midway through the second inning. That’s when the show started. Commodores B/K Matt White had been playing through an injury to his left ankle all series, so when W/ZB Isaaq Davis initiated a hard slide tackle into that leg, things got ugly. White, clearly believing that Davis was targeting his injured leg, threw a right hook at Davis’s face. At that point, everybody got involved, including a few players from each bench, as things escalated into a brawl. When all was said and done, both White and Davis were tossed, as were an additional three Commodores and two Chargers. This was a particular problem for Boston, as they were now left with only one eligible keeper, putting head coach Michael Stader in a real pickle. Ultimately, Alamos would shift to keeper, yielding his position to B/C Juan Ramos. Then, as if Boston’s situation wasn’t bad enough, Ramos suffered a high ankle sprain just six minutes later, forcing B/C Aaron Lanning into the game. With a keeper brand-new to the position and a center not particularly known for his defensive ability, New York had a field day on offense, peppering the two with shot after shot. Jim Pair led the team on offense with 47 points contributed, and by the time they let off the gas in the final frame, they had already surpassed 150 points. It may have taken some unusual circumstances, but the New York Chargers had advanced, becoming the first eighth seed to do so in NDL history.




It would be perfectly reasonable for any team to feel wary about going up against the 2034 and 2035 MVPs in the first round. The Orbits, however, had matched up well against the Lights during the regular season, winning three of their four matchups. A big part of that was F/C Mike Mill, one of the few players with the defensive prowess to contain F/ZB Kevin Simmons and/or W/K Richard Singh. In Game 1, Mill was tasked with hounding Singh while the two were on offense; Orlando head coach Adrian Green even had Mill, usually a strong end zone target, hang back when the Orbs had the ball so he wouldn’t be too far away from Singh. While Simmons was free to rack up points on the other squad, scoring 38, Singh was clearly troubled by the constant presence of Mill, and was uncharacteristically ineffective. It was a rough day for the usually-potent Lights offense overall, as the Orbits pulled off the Game 1 upset to take the early lead in the series.

Minnesota head coach Chase Feller swapped the two squads for Game 2, giving Singh a respite from Mill’s restless defense. Mill would instead face off against Simmons on offense, but unfortunately for him and the Orbits, Simmons spent much more time in the defensive zone, where Mill wasn’t allowed to follow him. With both of the Lights’ stars mostly free to operate as they pleased, the Lights were up 26 by halftime and ran away with a huge Game 2 win. With the series headed to Orlando, though, Green and the Orbits would have the advantage of submitting the second lineup card, meaning Mill would be paired back up with Singh for the next two games. While their defensive strategy was once again effective in Game 3, it was the Orbits’ turn to be disappointed by an anemic offensive showing. W/ZB Frank St. Peter was ice cold, scoring just 16 points all game, and Minnesota was able to wrangle back home-court advantage with a 16-point win. St. Peter would respond in Game 4, with a 41-point performance to go along with a 35-piece from none other than Mike Mill, who was dominating in the Lights’ D-zone. While his time spent there did mean Singh and squadmate B/ZB Dewitt Golf picked up the pace themselves, it was well worth it for Orlando, who pulled the series back to an even split, winning by 17. 

In Game 5, the fans in St. Paul were treated to an instant classic. Orlando did go up by 17 in the first half thanks to a new defensive scheme: rather than just relying on Mill to hound Simmons (which often wasn’t possible anyway), the Orbits relied on their team defense, often sending two or three men to Simmons or Singh. Eventually, though, the Lights’ stars began to find gaps, and they got a little help from the rest of their lineup, too; W/C James Pitts, who had been having a very quiet series by his standards, finally got hot in the fifth with a few consecutive scores to cut into the lead. As the game reached its final inning, Orlando was clearly getting tired, and Minnesota took advantage. Singh had finally started to heat up, and gave the Lights their first lead, scoring past B/K Andy Lewis with just under two minutes left in the fourth quarter. The teams would trade scores, then trade stops, putting the Orbits on the spot with 18 seconds remaining for a final possession. With time winding down, W/ZB Joseph Dushkin tried to force a pass to St. Peter, only to have it knocked away by Golf, sealing a pivotal win for the Lights.

The Orbs had a difficult road ahead, needing to win two games in a row to stay alive. That road got a lot easier, however, after Singh misjudged a screaming shot off the foot of St. Peter and took it off the noggin. Singh would be forced out of the game with a concussion, and without one of their two superstars, the Lights looked just as out of sorts as Singh did. Of course, Kevin Simmons got his, scoring 40, but his teammates combined for just 70 as Orlando cruised to a 143-110 win. Singh would not be cleared to play in Game 7, meaning Minnesota would have to survive a win-or-go-home game without perhaps their most dynamic playmaker. Like in Game 6, Simmons dominated, with 47 points and 12 more assisted, but unlike Game 6, the Lights’ other squad had a solid performance to at least keep things close while Simmons was on defense. The game stayed pretty tight up until the end of the sixth inning. With just under half a minute to go in the period, B/ZB Abe Gonzales found St. Peter for a five-point pass, then after a stop on the other end, Gonzales hurled up a prayer from just beyond half court and sank it. The ten-point swing turned a 1-point Lights lead into a 9-point cushion for the Orbits. Minnesota would try to respond in the final quarter, but it seemed like every time they scored, Orlando would hit right back with points of their own. When the final buzzer sounded, the Orbits had a 12-point win, earning the upset and punching their ticket to the second round.