11/1/11 SAS @ HNT
SAS: 104
HNT: 88

With the five returning players on the Mayors starting against the updated lineup of the Spectrums, the visitors built upon an early lead before the new acquisitions on the Huntsville bench slowed the bleeding to prevent the deficit from reaching 20 points.

After a brief announcement to celebrate former Mayors Jackson Price (Fisher, head coach) and Randall Yoster (Border Collie, assistant coach) garnered a bit of applause from the hardcore Huntsville fans, they received an equal amount of boos during the team introductions. Surprisingly, superstar John Stoat (Stoat, G) was not listed in the active roster for tonight’s game, nor was the 2011 #1 overall draft pick Nina Lime (Wolf, G). As expected, the Mayors’ scoring ability suffered without these two, while the Spectrums’ own offensive engine was running on full steam.

The Spectrums, known last season for their rapid promotion of rookie players, strayed from that course by putting up most of their experienced, standard game lineup players. Karre Roark (Coyote, PG) led the Spectrums with the commanding presence of a veteran far beyond his years, with Omar Pink (Saluki, SF) on a mission to show Huntsville what a starting SF looks like now that they’d lost Knutten.

From the get-go, the Spectrums took the court and made it their own, much to the dismay of the Huntsville crowd. With a new, aggressive attitude, the visitors nailed down eight unanswered points before the Mayors sunk their first bucket. Ray Rodin (Rat, SG) had his paws full dealing with Santa Ana’s stronger guards, drawing fouls early on against the brutal play of N’duk Hunter (Mongoose, SG) who went on to be the Spectrums’ scoring champ of the night. Rodin found himself quickly pulled, replaced by former Spectrum Telki Holland (Chinchilla, SG), who went on to go nearly shot-for-shot with Hunter all night, nailing long threes when she could get coverage from her teammates.

But the Spectrums weren’t content to only show their revamped offense, and chose to showcase their new defense in the form of Toby Papanastasopoulos (Skunk, PF), who bumped chests with Tyler Kiko (Goat, PF) all night, but simply couldn’t handle the double-team of Papa Nasty and Lance Cheval (Stallion, C), who blasted through the Mayors defenses to pound in crushing dunks in the first two quarters.

It all seemed to be going one way for the first half, but everything changed when the Spectrums brought up their bench in the third quarter. Rookie point guard Li Ho Fook (Red Panda)’s inexperience at the pro level was clearly visible, and despite some flashy moves and a daring inside pass around Evan Ashton (Lion, F), he couldn’t maintain his composure, and after suffering three picks from Aina La’ia (Ringtail, G), Fook was retired back to the bench after only ten minutes of play. Rust was evident on both sides, however, as Crosby Sutters (Genet, F) couldn’t manage to even come close to what he’d done last season, and was visibly upset after being blocked by the significantly shorter Jim McCormick (Badger, F). Lasting only a bit longer than Fook, Sutters was retired before the close of the third quarter, making way for recent transfer Dayron DeBose (Dingo, F), who readily handled the position-swapped Ashton and Broyles (Siamese Cat, F) as they struggled to make sense of their new positions.

The Mayors capitalized on the Spectrums disorganization in the third, rallying back and outscoring Santa Ana for the first time in the game. But it wasn’t to last as Price put Hunter, Pink and Roark back in for the final period of play, with Jack Hinks (Landseer Dog, C) barring every lane he saw open, and swatting down shots with powerful ease over the shorter Huntsville pivots. The Spectrums turned what had returned to a slim single-digit lead into a near-20-point blowout. While the Caretaker’s own shots refused to fall, he made up for it with brilliant assists, one leading to the play of the night when he got the ball to Hunter on the outside.

Taking advantage of the impenetrable coverage of Milton Dianna (Mink, F) and Omar Pink, the mongoose paused, looked straight at John Stoat on the Mayors’ bench, then closed his left eye and put up a perfect three. As the ball kissed nothing but silk, Hunter grinned and pointed a finger-gun at Stoat, playfully pulling the trigger before getting back into play.

From there it was all over, and the Spectrums went on to take the game 104 - 88, with Price having kept his blazer on all night, only removing his hat once to scratch his ears. When Price was asked if he had a comment on how it felt to beat his old team in his old home court, and if he felt like he was betraying his old fans, the fisher just grinned and held up one of the limited edition Jackson Price plushes that had been the night’s coveted giveaway. Pulling the string on its back, the plush played back his infamous line, “You can go ffffff-fish.”