Last time we left you Joel had tenaciously comeback from being down 6 - 4. The series was tied 7 - 7 with tension building like building being built. The Pinckney competitors hit the court Thursday afternoon for what could be the deciding session in the all-important basketball series. Matthew came out like an angry bee out of a beehive after being attacked by a bear. In the first game Matthew's stinger of a jump-shot numbed Joel's defensive hopes. He took a commanding lead early on and carried it the whole way through finishing 
the game 21 - 15 and taking a 8 - 7 lead in the series. Joel responded in the second game like an angry mother bear whose cub had just been attacked by an angry bee. He took an early lead over Matthew and in the second game threatening to tie the series once again. But Matthew wasn't going down easy. He fought back like Spartan from the movie 300. He took the slight lead at 19 - 18, only one score away from taking a 9 - 7 lead in the series. But Joel, the angry mother bear, had one more swing of the paw. He 
drove to the hoop but pulled up half way and blasted the ball through the hoop, putting himself a point away from winning the game. Matthew gathered himself together like a hen gathering her chicks. He looked at the ball, then looked at the hoop, as if to say, "Hello ball. I would like you to go there, please." The ball must have given him an affirmative response, because when he pulled up for the jump shot, it traveled through space and time, jumping through the circular rim like a circus animal jumping through a hoop. Matthew had won the game 21 - 20 and taken a huge 9 - 7 lead in the series.
The Pinckneys hit the court Friday for what could be the final session of basketball in the Epic
Match of 2010. Joel stood in a freakishly dangerous position, having to win three games in a row, something that no player had done in the entire series. Matthew was pumped up like a recently deflated basketball that had been ignited with air from a supersonic air pump. (R.I.P. Seattle SuperSonics) The game began with both players playing severe defense: blocking shots, getting steals, and just plain shutting downage of their opponents. Joel took the early lead with help from his little friend, the three point line. But Matthew's inner Ray Allen/Kobe Bryant/LeBron James/Stephen Curry/Gerald Henderson began to emerge. His jump shot fell like a load of bricks off the Empire State Building: hard, far, and fast. He took a late lead at 17 - 15 but Joel stood tall emotionally, so tall he resembled a post, a post that
upped, and an up that went right into the basketball hoop. The game was tied 17 - 17. Matthew responded immediately. He drove toward the hoop, faked the pull-up jumper, got Joel in the air, and stepped around for the shot. The ball bounced free of the hoop but Matthew, acting like a wild bull, leapt into the air to snatch the ball like Torii Hunter, in his prime, snatching a home-run. He immediately re-put-up the ball and this time, it fell for him. Score: 19 - 17. Matthew was one shot away from winning the series. At that point both players shot the intensity level with an injection of the intense drug. Joel was not letting go of the series easily. He came up with ginormous steals and mammoth blocks. But unfortunately for Joel, his offense was not as mammoth as his defense. He simply could not put the ball in the hoop, and that was his downfall. Matthew had
been contained for a long while and he was ready to be unleashed. He took the ball in his hand and like an utterly parched man takes pure filtered water into his stomach. The hoop stared at him as if to say, "Hey, remember yesterday when I welcomed the ball from your hands? I would love to welcome it once again. I'm feeling very hospitable today!" Matthew drove to the hole, crossed the ball from his right hand to his left, pulled it
into his hands, faked the shot, got his opponent in the air, then took the shot that captivated the world. It sailed, it slooshed, it smished, and it smacked the back of the rim, then bounced and smacked the front, the bounced and smacked the back like a the ping-pong ball in the Peyton Manning Justin Timberlake commercial for Sony. And then, as if Justin Timberlake was saying the words, "I could do this all day football star." the ball sped through the net as Justin Timberlake hot-potatoed the ping-pong paddle saying, "Ooh, Ahhh, it's on fire." And with that, Matthew unleashed the elated scream he had been longing for: "YEEEEAAHHHEEEEESSSS!!" He had done it. He had beaten Joel 10 games to 7. He had taken the lead in on the overall scoreboard, making up all the ground lost during Disc Golf.
And it was epic.
Last time we left you Joel had tenaciously comeback from being down 6 - 4. The series was tied 7 - 7 with tension building like building being built. The Pinckney competitors hit the court Thursday afternoon for what could be the deciding session in the all-important basketball series. Matthew came out like an angry bee out of a beehive after being attacked by a bear. In the first game Matthew's stinger of a jump-shot numbed Joel's defensive hopes. He took a commanding lead early on and carried it the whole way through finishing 
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