Dream Chasers defeat Texas in battle of unbeatens

Story and photos by Randy Dela Cruz

Sports Editor

The Dream Chasers extended a 32-17 halftime with a 15-0 run early in the second half to run away from USS Texas (SSN 775), 81-40, in a Summer Basketball League game at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam Fitness Center gym July 21.

The Summer Basketball League is a pay-to-play league, which is open to active duty, family members and Department of Defense employees who are 18 years of age or older.

The Dream Chasers kept pace at the top of the league by winning their first two games of the season, while Texas dropped to an even .500 at 1-1.

Against Texas, the Dream Chasers, a team that is filled with players from the 2010 base intramural champions Threepeat, opened up a blistering fast-break attack that seized control early in the game.

Texas stayed close in the opening minutes off of the inside play of Logistics Specialist 3rd Class Jessie Olstad, who paced his team with back-to-back baskets and a 4-2 lead.

However, the Dream Chasers’ constant pressure began to take its toll, and when Sonar Technician (Submarine) 3rd Class David Tarallo connected on back-to-back long-range treys, the team got its first double-digit lead at 24-12 with 2:53 remaining in the half.

“We were just taking advantage of the open spots in their zone,” explained Tarallo about the team’s surge. “We like to move the ball around. If we got open shots, we don’t discourage anyone to shoot the ball.”

Back-to-back lay-ups by Marine Cpl. J.R. Martin gave the Dream Chasers a 30-15 lead with 25 seconds before the half.

Martin, who finished with 12 points in the first half and 19 for the game, said that with the team running on all cylinders, the Dream Chasers were just too hard to stop.

“Basketball is all about running,” Martin stated. “So we just run. That’s all we do.”

Following halftime, a lay-up by Olstad brought Texas a basket closer at 30-17, but that’s as close as the team would get.

With only one reserve on the bench for the Dream Chasers, the team decided to step on the gas and put Texas away to prevent any comeback.

Up by 13 points, the Dream Chasers began zeroing in from downtown with a cluster of shots from beyond the 3-point arch.

The team got 3-point splashdowns by Logistics Specialist 2nd Class Eric Cotton, Department of Defense civilian Troy McCloud, Tarallo and finally Martin, whose trey at the 8:15 mark opened up a 30-point lead at 58-28.

“At halftime, we were talking about we were playing sloppy,” Martin said. “So we were like, we’re just going to put the game away before we got tired late. We just came out and tried to end the game early.”

Besides finding their range from long distance, Tarallo credited the Dream Chasers’ defense for helping the team make its run.

“Well, we play very scrappy defense, too,” acknowledged Tarallo, who scored 20 points with 18 coming from shots beyond the arch. “So we cause a lot of turnovers, which got us a lot of easy buckets.”

As time wound down, a putback by McCloud made it 71-32 before another trey by Cotton put the Dream Chasers ahead by 40 points with a 76-34 lead at the 2:30 mark.

For the game, Cotton finished with 15 points, McCloud had 14 points and Engineman 2nd Class Brandon Thomason chipped in with 13 to round out the team’s scoring.

The dominating victory may have established the Dream Chasers as the team to beat in the summer league – something that both Tarallo and Martin believe.

“We’re a very athletic team, so we get up and down the court very fast,” Tarallo said. “We’re going to win it all.”

Martin added, “We play to have fun, but we play to win. So we’re going all the way.”