Maintenance Squadron steamrolls past Shooters

Airman 1st Class Aaron Maxwell slices between defenders to score two of this game-high 18 points in leading the 15th Maintenance Squadron (15 MXS) to a 51-22 blowout win over Will Francia in a Gold Division intramu- ral basketball game at Hickam Fitness Center gym, Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam on Feb. 14.

Sports Editor

The run-and-gun 15th Maintenance Squadron (15 MXS) built up a 30-9 lead at halftime and coasted to a 51-22 victory over the Will Francia basketball team in a showdown of undefeated Gold Division squads at Hickam Fitness Center gym, Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam on Feb. 14.

The Francias, which is the old SEAL Delivery Vehicle TeamOne (SDVT-1) Shooters, was renamed after the squad’s team captain Master-at-Arms 2nd Class Will Francia.

Early in the game, the team captain put the SEALs out in front at 7-6 on a three ball from the right wing, but after the shot, it would be all MXS as the Maintenance Squadron went on an 8-0 run and never looked back.

While Navy Diver 2nd Class Daryl Waldrup of the SEALs stopped the bleeding momentarily with a basket to shrink the lead back to 14-9, the MXS immediately stepped up its defense to hold the Francias scoreless for the final 8:40 of the first half.

A three-point shot from Marine Cpl. J.R. Martin at the 6:55 mark gave the MXS their first doubledigit lead at 20-9, and a basketand-one by Airman 1st Class Aaron Maxwell with 1:16 remaining in the first half raised his team’s advantage to 20 at 29-9.

“Every game we come out, it’s just pure defense,” said Maxwell, who scored nine points in the first half and finished with a game-high 18 points. “You saw how we’re just on the ball, setting screens, we’re doubling up, switching and all that. It’s like day in and day out for us.”

With the team’s defense shutting down its opponent’s attack, Maxwell said that all there was left for them to do was just rebound and run.

Besides Maxwell’s 18 points, the MXS got outstanding performances from their big and athletic frontline of Staff Sgt. Artis Gandy, Senior Airman Nelson Blair and Martin.

Gandy and Blair chipped in with seven points apiece, while the sky-hopping Martin popped in 10 and dominated the boards.

“We just look to kick the ball out to get the easy points, so we can rest on defense,” Maxwell noted. “If we rebound the ball, we just run fast down the court. That’s how we keep up our defensive intensity.”

Against the Francias, which like the MXS, entered the game with an undefeated record of 4-0, Maxwell stated that once his team got out in front, he knew that he and his teammates couldn’t let up.

“About the first or second game, we had a big lead and we let that team come back,” Maxwell recalled. “So we said to ourselves, ‘Man, we’re not going to let it happen again.’”

Although the SEALs entered the game with only six players, Waldrup said that the team’s shortage of players wasn’t the reason why his team fell short.

“It played a little bit, but once again, it was communication errors and a bunch of turnovers,” Waldrup said. “They (MXS) were able to get physical in the paint. That’s what I think won it.”

Waldrup, who scored five points which included a trey in the second half, said that the team would learn from the loss and be back stronger than ever.

“This isn’t a setback at all. We learned a lot from this game, and we’re going to work on all the errors and improve,” he said. “At full strength, we’re capable of winning every game.”

While the game represented another blowout win for the MXS, Maxwell played down the triumph and said that the team would only focus on each game as they come.

“I don’t want to sound too overconfident because we could come out, play a bad game and lose,” he pointed out. “But really, we should compete every game.”