Photo Credit: The Pro Photo Group
By Noam Gumerman
The Carolina Flyers fell to 0-3 this season over the weekend in Atlanta against the Hustle, losing both the makeup game from two weeks ago that resumed at 8-7 Hustle, and the regularly scheduled game.
In the makeup game, the Flyers lost ground quickly after the restart. They held quickly and cleanly, capping off a nice first offensive point to the restart with a Grayson Sanner assist to Rutledge Smith score on a strike cut, tying the game at 8-8. The Hustle then scored the last two points of the first half, the first catching the Flyers out of position right after they turned a break opportunity on the next point, and the second coming just before the second quarter buzzer after a long back-and-forth point. And outside the half, the Hustle scored the first two points as well, to build a 12-8 lead across the majority of the third quarter, an advantage they would not relinquish across the rest of the game.
And in the second half of the doubleheader, the game continued largely where the first one left off, with the teams going back and forth in an evenly matched first quarter that ended at 6-6. However, once again, the Flyers struggled on the other side of the break. The Hustle quickly built a 10-7 lead in the first part of the second quarter, and held onto a two point lead at the half after a wild sequence where the Flyers held after an Andrew Vande Berg handblock with just seconds remaining and Jacob Fairfax pulled down the ensuing buzzer beater off of a tipped hail mary.
That play helped the Flyers carry momentum out of the half, and they held and broke to start the third quarter and tied the game at 12. Once again though, the Hustle had a response to the Flyers’ run and scored four of the next five points to make it a 16-13 game. In fact every time in the second half, as the Flyers got close, the Hustle pulled away before they surrendered the lead. The Flyers again pulled the score back to 17-16 Hustle, but couldn’t sustain the defensive pressure or offensive momentum to take the lead, and the Hustle pulled away late, falling in the second game.
The Flyers will get two chances for revenge against Atlanta, at home, later in the season and are in action next at home, this Friday, May 23 against the San Diego Growlers.
