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Determined Hatchell Helps Lead The Cafe Past Cluck U and to Rec League Hoops Title

Bill Alden

Chris Hatchell doesn't take losing lightly. For a year, he has been haunted by the last second loss suffered by The Cafe to SMB in the semifinals last summer in the Princeton Recreation Department Men's Summer Basketball League playoffs.

Coming into last Friday's decisive third game of this year's best-of-three league championship series between the Cafe and Cluck U Chicken, Hatchell wasn't about to leave the Community Park court with another painful memory.

The powerfully-built Hatchell ensured a happy ending as he slashed and shot his way to 15 points to help spark the Cafe (12-2) to a 53-47 win over Cluck U (9-4), clinching its first title in the team's three years in the Rec Department league.

"I've been thinking about that game with SMB ever since, so tonight I wanted to just come out and play hard," said Hatchell, who was named the winner of the Foreal Wooten Award for playoff MVP.

"We came out here to get ready early. We were warmed up and we wanted to get on them first. We did that, we jumped out first and got a little lead."

A beautiful driving lay-up by the 6'0 Hatchell gave The Cafe a 10-8 lead with just over 13 minutes left in the first half and the team never trailed again. With Hatchell and Robert Reed each scoring nine first half points, the Cafe took a 30-26 lead into the break.

The Cafe started the second half with an 8-2 run to take a 10-point lead and then held off a valiant Cluck U comeback to come away with the crown before a raucous crowd ringing the court undeterred by the humid evening.

Reed ended the game with 13 points while Cluck U got strong performances from Mike Pemberton with 12 points and Sam Page who chipped in 10.

It took a special team to overcome Cluck U, an eight-time league champion which had cruised to a 53-38 win in game two of the championship series last Wednesday and had nearly won game one after making a furious rally when it fell behind by 17 points in the first half.

The Cafe showed early this summer that it might have the quality to go the distance as it rebounded from a tight opening night loss to Cluck U and then reeled off 11 straight wins to finish atop the regular season standings and put itself on the verge of the title.

In Hatchell's view, the Cafe's triumph was fueled by the bonds of friendship. "Asmar Fortney, Marshawn Ferguson, and I played together in college at Mercer County Community College and we always stayed in touch," explained Hatchell, who played a year at The College of New Jersey after his stint at MCCC.

"We played together here last year, it was our first year on the Cafe. We came out this year and said we wanted to take this. Asmar and Marshawn weren't here for that first game and we've been saying ever since that we weren't going to lose another game."

The Cafe demonstrated its camaraderie minutes after its win Friday as it engaged in a group hug and then jumped up and down in unison.

Now that he has wiped away at least some of the bitterness from last year's defeat, Hatchell is ready to create some more winning memories.

"I'm just so happy we won," added Hatchell with a wide grin. "We're going to keep the same team and come back next year and try to keep it up and maybe start a little dynasty."