La Fusion wins it all at Quai 54
| July 9, 2009
La Fusion managed to win its second straight Quai 54 trophy, but defeating a solid Sean Bell All-Stars team. It was a rematch of last year’s final, when the American team stormed out the court during the game and refused to return.
La Fusion, was ready from the get go and got up to an early 15-6 lead. But after a first time out, the US players started to really get going, following the lead of Ronald “Da Ruler” Yates and Kareem Reid get on a run of their own. As Reid was showing everybody where his “Big Game” nickname comes from, La Fusion tried to slow him down by throwing different defenders at him, they had no answer for him. He almost single handily brought his team back into the game, and the US team was leading 28-25 at the break.
La Fusion came back strong in the second half, using Steed Tchicamboud on defense against Reid who started yelling at the refs. With him losing his temper, the whole team, except for Da Ruler, was started losing its concentration. It was all La Fusion needed to take the lead back, Mamoutou Diarra droped 10 points in a couple of minutes, Ali Traoré and Amara Sy joined the movement and La Fusion was soon ahead by 20. 30 seconds before the final buzzer, the public rushed the court and La Fusion started celebrating its back-to-back. Mamoutou Diarra was handed the MVP trophy and the 2009 edition of the Quai 54 was a wrap.
