Semi Finals Schedule
| #3 In The Lab (6-1) | vs | #9 Timeless (6-3) |
| #2 HoopBus x Woodies (6-1) | vs | #5 Sneakers N Stuff (6-2) |
Quarter Finals Results
| Matchup | Player of the Game |
| VBL Women’s All-Stars v The Basketball Beauties 68 – 51 | Hayley Berfield |
| #5 Sneakers’N’Stuff v #4 XvsX Sports 59 – 47 | Ivan ‘IP’ Patterson |
| #1 Sunblock x Soleworld v #9 Timeless 54 – 70 | Larry ‘Buddha’ Boyd |
| #12 BBall Junkies v #2 HoopBus x Woodies 65 – 73 | Randy ‘White Chocolate’ Gill |
| #3 In the Lab v #6 Born x Raised 64 – 53 | Ryan ‘HeziGod’ Carter |
Quarterfinals! Sunday August 14th
VBL Top 10 Plays of the Week!
VBL Women’s All-Stars v The Basketball Beauties
The Venice Basketball League Quarterfinals began with a celebration of our lady hoopers, a formidable crew of women you don’t want to take lightly on the court. The matchup faced-off between the VBL Women’s All-Stars vs the Basketball Beauties. The game featured appearances from LA’s diverse influencer talent with Jenna Bandy, MJ Icey aka the Barefoot Hooper, Drew Edelman, Ashley Polacek and young phenom’s Tati & Liv Harness! Challenging the beauties, VBL’s ensemble included Hooperverse’s Haley Berfield, XvsX’s Shontalene Trudeau, Timeless’ Skye, Hard To Guard’s Kendra Williams, SNS’s Shay Smith and VBL Alum Chelsea Phillips aka BaldBarbie.
The game finished 58-51 Venice. Venice’s victory came largely on the back of Haley Berfield, who knocked down 6 three pointers, in a game-high 24 point performance. Beauties forward Drew Edelman put on a clinic in the paint scoring 16 from strong post-play. ’22 Redbull 3 point champion Jenna Bandy lived up to her title scoring 14 with 4 three pointers. 13 year old dribbling phenom Liv Harness got in on the scoring too, earning her first points in the VBL after being the VBL’s youngest ever draft pick, taken 17th overall by Born x Raised.
Sneakers N Stuff v XvsX Sports
Finishing 59-47, reigning champs #5 SNS came away with a victory over Metta World Peace’s start-up squad #4 XvsX Sports. Ivan ‘IP’ Patterson finished as Player of the Game with a 14 pt 5 ast 4 blk statline. Per their usual routine, SNS played ferocious defense, stifling XvsX paint entry ability. SNS’s ‘Deebo’ contributed 12 pts 3 blks, ’21 League MVP DreamChaser finished with 10 pts 5 ast, while ’21 Finals MVP Jordan Guisti dropped 10 with 4 stls. SNS moves on to the Semi-Finals Aug 20th facing #2 seeded HoopBus.
For XvsX Sports, their impressive and somewhat unexpected season has concluded, finishing with a record of 5-2. The squad was led by Emmanuel Brown, who averaged 18ppg and earned player of the game honors in all 5 of the teams victories. XvsX Sports won games playing hard-nosed basketball, punching team’s in the mouth with a large and physical lineup including Skid Row veteran and ambassador Crushow, Jiair, Miz, and Brandon Williams.
Sunblock x Soleworld v Timeless
Game 2 saw a rematch of one of the ’22 season’s games of the year, between #9 seeded Timeless and #1 Seeded Sunblock x Soleworld. The first times these teams matched up in Week 4, Sunblock’s leader Julius ‘Juice’ Bilbrew tapped into one of the most memorable Venice Beach performances ever, setting the VBL’s all-time records for both 3-pointers (12) and points in a game (63). The rematch didn’t finish as favorably for Sunblock, with Timeless earning their revenge on a 70 – 54 victory. Player of the game went to Larry ‘Buddha’ Boyd, scoring 22 and dishing 12 asts. Timeless dominated much of the game, picking Sunblock apart in the half-court, with effortless transition scoring from PG Elvin ‘Harlem World’ Rodriguez, averaging 22 PPG and 2nd in league scoring. Zack Andrews, 8 pts 15 rebs, and Dame ‘Gods Prodigy’ Young, 14 pts 6 asts, will be crucial for Timeless to advance past #3 Seeded In the Lab in the Semi-Finals.
Sunblock x Soleworld’s exciting season comes to an end. Led by player-coach Jon Kaker, the team finished with the #1 seed and a final record of 5-2. Juice’s scoring clinic stands out as the brightest highlight of the season, yet Sunblock was consistently both formidable and entertaining. Juice finished the season leading the league in steals and 3 pointers, averaging 25 PPG. AJ ‘Chosen One’ Harris was the second punch, averaging 12 ppg. NFL Hall of Famer Terrell Owens, James Boyd, and the Mute were all additionally notable contributors to Sunblock’s success.
Bball Junkies v Hoopbus x Woodies
Game 3 was a fierce battle which finished 73 – 65 for #2 HoopBus x Woodies over #12 BBall Junkies. HoopBus Captain Randy ‘White Chocolate’ Gill, 30 pts 10 asts, earned player of the game for his double-double, leading his team with 6 threes and ferocious defense. HoopBus’ Brandon ‘BodyBag’ Moss, averaging 31 PPG, finished with 32 pts 7 rebs 6 asts, continuing his red-hot VBL debut season. White Choc’s two sons Isaiah and Jacob ‘Mint’ were paramount to the victory, contributing 7 asts each and applying consistent pressure on defense. HoopBus has yet to lose a game since the late season pickup of BodyBag and is riding a burst of momentum into the playoffs. They will face off against #5 SNS in the Semis.
BBall Junkies finish their season at 4-5. As the lowest seed in the quarterfinals, it is safe to say that BBJ exceeded expectations this year. All season, BBJ relied on the leadership of MVP frontrunner Zach Hinton, 30 pts 15 rebs, who won player of the game honors in all 4 of BBJ’s wins, including two crucial performances to advance through the play-in. Zach leads the league in both points and rebounding, averaging 26 PPG and 13 RPG, maintaining what is likely to be an uncatchable gap for the remaining teams. Other notable contributors for BBJ on the year include center Steve Herve, PG AJ Basco, and SG Zay.
In the Lab v Born x Raised
The final game of the day was a rematch of the Week 1 battle between #6 Born x Raised and #3 In the Lab. The first game finished as a 20 point blowout in favor of In the Lab, and though the rematch saw a closer game, the result remained the same. The game finished 64 – 53 In the Lab. Ryan ‘The Hezigod’ Carter, earned his 6th consecutive player of the game honors with a 22 pts 3 ast performance. Darius Allen and Darae Elliot scored 12 and 10 respectively, while Dom ‘Ducktail’ Lanier, recorded a 13 pt 8 asts statline. The dangerous In the Lab squad moves on to a semi-final matchup against Elvin Rodriguez and Timeless in what is sure to be one of the most anticipated games of the season.
Born x Raised finish their season with a 5-3 record. The team truly became a cohesive unit and featured a handful of the league’s most entertaining players. BxR was led by the tag team duo of Kwah ‘Lethal’ Gredic and LaQuavius ‘Q’ Cotton, who have developed unparalleled chemistry between a circuit of teamwork at the VBL, Drew League, and SRGN League. Kwah finishes leading the league in assists and averaging 14 PPG, while 2x Player of the Week Q finished averaging 18PPG. Other notable contributors for BxR include Michael Fry, whose interior presence was sorely missed against the drive heavy HeziGod, and player-coach David Garcia.
