SOUTH JAMAICA, NY – Throughout the decades of its existence, the iS8/Nike Tip-Off Classic championships have always been dog-eat-dog affairs where winning is everything. In the end, one team gains exposure by clawing its way to victory while their opponent gets exposed to varying degrees falling into the infamy of second place.

Sunday’s championship between The Standard and Run Down was an edge-of-your-seat game where both teams put up and neither team shut up. For the majority of the match, it appeared as if The Standard was going to set the standard but a second half flurry by RunDown allowed them to overwhelm and eventually overtake en route to a 71 – 62 win.

David Monroe and Nasir Rodriquez had a strong showing for The Standard during the warm-up quarter both offensively as well as crashing the boards. RunDown tried to counter with buckets from Keith McKnight and Hassan Koureissi but found themselves down by 4 points.

The Standard kept the pressure on, spearheaded by an impressive second quarter by Kalib Popotte. Without adequate pushback by RunDown, they found themselves down 36 – 26 at the half.

As the second half got underway, RunDown ratchetted up its intensity. Tai Turnage, who had a quiet first half, came to life from the perimeter while big man Oesoemana Sacko dominated inside. The momentum was slowly shifting from The Standard as their advantage was cut to 3 points as the final quarter got underway.

Popotte came out blazing, but he was pretty much alone offensively. RunDown seized the moment as McKnight tied the game at 47 apiece. With 3 remaining in regulation Rundown forged ahead down the stretch with key baskets from Koureissi and Turnage and their lead grew to five 1:30 on the clock as The Standard ran out of steam.

Turnage led Rundown with a game high of 19 points with Koureissi earning MVP scoring 16 points along with double digit rebounds. Popotte led The Standard with 17 points.