Tuesday, January 15, 2008

We're Going to the Ship

As you can tell from the title, we clinched the division last Thursday, and we are headed to the City Championship on Monday, January 28th. But I can’t remember the last time that I have been a part of a game that was that intense. What makes it even more special was the adversity that our team had to overcome to win the contest. We were without our top scoring guard because he was serving a one-game suspension due to disciplinary matters, and our top scoring post had sprained his ankle two days before the game. Guys who were not used to being featured players were forced into unfamiliar roles, and they succeeded. Let me go ahead and give you the breakdown of the night’s action.

The opposing team, Northwest MS, opened the game up by scoring three straight 3-point plays. It was unbelievable. I bet about a minute and a half went off the clock, and we were already down 9-0. We let them get to us a little bit, and I was forced to call a timeout with the score 17-1. After the timeout, we finally settled down and began to play our style slowly chipping away at the score. My top post player, DS, began to go on a scoring tear even with a sprained ankle. By halftime, we were only down by 10.

Northwest opened the half very similar to the way they began it, hitting shot after shot. Their lead got all the way back up to 15, when we once again called timeout with about 1:30 left in the 3rd quarter. I explained that we would go back into our press and that we needed to cut the lead to under-10 by the time the quarter ended, and then we would take care of the 4th. Sure enough, we forced 3 straight turnovers, and DS converted each one into 2 points. The 3rd quarter ended with Northwest up by 9. That was a huge confidence boost to our guys.

The 4th quarter began with us trading buckets back and forth with the opponent. The lead would diminish to 7, then escalate back up to 11. We finally cut it to 5 with about a minute and a half to go when we forced a turnover and DS scored by lay-up. The lead was cut to 3 with less than one minute left in the game. About 20 seconds went by when we fouled their point guard for a chance at a one-in-one. There was 0:40 left on the clock. Their point guard stepped up and hit both free throws to take the lead back up to 5. The shots were devastating. I called our last timeout to talk it over with guys. I explained to two of our guards that if they were to get a wide-open look, then they could take the three-pointer; otherwise, we wanted to get it to DS again to take it in the lane.

We started the offense by working it around looking for DS, but all of a sudden one of the guards got a wide-open look at the goal. Three pointer shot…..GOT IT!! The lead is now cut to 2 with about 30 seconds left. I had also explained to the guys that we would be back in our press and that if we do not get the steal, then we would need to foul immediately in order to stop the clock. Northwest in-bounded the ball and made it to half-court before we were forced to foul them again. One of their guards stepped up to the line and hit his first free throw pumping up the home crowd. He missed the second shot however, and we took the ball back down to our end with 0:20 left on the clock.

Again we swung it around looking for a shot when it came back to our guard that hit the last shot. He attempted the same shot again with 0:15 left except this time the ball would clang off of the front iron. Our other post player, JR, would be in the right position this time though as he quickly grabbed the loose ball. He then took one drop-step back to his right and leaned in for the put-back. As he leaned in, the defense made a strong effort to block his shot. The shot then went up….BUCKET!! COUNT THE BASKET!! He had made the two-point shot and they called a foul on the defense.

The other team called timeout to ice JR, and we discussed in the huddle what we would go into if he made or missed. Regardless, we were going right into our press to try and see if we could win the game on a steal. JR stepped up to the line….SWISH!! TIE GAME!! 0:12 SECONDS LEFT!! Northwest in-bounds the ball and they take it to the half court line where they are met by two our players in a trap setting. The guard then tries an overhead pass and gets it tipped by JR. The ball comes off, and LT, our team’s captain, gets his hands on it and begins to take it down the floor with the clock ticking 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3….FOUL!! It will once again be a one-in-one, and the opposing team calls another timeout.

We briefly talk about how LT is going to make his free throws and then we are going to get back in a prevent defense getting a hand up for all shots. LT steps to the line for the first shot…..SWISH!! We take the lead. He then takes the second shot….CLANK!! The ball comes off the front rim, and JR grabs and tucks it towards his stomach as the clock ticks its last two ticks. GAME!! The students rush the floor, the parents rush the floor, hell, even I rushed the floor. It was awesome. I can’t wait for the city championship.

1 Comments:

Blogger Chimaobi Amutah said...

Riveting. Quite riveting.

8:20 AM  

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