Senior Boys Basketball
SB Basketball: The One That Got Away
You could feel the tension, the excitement. From the players, the coaches, the home crowd. Playing the top team in D4, the Richmond Raiders, who’d beaten us handily way back in our first game of the season, the score was tied 40-40. With only 30 seconds left. Your Spartans had made the statement they wanted to make, they’d played their tails off and shown their opponents – and themselves – how far they’d come since that butt-whupping a month ago.
How, you ask?
The defence was SO much more intense – Emilio and Jeremiah and Hard Hat recipient Daniel in the Raiders guards’ shirts every second of the game. The boys so much tougher – Josh and Augie and Jeremy and Bo battling huge #17 for every inch of territory, enduring the battering, ignoring the bruising.
Offensively, it was tough for either team to score with both teams playing so hard and so smart on defence. Every basket was hard-fought. Every point critical. Jeremy providing a huge spark off the bench with 8 crucial first-half points on a series of slick offensive rebound putbacks; Bo finding his midrange game to the tune of a team-leading 12 points; and the good guys earning some vital buckets in transition, led by some solid finishing from Luke and Josh.
So here we are. 30 seconds left. 40-40. This ain’t no 18-point drubbing like last time. This is coming down to the wire… the gym is rockin’,,, it’s anybody’s game…
…and then Daniel rises up from the right corner and provides the Highlight Of The Game, a dagger from beyond the arc – ! SWISH ! – giving the Red & White a 43-40 lead with 25 seconds to play. What a shot. What a thrill. What a moment.
With the fans going bonkers, the boys lock in defensively… Richmond forces up a runner… it misses… fight for the rebound… out of bounds… SC ball, with only 16 seconds left!... Richmond calls timeout…
…and that’s when things get weird. As I glance at the scoreboard during the timeout, I notice it says 41-40, instead of 43-40. I go to the minor officials table. So does the RRHS coach. There’s a discrepancy between the scoresheet and the scoreboard. They don’t match. The running score only adds up to 41. Doesn’t matter what the scoreboard says. Sorry, Stanstead. Tough luck.
It’s a little rough reliving the next few moment, to be honest, but let me rip off the band aid: ahead now by only one point, we inbound with 16 seconds left, in the front court, they foul, we inbound again with 12 seconds left, they steal the pass, but at least they are 60 feet away, but somehow with 6 seconds left, we foul the player that stole the pass, and of course they’re in bonus, they go 1 for 2 to tie the game, we go to overtime, they smoke us 11-2 in 3 minutes of OT, and we lose 52-43. To the top team in D4. We were this close. This. Close.
But that, my friends, is sports. I can say that now. I couldn’t say it five days ago. Five days ago, I was a mess, lamenting our bad luck and what-could’ve-been and cursing the basketball gods. But time heals all wounds, and now my main takeaway from this game is the 18 pt(!) improvement we made in the last four weeks vs the only team that we should measure ourselves against. To be the best, you gotta beat the best. We’ve come a long way, gentlemen. When we get back after Christmas break, we’re going to go farther.
- Coaches VD & B
The year so far…
Overall Record: 6 wins 5 losses
RSEQ League Play: 1 win 2 losses
Points for per game: 44.8 Points allowed per game: 38.0
Stanstead Invitational Tournament FINALISTS
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