What a game, what a gig.
So our high school girls lost on Wednesday, 47-45. It was a hell of a battle as we came back from nine down in the last 2:51 to tie the score on a three with about 8 seconds to go.But, we committed a questionable foul with 5.2 seconds to go. The girl made both her free throws and our desperation attempt fell short.
However, our guys won a thriller, which should be an instant classic for state basketball for years to come. The opposition hit a three to give them a 54-51 lead with 1:29 to play. However, the point guard calmly drained a three to tie it with a minute left. That put the ball in the hands of the star of the other team, the kid who had roasted us for 33 points on 14 of 29 shooting. He had been unstoppable. They were working the clock trying to get the last shot, when he made a mental mistake.
He took his eyes off the defender.
The defender snaked both hands in and tied up the ball. Whistle, stop play, jump ball belonging to us with 8.7 seconds to go. We called timeout to set up our play. Point guard took the ball down the left side and passed off to another guard. He drove and pulled up from 14 feet or so. The shot looked good when it left his hands, but it drifted left just a bit.
The rebound came off long to the right, into the hands of our leading scorer. Grady had been quite quiet all game long, but fired up a putback shot. The ball hit the rim, bounced to the back and then began to roll. It rolled around not once, not twice, but three times and finally dropped through as the buzzer sounded.
Game over.
The crowd erupted from across the court, while the opposition's crowd was stunned. Now the boys are guaranteed to play two more games.
As for the gig, yesterday I was back to playing reporter. So instead of being stuck way way way at the top of the Sports Arena, which is probably one of the best places to watch a state playoff game, I was seated at press row, courtside for the game. Great seat. I say that being in the media has some perks every now and then. One of them comes in the form of the hospitality room. Wednesday they catered in pizza to eat. Yesterday it was BBQ brisket. I only wonder what today will bring. It's kind of nice to not have to pay for any admission, food or drink. It's even nicer to be able to sit on press row and yap with the other sportswriters.
I kind of like it.
posted by Rusty @ 10:09 AM
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