Making A Game Of It

The picture above says it all. It was more than halfway through the third quarter and Wahluke was down 2-23 against the West Valley Rams. It was our debut in our new uniforms and we were down by 21 points. We play 7 minute quarters so there was 10 minutes and 37 seconds left and we looking at being blown out.

Earlier in the game at halftime, we spoke to the players and stated if we traveled all this way to play the least we can do is a make a game of it. Let us show them that we belong on the same court. Let us just do what we do in practice day in and day out. Let's play. And then it happened.

Oscar, Tony, Alan, Librado, Dario, and Eduardo were on the court when it happened. We finally began to score. I am not sure who hit the first one, but I think it was Alan with a three pointer at the top of the arc. West Valley probably thought it was a fluke, the desperate shot of a dying team. However we were just getting started. Tony or Oscar was next and the points started to add up. Then somewhere in the mix, Tony got fouled. He swishes his free throws and we start to feel our pulse.

The outside shots were falling, which opened up our inside game and gave us a couple of lay-ins. West Valley responded made a few of their own. And when the game ended it was West Valley 31-Wahluke 24. The totals for our team were Oscar with 11 (one three pointer), Tony with 8 (two three pointers and two free throws), and Alan with 5 (one three pointer). In ten minutes plus we scored 22 points and gave it our best shot. West Valley won the game but they knew and we did as well, had we another minute or so and the game would have been ours.

When the buzzer sounded we congratulated our opponents and went on to Burger King to celebrate. Win or loose we always go out to have some fun. The boys know that Juan and I want them to play their best, and act like champions on and off the court. We demand a great deal from our players with grueling practices that go all year long but in return they get recognition for their effort and know that we support them no matter what the score.

With ten minutes on the clock, we awoke from our slumber, hit our stride, and gave them a game.