SB Basketball: Season Starts

 

With a couple intense practices under our belt and a plan to leverage our depth by sending wave after wave of pressure at our opponents for four full quarters, we strode into the RRHS gym brimming with confidence. We were gonna blitz the Raiders with in-your-face defence, run the floor, crash the boards and win every 50-50 ball in sight.

 

Well, as Mike Tyson famously said: “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face.” And, boy, did Richmond ever punch us in the face. They constantly, easily beat us at the point of attack, over-running our hesitant defence. Everything was fast and downhill for them, and we were consistently a step behind. And as the score got away from us early, we got rattled. We played on our heels and showed a concerning reluctance to battle for loose balls. Just as concerning, you could see our shoulders slump and see us looking to blame each other. Twenty minutes into our first game, we were facing real adversity. How did we react to this adversity? Timid, pouty, and pointing fingers.

 

That said, there were a few bright spots. We moved the ball well on offence, consistently creating good looks (but ouch, that finishing!), particularly from the posts. We finished the game strong, going on a frenzied 10-2 run in the final two minutes, providing a glimpse of what we can do if we ramp up our intensity. And rookie Jeremiah won the first Hard Hat Award of the season with his athletic fearlessness, toughness and grit.

 

But we walked out of that gym with a 46-38 loss and a lot of questions, the most important one for the coaching staff being: “We’re tougher than this, aren’t we?”

 

With three (shortened) games on the day vs Le Ber (Sherbrooke), St-Laurent (Ottawa) and St-Johns (St-Jean-sur-Richelieu), we coaches got our answer to that question, and the answer was a resounding YES. Tenacious. Relentless. Tough. Pick your adjective. The Red & White played ferocious basketball from tip to horn all day long. They flew around the court with their new defensive shape, they gang-rebounded, they sprinted the floor, they assaulted the offensive glass, they hustled, they dove and they backed down from absolutely nothing.

 

It’s like we exorcised our demons from the Richmond game. The defence was suffocatingly active, leading to countless deflections, steals and fast break buckets. In fact, we scored 35 points in the first half (led by Daniel, Jeremiah, Bo and Hard Hat winner Augie) without taking a single jump shot – what a track meet! Just as impressively, when we slowed the game down in the second half, the boys ran an improvised set offence with confidence, moving the ball and attacking the hoop. Final score 62-15, and we’d gotten that first-win-of-the-season monkey off our backs.

 

These guys were tall. At multiple positions. But your Spartans outrebounded them anyway. Victor, Augie, Bo and Jeremy battled their bigs in the trenches, our guards were quick to long rebounds, and we continued to create second shot opportunities on the offensive end. But our defence was the star of this game, especially the guards up top. St-Laurent would rather drive than shoot, so it was up to Josh and Daniel and Luke and Emilio and Hard Hat winner Patito (what a breakout game he had!) to collapse and snuff out any attacks – and man, were they good. How good? How about 5-points-allowed-in-the-entire-second-half good?!

 

Play Of The Game #4:  Emilio’s sublime baseline reverse layup – where did that come from?

 

Play Of The Game #3:  Jeremy blocking a fast break layup attempt from out of nowhere, just how long are his arms?!

 

Play Of The Game #2:  Luke going horizontally airborne for I swear it was 8 feet diving for a loose ball

 

Play Of The Game #1:  The 7 passes and 4 shot fakes that preceded Andrew canning a short wide open jumper in the prettiest, ball-movingest basket of the day

 

When the final buzzer sounded, ten (10!) different players had scored en route to a 48-15 win. Playing like Dobermans on defence. Running and feeding the floor in transition. Sharing the ball and finishing strong on offence. This was getting fun.

 

“To be the best, you gotta beat the best.” (I don’t think that was from Mike Tyson, but it coulda been). St Johns, D3, defending regional champions, sixth at last year’s provincials, are the best team we’ve faced so far this year. They’re fast, organized, true ballers. And they press. So we spent 10 minutes pre-game going over a press break, loosened up muscles that were starting to ache, regained our focus, and entered the colosseum.

 

And five minutes in, we were down 14-3. Yes, their full court trap had spooked us, but more critically it was the speed and energy the Knights played at. So we burned a couple of timeouts early and reset. Victor and Jeremiah hit a couple shots to settle us down, and most importantly the boys started breaking the press. Emilio and Patito found their confidence, Augie and Jeremy made good decisions with the ball, and everyone else attacked once we’d beaten the first line of defence. With the press taken care of, it became a question of “can we actually come back against this team?”And in the highlight of the tournament, your Spartans found a new level. Of speed. Of fight. Of pride.

 

After losing the first quarter by 11, the boys matched St Johns haymaker for haymaker, hustle play for hustle play, the next two quarters. Down 35-25 starting the fourth. It had been a long day. The Knights were getting tired.

 

But your Spartans, the deeper team, had one more run in them.

 

Josh with a bucket. Defensive stop, rebound Victor. Augie with a second effort inside. Defensive stop. Josh again. 37-31. Augie again inside. 37-33. Another defensive stop, another Victor rebound. Augie can’t be denied, fouled. Cool as ice nails both free throws. 37-35. Time running out… crowd going nuts… we foul… they hit two clutch free throws… 15 seconds left, last timeout, gotta score quick and foul… but we can’t get free, until Daniel hits the Shot Of The Tournament, a stepback 3 from the left wing!... crowd goes berserk… 39-38, how much time is left???... everyone’s eyes look to the clock....

 

Only one second left. Sadly, not enough time for a miracle. But what a finish. What a game. WHAT AN EFFORT.

 

Coach Blair and I are legit proud of how far you boys have come in such a short time. Four days ago, Richmond punched us in the face early, and we folded. On Saturday St Johns punched us in the face early, only this time we got up off the mat and outscored them 35-25 the rest of the game. This is the team we want to be.