April 17, 2004 |
| Sportswire: Basketball |
|
On Friday, April 2, the Senior (15-17-year-old)
All Stars played the coaches, the Old Timers,
for bragging rights. The trash talk started weeks before, with the
coaches putting the All Stars on notice that “spin moves”
and fancy dribbling would not work against the “old pros” and that the game
was going to be “physical.” The All Stars countered
that the Old Timers better be prepared to run.
The Old Timers, coached by Steve Marcus, hoped to control the boards and the paint with strong physical play. The All Stars, coached by Jim Armenakis, countered with a transition game that forced the pace. The All Stars also showed patience, and consistently passed the ball three or four times before they shot. The All Stars took command of the game early on, took a 12-point lead, and never lost control of the game. The second half followed the pattern of the first half until the last ten minutes, when the Old Timers finally caught their stride and went into an effective “box and one” trapping zone which slowed down the All Stars and caused a number of turnovers that gave them the lead. The All Stars called a time-out and countered with a 1-3-1 full-court zone press, which rattled the Old Timers, causing a number of turnovers that enabled the All Stars to take back the lead 76-71 with 20 seconds left to play. Harold Burrows, who was covered brilliantly by Sika Franco (holding him to 7 points in the first half), was fouled behind the 3-point line. Burrows made all three of his foul shots to put the score at 76-74. The Old Timers put up a full court press, causing a turnover, which enabled Burrows to scramble and hit a desperation 3-pointer that was all net. The score was now 77-76 in favor of the Old Timers. The All Stars took the ball out at mid-court and spread the court, relying on their speed. Chris Chatman got to the ball and drove to the basket for a last-second shot. He went up in the air and just as he was about to release the ball, three defenders, KJ Crews, Harold Burrows, and Tony Simmons, all went up to block the shot. Chatman faked the shot and brilliantly passed the ball underneath to Sika Franco, who made the basket to win the game 78-77. Pandemonium erupted with all the young people in the stands cheering. The game was memorable, emotional, and a testament to the coaches who have devoted countless hours and years of effort to help develop these young men into the fine athletes they have become. The All Stars showed a great deal of intelligence, poise, composure, patience, unselfishness, and confidence that they could get the job done. The Old Timers also showed fierce determination, perseverance, and guts, despite the fact that one player was seen throwing up during the game and several appeared ready to spit out a lung. (The names have been intentionally withheld to protect the guilty.) While this game had all the earmarks of generational warfare – as fathers played against their sons and teachers against their students – at the end of the day there was immeasurable pride that these young men have come of age. The All Stars team included: Chris Chatman
(18 points), Anthony Simmons (15), Lamar Burrows (14), Paul Brown (14),
Melvin Gager (7), John McNeil (4), Shirome Dixon (4), Sika Franco (2), Tyrell
Anderson, Remy Armenakis, Anthony Pompey. Karam Hider, Andrew Rousseau
and Quincy Leon were not present.
The Old Timers team included: Harold Burrows
(27 points), KJ Crews (20), Tony Simmons (16), Kevin Brown (5), Lyle Kane
(4), Charlie Cagle (3), Kwasi Long (2), Arnold Swaby, Steve Long, and Mark
Cagle. 
The Old Timers (top row, left to right) Kevin Brown, Harold Burrows, Mark Cagle, Arnold Swaby, Lyle Kane, Tony Simmons; (bottom row) Kwasi Long, Steve Long, KJ Crews, Charles Cagle. Special thanks to Youth Program and Charlie DeFino for putting this event together for our community. |
