A little behind on the sports front here; let’s try and catch up.
Two weekends ago: Cpher had one game, another trip way up to Ovid-Elsie to play Portland (they had to travel further than us!)
Portland, as a community, made a drastic mistake. They evenly split the boys who tried out into three equal teams. And then placed them all in the Gold Bracket. They finished a combined 2-34. So, we knew going out there that it was going to be a blow-out. Never would have guessed the level of blowout though. It’s 32-0 at the half. 52-0 at the end of three. 64-6 at the end, and they hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to double their score.
For all that, Cpher only had two points. This is understandable to me once I watch the tape which is an endless series of layups and wide open shots….
Matthew had two games….where the coach said he was going to make up playing time. They play Fowlerville and win 46-25; Matthew plays a little more than usual but nothing is going to make up the playing time deficit that has occurred over the last four to five games. Time to stop even thinking it’s going to change; wish the coach hadn’t said anything.
Sunday is the last game of the regular season and three of our players (and our two best players) are absent. The division of transport was Mom (and camera) to Ovid-Elsie and Matthew (and Kevin) to Fowlerville for the game against Portland.
The camera should have gone to Fowlerville….missed quite a game.
Kevin’s first text “Down 10-4”
Dad “Down???”
Kevin “12-4 now. Yes”
…we’re down 18-10 at the half…down 28-13 somewhere late in the third quarter. And that’s where the rally starts….30-20……30-27…Matthew scores(!), 30-29 with 1:15 to go. Down 32-30….and then tied to head into OT. Where we finally pull ahead and win 38-34.
So that’s the undefeated regular season for Matthew’s team; they’ll be the #1 seed heading into the playoffs.
One weekend ago: Two season-ending tournaments….Cpher in Haslett, Matthew in Perry. Going to be some logistical issues to solve here.
Cpher Game 1: Cpher’s team starts off the day; they are the #7 seed out of 10 and face East Lansing to start. We lost to them in the regular season but never should have lost that game; not one of our finer moments.
(pretty similar to last year, just a touch over .500. Lost, as discussed above, to EL3, beat Eaton Rapids pretty handily. Other than that, lost to teams above us and beat teams below us)
(the bracket)
Today is better, we are winning early and winning easily….almost had the running clock started on them.
I taped, but, will need to go back to the tape to better describe how Cpher did….I don’t remember anything memorable, either good or bad, from this game. Suzanne took pictures, but, forgot to have the camera in sports mode, so, there aren’t many good pictures to show here. She did remember for Matthew’s games, so, there area a whole lot more pictures of him.
(on defense…arms out!, gotta like that)
(doing what he does….foreshadowing: I think Cpher’s teammates don’t appreciate this….and Matthew’s teammates appreciate it a lot more now)
(he did try and dribble and shoot a couple of times in this game and the next to mixed results)
Cpher Game 2: Facing the #2 seed Dansville an hour later….they whupped us in the regular season and it wasn’t as bad as the first time, but, it wasn’t particularly close either. Team now has to play again right after this game in the loser’s bracket. Think Cpher was fouled and made one of two from the free throw line here.
Cpher Game 3: Facing the #9 seed Eaton Rapids. We had played them also in the regular season and won easily, running clock for most of the 2nd half. That game was the one I was home for where Cpher decided to dribble and drive to the basket. Not real thrilled with the schedule, ER played at the same time as our Game #1, lost, and now play again. They are fresh, and we just came off the court. And the ER coach is not a dummy….he has his team pushing the tempo every chance they get.
The game is close, we are down for a while, we pull ahead, but never by more than five or six. And win. And move on to play again, back-to-back-to-back….
Cpher Game 4: Facing the #4 seed Haslett. We hadn’t played them during the regular season and I think they are better than us but we should be able to compete. But they have also just sat for two hours while we played two games, and they blow us out. They are up by 20 at half, and we actually get it back to fifteen to stop the running clock, but, they soon get it back out to 20 and over 20 as the game winds down.
And that’s the end of the season. Didn’t do any better or any worse than we should have in the tournament based on our seeding…..
Matthew Game 1: Starts right after Cpher Game 1 so Mom and Matthew boogie out of Haslett early; I swing by solo and ensemble (also at Haslett) to get Kevin (more on viola doings soon) and we hit the road to get to Perry for tip-off. Play the #4 seed Haslett, Matthew’s friend Henry is there, and we beat them by 10 the first time around (although it was tied at the end of 3).
(the standings. No explanation needed…)
(the bracket)
This game is close. Very close. Haslett has obviously learned from the first game and watching tape….we certainly have the two best guards in the league, and while we might even have the tallest kid in the league, we are soft-soft-soft inside. And they keep throwing the ball into their big guys and scoring. And rebounding. And scoring. And rebounding. Said to Suzanne more than once that this would never happen against Cpher…..he might not score, but, he will make sure you know he is there on defense and with rebounding. Shit, I don’t think it would happen if Matthew was stationed down low, but, well, he’s not in the rotation and isn’t out there that much.
(Henry and Matthew, waiting for the rebound)
(how to box out, and how not to box out. Matthew has moved and rotated, his body is completely between the ball, rim, and Henry. Chris, on the other side, has just put his hand out to try and box out…)
(and you can see her that if you don’t box out, you don’t get the rebound. For the record, in the unlikely event that anybody thinks I’m disparaging Chris on the other side there……if it weren’t for him we would have lost this game by 20…
Game goes into OT. And we lose. And that’s it for Matthew’s team on Saturday, the journey through the loser’s bracket begins Sunday morning. Looking for the bright side I figure that all of these back to back games tomorrow would mean more playing time….gotta do it if we’re going to have any chance to get back to the finals. At least that’s what I think…..
Matthew Game 2: Against Eaton Rapids. Beat them by 12 in the regular season and it is a close game until the fourth quarter until we start pulling ahead. That playing time I was thinking would have to occur does not…..oh well. The team is normally eleven kids; there are only 10 today though. The other Matthew (who also seems to be in the non-playing time end of things) is not here; no real reason is given but I can say I understand the sentiment of “why am I going to spend the day in Perry if you aren’t going to play my son”. If that’s the reason they didn’t come.
Matthew Game 3: Against Perry, the #3 seed. Again, beat them in the regular season by 10 or so. But we’re a little tired, and they are at home and fresh. It is close all the way to the end where we end up winning by 2. Matthew, I think, has been playing well when he is in there and has a few points here and there.
(not dribbling and getting swarmed…I think he kicked it out to #1 there)
(the first picture of the patented Matthew cut towards the basket…nice that he is comfortable with the ball on his left hand)
(maybe a result of broken wrist from last year?…)
(and back to the right for the shot….just not sure if this went in or not)
(strange picture….the ball must be passed high(?)…just not sure what he is looking at.
(can’t remember many times this year when Matthew had the ball near mid-court and Suzanne happened to catch two separate instances of that, this one, and the one coming up next…)
Matthew Game 4: Against Haslett, again. They lost to Williamston, the #2 seed, so, now join us in the loser’s bracket. We get off to a good start and are up by eight to ten through most of the first half. Matthew is again playing fairly well to my eyes, he goes up for several shots and is fouled three times. And he, sadly, doesn’t make any free throws. 0-6. Not good. Especially in a close game.
(wish he had made one of these…..going 0-6 in a close game is not good. What killed me during the game is he wasn’t consistent. You can see here he has chosen, as he is allowed to, to shoot from the second line in. When he started missing, he moved back to the free throw line. Just freakin’ keep shooting from the same spot!)
(another Matthew sequence with the ball moving up court. You can see best buddy Henry moving in….)
(and looking here, it looks like Henry might have gotten the ball)
(but Matthew has it here in left hand and keeps moving forward….)
Haslett remembers that our center and guys in the middle could best be defined as soft-cream-filled twinkies, and, in the second half, continues Operation-Pound-The-Ball inside. They slowly start coming back, and with about a minute left, pull ahead and win by three.
(hey, do you lump Matthew in with the twinkie comment? Not really…he never played enough for me to think he couldn’t stop the big guys…and when he did play I thought he held his own. He did pick up three fouls in this game, but, man, these refs called everything in the first half and then put their whistles away for the fourth quarter as kids got close to fouling out….)
A very disappointing way for the season to end; undefeated in the regular season, the #1 seed for the tournament and finish 3rd.
Matthew, in the end, had a lot of fun and still talks about playing again next year.
