The Arizona Diamondbacks are a disappointing 30-30. Yet I couldn't be more optimistic about them.
The Diamondbacks have a great, albeit enigmal, manager in Kirk Gibson. They just signed a purdy good catcher to stay with them for five more years. They have great talent at first base (Goldschmidt), and all three outfield spots (Parra, Young, Kubel). They've found great 'fill-in-the-gaps' guys for the rest of the infield (Hill, Bloomquist, MacDonald, Roberts), and they have A TON of talented, young pitching. Kennedy, Hudson, Cahill (who may not stay long), Miley, Corbin, Bauer, Skaggs, Collmenter.
The Diamondbacks are in good shape for at least four more seasons after this one. As long as they stay as far away from Robert Sarver as possible, they'll be in good shape.
Anyway, I've been able to see the Diamondbacks live much more this season and last season than ever before. Growing up sure is fun! They went into this season with a starting rotation of Kennedy, Hudson, Collmenter, Cahill and Saunders. Kennedy had a rough start, but he's looking a lot better lately. I've been consistent and adamant that Daniel Hudson is not a No. 2 starter at the major league level. A 3 at best, but most likely a 4. I like the guy, I've met him, but he isn't that good. Collmenter came out and had an ERA of about 178.35 or so. Cahill and Saunders have both been pretty solid for what people expected.
Collmenter has been moved to the bullpen where he has been wonderful. Wade Miley moved from the bullpen to the rotation where he has been wonderful.
I've seen Wade Miley pitch twice. Last year he came up and got a few starts under his belt. He looked shaky, but the offense always backed him up. This year he has been phenomenal. I watched him pitch eight innings of one run ball last week.
As things stand right now, he is ninth in the National League in ERA at 2.53. Um, he's a rookie.
He's tied for 14th in WHIP at 1.09.
Tied for 15th in opponent batting average at .225.
Dude's a rookie!
I know it's difficult for pitcher's to earn fan respect over position players, but Wade Miley is easily NL Rookie of the Year to this point. Don't insubordinate him for being a pitcher. Don't call his talent and work ethic into question for being a member of the 'West coast' Diamondbacks. Give him the respect he deserves, Baseball Experts!
Monday, June 11, 2012
Monday, April 16, 2012
Season Wrap Up
The '05-'06 Mesa Junior High Eagles Basketball team.
#22-Jorge Rivera (7 points per game)
#32-Adrian Bernal (8.4 ppg)
#23-Greg King (7.8 ppg)
#21-Erik Portillo (1.7 ppg)
#13-Martin Vega (8.1 ppg)
Top left-Max Hoshnic, assistant coach extraordinaire
#43-Lorenzo Velazco (11.9 ppg)
#40-Alex Castellanos (0.4 ppg)
#30-Craig Roberts (0.2 ppg)
#31-Andy Huber (0.5 ppg)
#42-Angel Sanchez (1.2 ppg)
James Todd McEvers, proud head coach (with his signature on his chest)
Tina Orellana, scorekeeper
(You can click on the picture to enlarge it and better see the fine details.)
EDITOR'S NOTE
#20 Sealtiel Bazoco doesn't count. He flunked out of both tennis and basketball and hardly helped the team in any way. I lobbied for him to not be in the picture.
The numbers aren't perfect. Tina did her best. She was really good. And she didn't take any crap, she was often found yelling at various members of the team.
The biggest stat is 139 for 312 on free throws for the season. That's 45 %. That's beyond awful! We would've won at least four more games if we could've made free throws.
We were a team. Custom team shorts that you can catch me wearing. We had team shoes, team socks. I tried to get everybody to wear a headband.
The best three months. I would really do anything to get another chance like that one.
Hendrix, Kino and Powell Part Deux
January 31, 2006. Mesa Jr. vs. Hendrix.
This is a team we had beat rather easily two weeks prior. It's always more difficult to win on the road. Home court advantage is real, especially in basketball. It's statistically proven and I know it from experience. Personally, I had distanced myself from the team. I grew selfish and just wanted playing time, even though I knew I wasn't nearly as good as the guys ahead of me. McEvers talked to the team about this, but I knew it was 100% directed at me.
Anyway, we got to use the girls' locker room at Hendrix. Something happened in there that I hope not to forget, but I hesitate to post because of the comments I may get.
As the game got started, I took the last seat on the bench, furthest from halfcourt. This isn't normal. I was usually right over there, next to Max, the assistant coach. I feel like there were at least two chairs between me and the closest teammate the whole time.
We led 16-8 after one and 30-14 at half. We were in total control. We were using a full-court press that was just ripping them apart. They couldn't beat it! They were completely suppressed. We laid an egg in the third and only put up six points. No worries. We were still up 36-24.
Adrian got a technical foul in the third quarter. If I remember correctly, it was a loose ball. Adrian dove for it, had complete control of the ball and was lying there by himself. A Hendrix player then jumped on top of Adrian and started trying to wrestle the ball away. The refs blew their whistle to indicate a foul on Hendrix. Adrian forcefully used his elbow to push the Hendrix player off of him and leave his body print in the court. He got T'ed up for that.
McEvers didn't like that. Common sportsmanship tells us we should let up on the full-court press, being up big in the fourth quarter. McEvers encouraged us to continue with it. He didn't care at all. Adrian shouldn't have been called for a technical foul in his opinion. He was gonna take it out on Hendrix.
With about five minutes to go, McEvers put me in. I made a three. The Mesa Jr. girls team had played before us and were all in the stands. I remember it well. Adrian promised to get me an open look. I was on the left wing by myself. He got me the ball. #40 of Hendrix, their biggest guy, came running at me. I launched it over his outstretched hand. I like to think it was a swish. It definitely went in the hoop. I was basically a hero in front of all the girls.
We wound up winning 57-38. 15 of our 21 fourth quarter points came from three pointers. In fact, our last twelve points were from three pointers. Adrian had three, Greg had one and I had one.
6-11.
February 2, 2006. Mesa Jr. vs. Kino.
Two weeks prior, we had won an epic battle against this team. In our building. That's crucial.
We had two pretty good quarters in this game. But, this is one of those times where you say the team just wasn't focused. Wasn't ready mentally. First of all, we got their tiny, cramped weight room to meet in. They had pictures of all kinds of nasty, roided-up guys in there. But, Kino wanted revenge pretty badly.
We go out and think it's gonna be another close game. But, Kino is playing this zone defense that is just killing us. It seemed like a miracle when we finally got our first point from a Jorge Riviera free throw. We were lucky to be down 14-3 after one. McEvers obviously didn't know what to do and was willing to try anything, I got some playing time in that first quarter.
We must figure out a way to get Lorenzo the ball in the second quarter because he puts up seven points for us. It looks like we're gonna be down 35-20 going into halftime. But Greg gets the inbound, dribbles to halfcourt and just basically lobs it up as the buzzer sounds. I still think he didn't get it off in time, but the ball goes in. For no good reason. Our bench erupts. The officials look at each other and almost simultaneously put their arms up to signal the basket is good. 35-23. We go into their tiny, cramped weight room with lots of energy and momentum. We were gonna win this in dramatic fashion...
...We score one point in the third quarter. One Adrian Bernal free throw. Where the energy and momentum went, I have no idea. McEvers was again willing to try anything because I got in there in the third. I remember crouching in front of the scorer's table. Our scorekeeper, Tina, told me, "Always be ready for the ball. Expect them to pass it to you." We were down 49-24 after three.
With the game in essence over, our guys decided to start having fun. Lorenzo started launching threes, he even made two. Jorge got one for himself. McEvers was gonna put in, I assume, Erik and/or Angel with about four minutes to go. He looked up at the scoreboard.
"Oh, what the hell!" he said as he hugged the air in front of him. He emptied his bench all at once. I'm sure we didn't score another point from that time on. We lost 67-40.
Kino may think they're the better team because they barely lost to us at Mesa Jr. and beat the crap out of us at Kino. However, anybody should be able to win a home game. A five-game series is really the only way to tell. And I strongly believe we would've won had we played again. Doesn't matter where.
6-12.
February 3, 2006. Powell vs. Mesa Jr.
The last game of the season. We had pretty easily handled Powell the first time, but that was coming off a very big, emotional win. This time we were coming off a loss where the starters just sat and laughed the final minutes away.
We're up 12-8 after one and 30-23 at half. Our crowd is good, but not great. Don't they know this is their final chance to see a respectable team at Mesa Jr.?
Lorenzo scores 11 of our 12 third quarter points and maintains our lead. 42-35. This game is closer than I wanted it to be.
We're up two late, but Powell has possession. I really wish I could remember the final play of the season, but I can't. I just know we ended it with a win. 56-54.
A 7-12 record doesn't seem all that great. It's a .368 win percentage. But, we won six of our last eight games. Everyone thinks Ken Whisenhunt and John Skelton are heroes for taking the 1-6 Cardinals to and 8-8 finish this past season. We'll see how they do this upcoming season and say that's how Mesa Jr.'s '05-'06 basketball would've done if we would've had another season. IF we could've had more time, we definitely would've looked more respectable. IF we could've played another season together or anything like that, we would've been the team nobody wants to play.
This is a team we had beat rather easily two weeks prior. It's always more difficult to win on the road. Home court advantage is real, especially in basketball. It's statistically proven and I know it from experience. Personally, I had distanced myself from the team. I grew selfish and just wanted playing time, even though I knew I wasn't nearly as good as the guys ahead of me. McEvers talked to the team about this, but I knew it was 100% directed at me.
Anyway, we got to use the girls' locker room at Hendrix. Something happened in there that I hope not to forget, but I hesitate to post because of the comments I may get.
As the game got started, I took the last seat on the bench, furthest from halfcourt. This isn't normal. I was usually right over there, next to Max, the assistant coach. I feel like there were at least two chairs between me and the closest teammate the whole time.
We led 16-8 after one and 30-14 at half. We were in total control. We were using a full-court press that was just ripping them apart. They couldn't beat it! They were completely suppressed. We laid an egg in the third and only put up six points. No worries. We were still up 36-24.
Adrian got a technical foul in the third quarter. If I remember correctly, it was a loose ball. Adrian dove for it, had complete control of the ball and was lying there by himself. A Hendrix player then jumped on top of Adrian and started trying to wrestle the ball away. The refs blew their whistle to indicate a foul on Hendrix. Adrian forcefully used his elbow to push the Hendrix player off of him and leave his body print in the court. He got T'ed up for that.
McEvers didn't like that. Common sportsmanship tells us we should let up on the full-court press, being up big in the fourth quarter. McEvers encouraged us to continue with it. He didn't care at all. Adrian shouldn't have been called for a technical foul in his opinion. He was gonna take it out on Hendrix.
With about five minutes to go, McEvers put me in. I made a three. The Mesa Jr. girls team had played before us and were all in the stands. I remember it well. Adrian promised to get me an open look. I was on the left wing by myself. He got me the ball. #40 of Hendrix, their biggest guy, came running at me. I launched it over his outstretched hand. I like to think it was a swish. It definitely went in the hoop. I was basically a hero in front of all the girls.
We wound up winning 57-38. 15 of our 21 fourth quarter points came from three pointers. In fact, our last twelve points were from three pointers. Adrian had three, Greg had one and I had one.
6-11.
February 2, 2006. Mesa Jr. vs. Kino.
Two weeks prior, we had won an epic battle against this team. In our building. That's crucial.
We had two pretty good quarters in this game. But, this is one of those times where you say the team just wasn't focused. Wasn't ready mentally. First of all, we got their tiny, cramped weight room to meet in. They had pictures of all kinds of nasty, roided-up guys in there. But, Kino wanted revenge pretty badly.
We go out and think it's gonna be another close game. But, Kino is playing this zone defense that is just killing us. It seemed like a miracle when we finally got our first point from a Jorge Riviera free throw. We were lucky to be down 14-3 after one. McEvers obviously didn't know what to do and was willing to try anything, I got some playing time in that first quarter.
We must figure out a way to get Lorenzo the ball in the second quarter because he puts up seven points for us. It looks like we're gonna be down 35-20 going into halftime. But Greg gets the inbound, dribbles to halfcourt and just basically lobs it up as the buzzer sounds. I still think he didn't get it off in time, but the ball goes in. For no good reason. Our bench erupts. The officials look at each other and almost simultaneously put their arms up to signal the basket is good. 35-23. We go into their tiny, cramped weight room with lots of energy and momentum. We were gonna win this in dramatic fashion...
...We score one point in the third quarter. One Adrian Bernal free throw. Where the energy and momentum went, I have no idea. McEvers was again willing to try anything because I got in there in the third. I remember crouching in front of the scorer's table. Our scorekeeper, Tina, told me, "Always be ready for the ball. Expect them to pass it to you." We were down 49-24 after three.
With the game in essence over, our guys decided to start having fun. Lorenzo started launching threes, he even made two. Jorge got one for himself. McEvers was gonna put in, I assume, Erik and/or Angel with about four minutes to go. He looked up at the scoreboard.
"Oh, what the hell!" he said as he hugged the air in front of him. He emptied his bench all at once. I'm sure we didn't score another point from that time on. We lost 67-40.
Kino may think they're the better team because they barely lost to us at Mesa Jr. and beat the crap out of us at Kino. However, anybody should be able to win a home game. A five-game series is really the only way to tell. And I strongly believe we would've won had we played again. Doesn't matter where.
6-12.
February 3, 2006. Powell vs. Mesa Jr.
The last game of the season. We had pretty easily handled Powell the first time, but that was coming off a very big, emotional win. This time we were coming off a loss where the starters just sat and laughed the final minutes away.
We're up 12-8 after one and 30-23 at half. Our crowd is good, but not great. Don't they know this is their final chance to see a respectable team at Mesa Jr.?
Lorenzo scores 11 of our 12 third quarter points and maintains our lead. 42-35. This game is closer than I wanted it to be.
We're up two late, but Powell has possession. I really wish I could remember the final play of the season, but I can't. I just know we ended it with a win. 56-54.
A 7-12 record doesn't seem all that great. It's a .368 win percentage. But, we won six of our last eight games. Everyone thinks Ken Whisenhunt and John Skelton are heroes for taking the 1-6 Cardinals to and 8-8 finish this past season. We'll see how they do this upcoming season and say that's how Mesa Jr.'s '05-'06 basketball would've done if we would've had another season. IF we could've had more time, we definitely would've looked more respectable. IF we could've played another season together or anything like that, we would've been the team nobody wants to play.
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Rhodes and Carson Part Deux
January 24, 2006. Rhodes vs. Mesa Jr.
We were cocky. We had a three game win streak. But we knew this team beat us two weeks prior. We knew it would be a challenge.
We feel good. We're hyped. We have a good crowd. We put up six points in the first eight minutes. Down 17-6 after one. We put up 18 points in the second quarter, but so does Rhodes. We're down 35-24 at half. That isn't terrible. 11 points is a climbable mountain.
But, we put up six more points in the third quarter. We're trailing 53-30. McEvers lets me start the fourth quarter. Unfortunately, I really don't remember playing in this game. We held them to five 4th quarter points, but managed to lose 58-38.
A really poor showing. 4-11.
January 27, 2006. Carson vs. Mesa Jr.
So, we got trounced by a better basketball team a few days earlier, but we knew we could beat Carson. We knew we should've won the first meeting. We weren't gonna let them come to our gym and beat us.
This was a really good game to watch. We were up 20-14 after one and 36-27 at the half. We had gained a lot of confidence throughout the season and knew we had this in the bag.
Four of five starters scored in double figures for us. We led 50-40 after three. I wish I could remember more. McEvers earned himself a technical foul during the course of the fourth quarter. I don't remember why. I just remember we let them back in the game and it came down to the last play.
Our home crowd was rockin. We're up 62-60 with less than 20 seconds to go. Carson has the ball. They run their play and do their stuff, the dude goes up for a shot to tie it from the top of the key. And Lorenzo Velazco gets his nasty paw on the ball to seal the win! The crowd went crazy.
5-11.
We were cocky. We had a three game win streak. But we knew this team beat us two weeks prior. We knew it would be a challenge.
We feel good. We're hyped. We have a good crowd. We put up six points in the first eight minutes. Down 17-6 after one. We put up 18 points in the second quarter, but so does Rhodes. We're down 35-24 at half. That isn't terrible. 11 points is a climbable mountain.
But, we put up six more points in the third quarter. We're trailing 53-30. McEvers lets me start the fourth quarter. Unfortunately, I really don't remember playing in this game. We held them to five 4th quarter points, but managed to lose 58-38.
A really poor showing. 4-11.
January 27, 2006. Carson vs. Mesa Jr.
So, we got trounced by a better basketball team a few days earlier, but we knew we could beat Carson. We knew we should've won the first meeting. We weren't gonna let them come to our gym and beat us.
This was a really good game to watch. We were up 20-14 after one and 36-27 at the half. We had gained a lot of confidence throughout the season and knew we had this in the bag.
Four of five starters scored in double figures for us. We led 50-40 after three. I wish I could remember more. McEvers earned himself a technical foul during the course of the fourth quarter. I don't remember why. I just remember we let them back in the game and it came down to the last play.
Our home crowd was rockin. We're up 62-60 with less than 20 seconds to go. Carson has the ball. They run their play and do their stuff, the dude goes up for a shot to tie it from the top of the key. And Lorenzo Velazco gets his nasty paw on the ball to seal the win! The crowd went crazy.
5-11.
Hendrix, Kino and Powell Part Un
January 17, 2006. Hendrix vs. Mesa Jr.
Hendrix rolled into our gym. We didn't know anything about them. They looked like pretty much any other team during warm ups. We felt pretty good. We were 1-10, but we weren't losing by 30+ points anymore. We felt like we could have and should have won at least three more games.
Hendrix had red uniforms. #12 on their team had pasty white skin and black hair. His last name is Brusnahan. Kirk Hinrich played for the Chicago Bulls at the time. I swear this Brusnahan guy looked exactly like this:
Anyway, me having the best seat in the house, and Mr. Brusnahan getting playing time in every quarter, I was relentlessly annoying. Every time he was anywhere near our bench, I would nonstop pester him, "Lookin good, Kirk Hinrich!" "Take that shot, Kirk Hinrich!" "etc., Kirk Hinrich!"
Now, that may seem really stupid to many of my readers, but I kid you not, I was annoying!! And I strongly believe to this day that I got under his skin and into his head.
Jorge Riviera, Greg King and Adrian Bernal all came up big in this came with the latter two combining for six trifectas. (That's huge at this level of the sport!)
We're up 15-6 after one and 26-19 at half. We put up 20 points in the third quarter, nine of which came from Greg's three three's. This was the start of a crazy hot streak for him. We're up 46-35 after three and McEvers had enough confidence in us to put both me and Craig in the game. Nothing exciting though. We won 57-43.
2-10 never felt so good.
January 19, 2006. Kino vs. Mesa Jr. This game was epic.
We were high off a win two days earlier. Having 6th hour P.E. and then about 40 minutes after school until tipoff always gave us quite a bit of time to screw around before home games. Well, on this day we were messin around (because McEvers let us [dare I say encouraged it at times]) and someone (I really don't know who, not me and not Lorenzo) launched a ridiculous shot that bounced off the wall and hit McEvers in the back of the head. He lost his God-given mind!!!
Immediately the blame was placed solely on Lorenzo, our star, leading scorer, rebounder and biggest guy. I swear he did not do it. I don't know who, just not him. McEvers absolutely lit him up!! It ended with McEvers telling Lorenzo he couldn't play that day. Basically a one-game suspension.
Lorenzo went to the locker room with his head down. The rest of us were shocked. Adrian and Greg, the other two team captains, started making their case to McEvers. He obviously had given up on the season, us being 2-10 and there being only seven games left and all. After a bit of deliberation, McEvers told us Lorenzo could play if we could talk him into it.
We all ran to the locker room. Lorenzo was slowly pulling his blue and gold long socks off (a team decision to all wear them.) He was crying. He didn't wanna play for McEvers. Not after that. I kinda don't blame him. We eventually got him to suit back up and lead his team.
Kino came in and looked like a bunch of big, tough guys. I think #44 even had a tattoo. They had one guy who was bigger than the rest. #23 Christian Trejo. I swear he looked just like this except in a jersey and without the smile:
On to the actual game. We soon learned we would have to be strong and physical if we were going to win. Our starters (Lorenzo Velazco, Jorge Riviera, Greg King, Adrian Bernal and Martin Vega) were pretty good at this. The rest of us were softies. We trailed 14-11 after one.
The crowd really showed up for this game. Having won a home game two days earlier, the word got around and that small grandstand was packed. They weren't a dead crowd either. "M-J-H!!!" rung around the gym. It was a good feeling, even from the bench.
Martin Vega played out of his mind in this game. I remember one sequence where he launched a three, knew he missed right away, ran down and grabbed the rebound, and laid it in for two. He scored seven of his 20 points in the second quarter. Greg kept launching threes and missing because he thought he was on a hot streak (he was.) McEvers took him aside during a timeout and told him straight up that his hot streak was over and he needed to pass more. We were up 30-26 at half.
Things started to get chippy in the third quarter. Martin put up six more points. We got six points off the bench and had our highest scoring quarter of the season, 22 points. Kino's #44 started to get into it with both Greg and Jorge. I knew Greg from about 4th grade through graduation. He had a reputation for fighting. He was gonna back down. Jorge was also a tough guy. Greg wound up ankle hurt in a scuffle and had to come out. #44 ended up getting T'ed up and forced to the bench. He scored 10 of his 14 points after that instance.
We were doing fine until Jorge fouled out in the third. Then, coming to the bench for a timeout, Adrian pulls his jersey out of his shorts. I thought nothing of it. He got T'ed up. His fifth foul. We're down two of our best players. We find a way to extend the lead to 52-42 after three quarters.
Even with the crowd being awesome, giving us as much of a home court advantage as possible, we got outscored 23-13 in the 4th. 9 of those 13 from Lorenzo before fouling out. Sucks to lose him, but we couldn't have won without him. 14 huge points. He and Jorge fouled out big Christian Trejo. That's huge. They no longer had a big, intimidating enforcer guarding the basket.
Greg was forced to play on a bad ankle. He and Martin were the only starters left. The game was tied at 65 after four quarters. The two head coaches and two officials met briefly to discuss what would happen. McEvers walked away from that meeting quite unhappy. There would be a four minute overtime period.
With three starters out, I got to play for about 30 seconds in overtime. But it was mostly Greg King, Martin Vega, Erik Portillo, Angel Sanchez and Alex Castillanos. Not a great lineup. Greg and Martin scored eight of our nine overtime points. This was an intense time. Greg knew it was up to him. He was ferocious! Offense, defense rebounding, everything. The crowd was very loud. Trejo was the only Kino starter who had fouled out.
I remember vividly watching Greg sink free throws with a grimace. He was in pain, but he knew losing this game would hurt more. It was perfect. He had the sweat dripping off his chin and everything. His last two were most important. We were down 73-72. Greg got fouled with four seconds on the clock. When he was on, he could sink free throws blindly. He sunk both of them. Calmly. With the atmosphere so chaotic, he seemed so calm. Really like he slowed down time.
Kino attempted to throw a full court inbound pass. But guess who stopped it. Greg King. He's probably never jumped that high since, but he leaped with all his energy and swatted the ball away. Erik ended up with it and the game was over.
Mesa Jr. 74 Kino 73 F/OT
The crowd rushed the floor. Oh, my!!!!! How cool that was!! Gilbert the security guy started blowing his whistle, but nobody could hear. Kino disrespected the chairs we let them sit on as the left the gym. They wanted to fight. I wanted to celebrate. McEvers made us get out of there. I wanted to stay and enjoy the moment. What a crazy emotional high! We ruled the school!!!
And to think, this all started with our coach threatening to not let our star play. We probably would've lost by 35 without him.
Best. Game. Ever.
January 20, 2006. Mesa Jr. vs. Powell.
One day after our epic victory. We went to Powell and they had a cool mural in their gym. They honestly didn't stand a chance. We were on a two-game win streak. Nothing could stop us.
We led 12-11 after one. 32-25 at half. I remember getting into this game, but not exactly when. I remember I was supposed to guard their big man. That's all McEvers wanted. I got one play. One chance. They were inbounding from halfcourt. I knew it was gonna come to my guy. He was bigger than I was. I just jumped as high as I could. He almost got it even still. But my efforts prevailed.
That's it.
Greg put in 18 points, including three from behind the arc. He was still hot. Lorenzo added 17 of his own. We were up 44-38 after three and won 59-46. A three game win streak. From 1-10 to 4-10. We were never gonna lose again. We just knew it!
Hendrix rolled into our gym. We didn't know anything about them. They looked like pretty much any other team during warm ups. We felt pretty good. We were 1-10, but we weren't losing by 30+ points anymore. We felt like we could have and should have won at least three more games.
Hendrix had red uniforms. #12 on their team had pasty white skin and black hair. His last name is Brusnahan. Kirk Hinrich played for the Chicago Bulls at the time. I swear this Brusnahan guy looked exactly like this:
Now, that may seem really stupid to many of my readers, but I kid you not, I was annoying!! And I strongly believe to this day that I got under his skin and into his head.
Jorge Riviera, Greg King and Adrian Bernal all came up big in this came with the latter two combining for six trifectas. (That's huge at this level of the sport!)
We're up 15-6 after one and 26-19 at half. We put up 20 points in the third quarter, nine of which came from Greg's three three's. This was the start of a crazy hot streak for him. We're up 46-35 after three and McEvers had enough confidence in us to put both me and Craig in the game. Nothing exciting though. We won 57-43.
2-10 never felt so good.
January 19, 2006. Kino vs. Mesa Jr. This game was epic.
We were high off a win two days earlier. Having 6th hour P.E. and then about 40 minutes after school until tipoff always gave us quite a bit of time to screw around before home games. Well, on this day we were messin around (because McEvers let us [dare I say encouraged it at times]) and someone (I really don't know who, not me and not Lorenzo) launched a ridiculous shot that bounced off the wall and hit McEvers in the back of the head. He lost his God-given mind!!!
Immediately the blame was placed solely on Lorenzo, our star, leading scorer, rebounder and biggest guy. I swear he did not do it. I don't know who, just not him. McEvers absolutely lit him up!! It ended with McEvers telling Lorenzo he couldn't play that day. Basically a one-game suspension.
Lorenzo went to the locker room with his head down. The rest of us were shocked. Adrian and Greg, the other two team captains, started making their case to McEvers. He obviously had given up on the season, us being 2-10 and there being only seven games left and all. After a bit of deliberation, McEvers told us Lorenzo could play if we could talk him into it.
We all ran to the locker room. Lorenzo was slowly pulling his blue and gold long socks off (a team decision to all wear them.) He was crying. He didn't wanna play for McEvers. Not after that. I kinda don't blame him. We eventually got him to suit back up and lead his team.
Kino came in and looked like a bunch of big, tough guys. I think #44 even had a tattoo. They had one guy who was bigger than the rest. #23 Christian Trejo. I swear he looked just like this except in a jersey and without the smile:
The crowd really showed up for this game. Having won a home game two days earlier, the word got around and that small grandstand was packed. They weren't a dead crowd either. "M-J-H!!!" rung around the gym. It was a good feeling, even from the bench.
Martin Vega played out of his mind in this game. I remember one sequence where he launched a three, knew he missed right away, ran down and grabbed the rebound, and laid it in for two. He scored seven of his 20 points in the second quarter. Greg kept launching threes and missing because he thought he was on a hot streak (he was.) McEvers took him aside during a timeout and told him straight up that his hot streak was over and he needed to pass more. We were up 30-26 at half.
Things started to get chippy in the third quarter. Martin put up six more points. We got six points off the bench and had our highest scoring quarter of the season, 22 points. Kino's #44 started to get into it with both Greg and Jorge. I knew Greg from about 4th grade through graduation. He had a reputation for fighting. He was gonna back down. Jorge was also a tough guy. Greg wound up ankle hurt in a scuffle and had to come out. #44 ended up getting T'ed up and forced to the bench. He scored 10 of his 14 points after that instance.
We were doing fine until Jorge fouled out in the third. Then, coming to the bench for a timeout, Adrian pulls his jersey out of his shorts. I thought nothing of it. He got T'ed up. His fifth foul. We're down two of our best players. We find a way to extend the lead to 52-42 after three quarters.
Even with the crowd being awesome, giving us as much of a home court advantage as possible, we got outscored 23-13 in the 4th. 9 of those 13 from Lorenzo before fouling out. Sucks to lose him, but we couldn't have won without him. 14 huge points. He and Jorge fouled out big Christian Trejo. That's huge. They no longer had a big, intimidating enforcer guarding the basket.
Greg was forced to play on a bad ankle. He and Martin were the only starters left. The game was tied at 65 after four quarters. The two head coaches and two officials met briefly to discuss what would happen. McEvers walked away from that meeting quite unhappy. There would be a four minute overtime period.
With three starters out, I got to play for about 30 seconds in overtime. But it was mostly Greg King, Martin Vega, Erik Portillo, Angel Sanchez and Alex Castillanos. Not a great lineup. Greg and Martin scored eight of our nine overtime points. This was an intense time. Greg knew it was up to him. He was ferocious! Offense, defense rebounding, everything. The crowd was very loud. Trejo was the only Kino starter who had fouled out.
I remember vividly watching Greg sink free throws with a grimace. He was in pain, but he knew losing this game would hurt more. It was perfect. He had the sweat dripping off his chin and everything. His last two were most important. We were down 73-72. Greg got fouled with four seconds on the clock. When he was on, he could sink free throws blindly. He sunk both of them. Calmly. With the atmosphere so chaotic, he seemed so calm. Really like he slowed down time.
Kino attempted to throw a full court inbound pass. But guess who stopped it. Greg King. He's probably never jumped that high since, but he leaped with all his energy and swatted the ball away. Erik ended up with it and the game was over.
Mesa Jr. 74 Kino 73 F/OT
The crowd rushed the floor. Oh, my!!!!! How cool that was!! Gilbert the security guy started blowing his whistle, but nobody could hear. Kino disrespected the chairs we let them sit on as the left the gym. They wanted to fight. I wanted to celebrate. McEvers made us get out of there. I wanted to stay and enjoy the moment. What a crazy emotional high! We ruled the school!!!
And to think, this all started with our coach threatening to not let our star play. We probably would've lost by 35 without him.
Best. Game. Ever.
January 20, 2006. Mesa Jr. vs. Powell.
One day after our epic victory. We went to Powell and they had a cool mural in their gym. They honestly didn't stand a chance. We were on a two-game win streak. Nothing could stop us.
We led 12-11 after one. 32-25 at half. I remember getting into this game, but not exactly when. I remember I was supposed to guard their big man. That's all McEvers wanted. I got one play. One chance. They were inbounding from halfcourt. I knew it was gonna come to my guy. He was bigger than I was. I just jumped as high as I could. He almost got it even still. But my efforts prevailed.
That's it.
Greg put in 18 points, including three from behind the arc. He was still hot. Lorenzo added 17 of his own. We were up 44-38 after three and won 59-46. A three game win streak. From 1-10 to 4-10. We were never gonna lose again. We just knew it!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)