Sometimes Things Just Happen
Germantown, OH (March 8, 2004)— Last Friday's boys basketball contest was a game of inconsistency. Each quarter was set at a different pace and each quarter seemed like it was being played by different teams.
The first quarter was slow. Immediately in foul trouble, Dunbar lumbered along with Valley View following the Wolverine's pace. In addition, the Spartans failed to find a foul shot until the last seconds in the quarter.
You read it right. The Spartans went two for eight from the foul line. Six points. The score could have been 13-7, but after the first quarter it was a 7-7 deadlock.
Things did start to pick up in the second quarter. Dunbar's fouls came down a little. Valley View was one for three from the foul line. And despite the missing nine extra points they didn't get from the foul line, they managed to stumble into the lead following back-to-back shots by Brandon Hassell and Trey Weidle prior to the break.
During the break I felt confident and prepared myself mentally to travel to Cincinnati for the District Finals. Perhaps too confident and maybe so too were the Spartans. The third quarter became a one-on-one boxing match between Daequan Cook and the net. He won.
Where did our defense go?
Everyone new going into the game that Cook would be a definite threat and just because he didn't score in the first 16 minutes, it did not mean he was stagnant. It also didn't mean he couldn't explode at any minute.
And explode he did. The explosion rocked the Student Activity Center and at the center stood Cook, who scored 12 of his 15 points in just under four minutes during the death blow of a third quarter. Wow! He is an exceptional player. No one could deny that.
The Spartans have exceptional players too and perhaps their best player is the team. Valley View concentrates on the team as a whole, as one being. When in synch the whole is unbeatable.
Through out the 2003-04 season, it was apparent that in games the Spartans won, they were the games that everyone played. That was the missing link in during the third quarter. The Spartans just couldn't pull together and Dunbar was on fire, or should I say Cook was on fire.
The fourth quarter was better and the Spartans stepped up defensively, holding Cook to an amazing three points, but It was too late. The damage had been done.
Dunbar started running the clock down with more than three minutes remaining in the game and while I understand there reasoning, sometimes I just want to see basketball.
I don't want to see players dribbling back and forth and passing for three minutes. Just play.
There's really not one thing you could pinpoint on the Spartan's loss. Everyone could say different things:
— It was foul shots.
— It was defense.
— It was the pressure.
— It was...
It could have been any number of things, and then it could have just been a game.
Games are like roller coasters. Sometimes you just can't see that point where the other team is going to score eight straight points.
Sometimes you can't see whether they're going to drive in the box, pass, or shoot back at the perimeter.
There will always be those that say, would have, could have, and should have. Seriously, what happened, well, just happened. Sometimes things just happen. It doesn't mean the team didn't work as hard as they could. Sometimes it just doesn't mean anything.
Sometimes things just happen and the thing that happened to the Spartans last Friday could've just as easily have happened to Dunbar, but It didn't and sometimes that's just how it goes.
At any rate the Spartans had an excellent season and every player played their heart out. Actually I'm sure there is a little piece of the 2003-04 Spartan team still on the court at Vandalia Butler.
