Summer basketball fun

We haven't had much opportunity for the basketball teams to get together formally in the summer in the brief history of the HSRC Patriots. This past Saturday, however, the boys' varsity team had the opportunity to participate in the inaugural VCA Summer Slam hosted by Victory Christian Academy of Valparaiso.

When we received the invitation in the spring, we thought that this would be a great opportunity if the team was available. This would provide some continuity from season to season and would provide off-season work that the whole team could do together. The first obstacle we had to overcome was practice facilities. Coach Boss wanted the team to get together for at least a couple of practices before the tournament, but the school we usually use for that purpose does not allow use of its facilities when school isn't in session, so that was out. Thankfully, George Schaaf, who has an indoor basketball court at his home just a short distance from Family of Faith Church, was generous enough to allow us to use it for a couple of hours on the two Tuesdays prior to the tournament.

The tournament format was for the five participating teams to play each other in a round robin format. Time and stamina constraints would prevent the teams from playing full games, so the games were only two eight-minute halves each, or essentially a half of a regulation high school game. The four other teams were Calumet Christian, Christian Haven, Victory Christian and Portage Christian.

Our first game was against Portage. PCS had a lot of turmoil last year and also had a lot of seniors. From the group they put on the floor yesterday, it appears that this resulted in a complete turnover of players from last year, so their team was quite young. This contrasted with our senior-laden experienced team, so it wasn't much of a contest. We only had one bench player, so we couldn't send in our own young players when it was apparent our starters were too much for them. At the half it was 27-2. The guys slowed things down in the second half, but the lead continued to grow, and the final was 40-6. Kyle had fifteen points and eight rebounds, and Josh had fourteen and nine.

Our next opponent was Christian Haven. They appeared to have improved from last year, losing by only one to the defending conference champion Calumet in an earlier game. However, they could not solve our intense zone defense. A slowly played first half resulted in a 12-5 halftime lead for the Patriots. The second half saw the pace pick up, but the shooting percentage went down. The result in the second half was the same, and the Patriots came away with a solid 27-11 win. Kyle had eleven points and Josh led the team with seven rebounds

By the time the third game rolled around, it was apparent that this would be for the tournament championship. Both Calumet and HSRC were undefeated at that point. Each team's last game looked like a win, so this looked like the game for the title. We scored first when Josh was fouled on a bucket. He completed the three-point-play. CCS scored the next two buckets, and that was reflective of the whole tone of the game. CCS scored five straight at one point to open a four point lead, then answered a Josh free throw with another field goal and they led 15-10. However, Nate, Seth and Josh each scored in a 6-0 HSRC run to close the half, giving us a 16-15 lead.
Josh opened the second half scoring but CCS scored six in a row to take a three point lead. Kyle and Nate answered to put HSRC back up. Neither team lead by more that two after that. The teams exchanged baskets until, at 28-26 CCS, Peter hit a three (his only score of the day). Alas, CCS answered that with a three with about 10 seconds left. We threw the ball away with about two seconds left, but then intercepted CCS's inbounds pass. Seth's 30-footer just missed and CCS had the victory, 31-29. Josh won scoring honors with ten while he and Kyle shared high rebounds with six each.

The final game was somewhat anticlimactic, with the championship out of reach and the opponent another team with significant turnover from last season, the host team, Victory. Nate S, Seth, Josh and Kyle all scored to lift the Patriots to a 9-0 lead, but VCA fought back pulling to within 12-9 at half. VCA scored a basket to open the second half. Josh and Kyle scored to push HSRC's lead back up to to five. VCA hit a couple of free throws, but then Josh really began to exploit his height advantage. He scored eight of the Patriots' final ten points while the defense held firm, giving up only one more basket the rest of the way. The final score was HSRC 26, VCA 15. Josh led in both scoring and rebounds with thirteen and nine.

I will try to post all the stats later.