Matthew Scores, But Reds Denied Victory

Matthew played well, and his Reds led the entire game before losing on the last basket of the game Saturday. In addition to good defense and the strongest rebounding all season, Matthew scored the first basket of the game. He grabbed a loose ball halfway between the foul line and the basket and confidently put up an immediate shot, giving the Reds an early lead.

After Black tied the game at two, the Reds built leads of seven and eight. With the score 20-12 just before the half, Black outscored Red 16-7 to take the game at the end. The winless Black team had lost to the Reds by over forty points a few weeks ago, but the powers that be were determined to get them a win, by hook or by crook. Even though the Blacks suited up nine of their own players, they were also able to recruit two of the best players in the league: the tall twins from the Blue team. Had they not played, the Reds would’ve won easily.

The Reds played without their leading rebounder Chris, who was nursing a foot injury. Leading scorer Ryan hit a half-court buzzer-beater to end the first quarter, but spent the rest of the game more focused on making spectacular plays than playing solid basketball. Up only one point late in the game, Ryan turned the ball over while attempting a behind-the-back pass. He missed all four free throws: one was an air ball. Darryl also had a rough game, making only one shot while turning it over numerous times.

At the beginning of the fourth quarter, Red scored to put the lead at three. Matthew grabbed a rebound, but barely missed the putback. Later he was fouled, but didn’t get to shoot. Both teams played their best five players the last five minutes. The pace was frantic. Down one point, Black was quite aggressive. The referees certainly let the players play, way past the point of mugging, in my opinion. Ryan did not attempt a shot, and the Reds were unable to score.

Matthew played the entire first half, and half of the second.

RED…2…14…14…20…25…25…27…27

BLK….2…..6…10…16…20…23…25…28

Ryan: 16 pts, 10 RB, 8 steals, BLK…7-16, 0-4

Ethan: 4 points, 5 RB, assist…1-4, 0-2

Darryl: 2 points, 7 RB, 5 steals…1-5

Sam: 2 points, 6 RB, steal…1-4

Matthew: 2 points, 5 RB, assist…1-3

Rolf: one point, 5 RB…0-2, 1-2

Tristan: 7 rebounds, assist

Next weekend Matthew will miss his game, while on his church retreat.

In two weeks Ernie Johnson Jr will speak at the awards banquet, as well as at both morning services at Mt Zion UMC.