November 19, 2009
My First College Game...
By Freshman Guard Robert Scott (Paoli, PA)
Climbing into my seat on the way to my first college basketball game initially brought back painful memories of my last high school game - a loss in the state playoffs - and the quiet ride back in a bus almost identical to the one that took us to Baldwin- Wallace. I was nervous about the game. I had no idea what to expect and how good the competition was going to be (according to Coach Sean they had a kid who was well… enormous; let’s just leave it at that). I settled into my seat, turned Wale up, and blankly stared out the window.
Once I got onto the floor for warm-ups my jitters disappeared. Tim (Maleski) and I shot some NBA trey balls. Evan (Tsudis) tried to stop my left-handed jump hook… and failed. Cotton Eye Joe blared through the Yellow Jackets’ speakers. I was settling in, my nerves were starting to die down. Once serious warm-ups commenced their student section started hollering terrible insults at us (not terrible as in cruel or hurtful, more like, “wow, I can’t believe that’s the best you’ve got”). The trash talking got me even more comfortable. Gotta love people calling you a freshman and thinking it’s somehow insulting… it’s not, it’s a fact, I’m a freshman. Just like 2 + 2 is always 4, down is south and up is north and 32°F is freezing cold. Enough of Tracy Byrd though. Point is, their trash talking stunk. Very uncreative.
After 15 minutes of good warm-ups the clock wound down and the buzzer sounded, Coach Sean (McDonnell) called us back to the bench and discussed strategy. The starting five jogged onto the court and I parked myself on the bench next to Tim and Evan. We won the tip and scored the first two points of the game, shutting up the student section’s weak chants of “Defense! Defense!” I tried starting a “Scoreboard!” chant from the bench. Evan chuckled and told me to shut up.
I’m not sure exactly when Coach told me to take (Bryan) Erce out of the game, but I remember my butterflies returning in full force as I stood up, tucked in my jersey, and prepared to check in.
As far as the actual game goes, I don’t remember it play by play, but I’ll jot down what sticks out in my mind: Summers had 19 points or so and I remember him scoring about 6. Reid’s half-court shot was huge for the momentum of the game; effectively rendering the three they’d just worked so hard to get useless. The refs probably called 15 charges in the last 8 minutes, and no matter what Erce says the one called on me was the most ridiculous. Oh, and that little point guard on their team (I’m pretty sure his name is Promis) is insanely quick. He made me look even slower than I really am… which is tough.
The team went bonkers as time expired. Case 83, BW 81. We’d never beaten Baldwin-Wallace before last Monday; we were 0-11 all time against them. Not anymore. I couldn’t picture my college career starting off any better. Hopefully we can build on the success of Monday night and have a good year.
Posted by Creg Jantz at 02:17 PM
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