The “Southwest
Tech Scourge”
Dear George,
I’ve been going to basketball
games at Southwest Ohio Tech for a dozen years or more. Partly it’s convenience – the team
(nicknamed the Scourge) plays just a half-mile down the street from us. Partly it’s because Southwest wins most
of its games handily, and it’s easy and rewarding to be a fan of a top-ranked
team. They’ve been a regional force for years, and they’ve gone to the national
Junior College championship tournament numerous times. They’ve made it to the championship
game twice in the last five years, though they’ve yet to win the whole thing. When I first started going to Southwest
games, about half the players were from Greater Cincinnati. Now, with a strong push toward national
preeminence, the coach recruits from the entire Midwest. This year’s team has players from
Chicago, Cleveland, Indianapolis, Louisville, Akron, and Detroit, as well as
two Cincinnati players. The
Scourge play a wide open offense, are pesky on defense, often score a hundred
points or more, and are sheer fun to watch for their energy and skill.
The “Pitney
Torpedoes” warming up
The other night the opponent
was Pitney Community College from Porterfield, Ohio. The game looked from the
outset like sheep being led to the slaughter. Porterfield’s a town of about 15,000, 90 miles northeast of
Cincinnati in a predominantly rural area. Pitney’s student body is about
one-seventh the size of Southwest’s.
Several of Pitney’s players are from Porterfield, and the rest are from
small towns in a thirty-mile radius, e.g., Napton, Pleasant Hills, Zandelia. The team is nicknamed the
Torpedoes. Its players are mostly
white guys; the Scourge, all African-American guys (which doesn’t necessarily
guarantee an outcome, but has some predictive power). Southwest’s players were taller and looked to be stronger,
faster, and more athletic.
Pitney’s won a few games this season, but has a middling record at best.
Their center was chubby and under-sized; the point guard, short and
scrawny. Even the Pitney coach
looked kind of mopy. At one point
in the warm-ups the Pitney team missed 20 practice shots in a row. They must have been nervous. I’m sure it was their most intimidating
game of the year.
The game started off as you’d
expect. Southwest won the tip,
raced down the floor and scored within seconds. Pitney got the ball and promptly threw it out of bounds. The Scourge made a three point
shot. The Torpedoes turned it over
again. And so on. As the first half proceeded Southwest
kept doubling the score: 6-3, 10-5, 17-8, 23-13, etc. Toward the end of the first half Southwest cooled down a
bit, perhaps out of boredom or decreased adrenalin, and the half came to an end
with a 33-23 score. I was just
surprised the margin wasn’t larger.
There were lots of Pitney fans present, but the visitors became quieter
and quieter as the game went along.
The half-time
dance team
A local high school hip hop
dance team performed at intermission, getting lots of applause. As the second half got started,
Southwest continued to pull away.
Katja was home sick in bed, and, since the game was effectively over, I
decided to leave early. I figured I’d stay till the Scourge got 15 points
ahead. With about ten minutes left
in the game, the score reached 49-33.
I thought to myself, they might as well cancel the rest of the
game. Just as I was gathering
together my stuff, a Scourge player made an ill-advised pass, and a Pitney
player raced down the floor and dunked the ball. Then the same thing happened on the next possession. I set my coat back down and decided to
watch just a few more minutes.
Suddenly, however, the whole Southwest team seemed to come down with a
seemingly contagious case of fumble-itis.
They literally had their passes intercepted on their next six
possessions in a row, and Pitney scored on most of them. The Surge’s lead kept shrinking – 14
points, 11 points, 9 points, etc.
I didn’t know if the Scourge were tired (they only had 8 players suited
up), distracted, or even flu-ridden, but their level of play got worse and
worse. On the other hand, the more
errors the Scourge made, the more energized the Torpedoes became, and their
fans starting cheering at the top of their voices. Then, the Torpedo players started hitting long three point
shots for the first time in the game – one, two, three in a row.
The Scourge
mascot, undoubtedly worried
With three minutes left on
the clock, the score was suddenly tied.
I don’t think anybody in the gym—fans or players on either team --
believed that such a huge comeback could be happening. Pitney took the lead by one point; then
a Scourge player made a 15-foot shot to regain the lead. Pitney moved back to a one-point lead
from a pair of free throws, and then, with thirty seconds to go, the Scourge
went up, 65-64. I still felt
pretty relaxed. As close as the
game had become, I was convinced there was no possibility that Southwest could
lose. The Torpedoes came down the
floor, passed the ball around, and one of the Torpedo guards got open and made
a 10-foot shot from the sideline.
The score was 66-65 Pitney with only three seconds to go. The Pitney fans were jumping up and
down and screaming nonstop. The
Scourge threw the ball inbounds, and one of their guards made a desperation shot
from midcourt. It bounced off the
top of the backboard, stopping the clock at 0.3 seconds. With less than half a second left, Pitney
got the ball back, and their player wisely heaved the ball as far down the
court as he could throw it, which would make it impossible for the Scourge to
get back and get off a shot.
However, the ball hit the ceiling and again was ruled out of
bounds. Because no time had gone
off the clock, Southwest got the ball back under their own basket with 0.3
seconds still left. The gym fell
silent. I’m sure everyone was wondering
whether the Scourge could pull off a miracle. Hypothetically, Southwest could toss the ball in off a
player’s fingers and into the basket in only a fraction of a second. The gym was so quiet you could hear a
pin drop. The Scourge player threw
the ball inbounds to his tallest teammate, but the play didn’t work -- the
buzzer sounded before the guy could get a shot off. Miracle of miracles, Pitney had won, 66-65. Everyone stared at the scoreboard, and
no one moved for a second. Then I
don’t think I’ve ever seen a sports team more excited than the Pitney
Torpedoes. All the players from
the bench rushed onto the floor, as did the coaches. Everybody jumped, hollered, ran in circles, gave one another
high fives. One guy lay on the
floor, kicking his legs in the air.
The fans yelled and jumped up and down, shaking the floorboards of the
stands. The Southwest players
looked deflated and in total disbelief as they slowly filed off the floor. Their coach simply looked disgusted. As a Scourge fan, it was disappointing
-- definitely a blemish on the season’s record to date. At the same time, I decided
it was probably the most remarkable game I’d ever watched in person. It reminded me of the Gene Hackman
movie, Hoosiers, about an equally
amazing basketball outcome. These
two teams could play a hundred games, and the Scourge would win 99 of
them. I’m sure that the Torpedo
players will remember the victory and their individual roles in it for the rest
of their lives. It shows why
sports can generate so much excitement.
You never know for sure what in the world is going to happen. Even in real life, David can beat
Goliath.
Love,
Dave
*Pseudonyms are used in this
story.
G-mail Comments
-Gayle C-L (1-24):
David, Pretty cool! Sounds
very exciting! I bet your heart was pumpimg the whole time.. Glad you had
a great time..:) Lots of love :)
G
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