Tournament Completion

Because of the nature of the tournament, we did not know which team we would be facing until the round robin portion was complete.

I was not exactly thrilled when I walked into the gym and found out we would be facing the team we played here, and here, and here. I was also quite surprised since that meant they had lost sometime throughout the day (and they had been undefeated).

Zack is amazing at the opening jump ball often out jumping boys who are much taller than he is.  Here the boy is at least two inches taller but Zack still won the tip off.

But we had an advantage this day...while Zack's team had been able to rest since their 9:00 game ended, the other team had played two games since 11:00.  One went into overtime and the other was a game they were beat on a 3 point buzzer beater.

So, we were able to jump out to an early lead (we are guest)

The whole game remained close with the teams flip-flopping leads...sometimes we had as much as a 5 point lead but could never extend it and they would always come right back.

As the fourth quarter started we held the slight lead

But, of course, they came back and going down to the wire the score was tied.

A time out was called

Things from here on out were a flurry with the teams trading possessions without scoring.

And then...the second worst thing happened.  Zack was cornered in the back court and had the ball stolen away and they scored.

They then forced another steal and we were so far from the bonus that, even though we kept fouling, we could not get them to the line.  Finally, on the next foul we would force them to the line - and the first worst thing happened!  Someone blew a coverage and left their man wide open for an easy lay-up on the inbound pass.  

With only two seconds left, they stole the inbound pass and scored again so even though the final score was a loss by six...four of those points were in the last 3 seconds so it was a lot closer than the final score indicated.

This was the final score - not the score with 2:52 left...don't know where that time came from.

We then received the biggest surprise (and compliment) as our boys were awarded the Sportsmanship Award (trophy)...citing their positive attitude and for playing their hearts out even though they were the youngest team there!
(Zack had 7 points and a few nice blocks)