[Ridgeland, MS] The Victors started off the game with a 3 pointer and mid-range jumper, but the Counselors answered with a three from Caleb Sanders and two lay-ups from both Chris Purnell and me, Sun Michael Williams. Coming from a hard fought 37-34 victory over the Victors in the 16u game, the Counselors were in our groove and looking for more. The first four and a half minutes were pretty even and when the Victors called a timeout with three minutes and thirty six seconds left, they were up 13-11. The height of the Victors made it a challenge for us to get rebounds. The Victors went on a little run at the end of the 1st quarter going up 21-12.
In the second quarter, we came back and cut the lead to within five. The Victors stretched the lead back out to eleven and held it to ten until halftime. After King Williams overheated at halftime, we Counselors had to keep our composure and play on. It is really hard for me to do that because he’s my brother, I love him, and I don’t like for him to not be playing because of heat.
During the 3rd quarter, the Counselors slowly came back, and the Victors stretched the lead out again. By the end of the quarter, the score was 57-49. I was shooting cold all game but Caleb Sanders was shooting very well, especially in the 3rd.
King Williams had 10 points before he went down so we had to make up for not having him in the game. With 3 minutes and 55 seconds left, we were down by seven, 60-53. I got an “and one” but missed the free throw! So we were within 5. The Victors went back down the court and missed, and we came down and Chris Purnell hit a mid range jumper. That put us within 3. The Victors came down and had excellent ball movement, but an unfortunate call gave the ball back to us. I passed it in to Caleb Sanders and jogged down the court. Caleb passed the ball back to me, I drove in, I kicked it out to Luke Sanders and he hit the three! Yes! That tied us at 60. The Victors came down and missed a shot, and we got the rebound. With 1 minute and 35 seconds left, Coach Willis called a timeout and we decided to hold the ball until we could get a wide open shot. We kept moving it, until we had Luke Sanders right next to the basket; the pass was off the mark! The Victors’ Dan Grete got the ball, passed it up to John White and he hit the lay-up with thirty four seconds left! I got the ball up the court as fast as I could, passed it, but we got our shot blocked. The Victors got the ball, but traveled. There were 20 seconds left and we had the ball. I threw it in to Luke. He got the ball back to me, I drove, kicked it out, we got the ball back around to Luke for a 3 pointer; it missed. I tried to save the ball to one of my teammates, but instead I threw it to the other side of the court. We got a deflection out of bounds, but they had the ball with 2 seconds left. They threw the ball in, but Counselors Caleb Sanders skied up, caught the ball turned around and shot it up from half court. It hit the back board! We lost 62-60. Back to the drawing board.
