Game 81: Monmouth-Roseville @ Macomb (Boy's Basketball)

Game 81
Monmouth-Roseville @ Macomb (Boy's Basketball)
1/7/11

It's hard to fathom that I am broadcasting a game between the Bombers and the Titans, and I have seen the teams a combined....ONE time....all season!  I broadcasted Macomb Bombers basketball on K100 for three seasons, and covered the Monmouth-Roseville Titans for two seasons.  Every game, for each team in those years. 

The only game I have seen of either team was my 14th broadcast, Monmouth-Roseville vs. Galva.  I was hoping to get out to Western Hall on December 30th for their Macomb-Western Holiday Tournament championship game, but just 2 hours of sleep and a day at the office made me zombie-like for that evening.

This matchup is always fun, because it can be a heated rivalry, the fans get into it, and the crowd is large.  It is a great atmosphere at The Hangar!  Not only that, I have built several relationships with each school, so there's not a stranger in the building.

I pulled up to Macomb High School shortly after 5:00.  It's a change of pace for me for this broadcast.  I would be in a different broadcast location.  Formerly, my broadcast setup was in the corner of the gym.  Honestly, I never really liked the location, though it was nice because it wasn't in the middle of the crowd.  Tonight, I would be behind the scorer's table, right in the middle of the action.  Before, this is where WJEQ would broadcast, when two broadcast teams were covering the Bombers.

The good part is you are much closer to the action, you can hear the coaches in timeouts, get a better look at the foul calls, as well as see the action better.  The downside is the space is much tighter, and the crowd is all around.  At any rate, I much rather prefer this broadcast location than the corner.  The big disadvantages to the corner is running an extension cord through a high traffic area (using lots of duct tape), running a really long phone cord from the scorer's table location along the back of the bleachers to the corner spot, and the viewpoint is not good at all. 

Macomb A.D. Dave Bartlett greeted me as I arrived.  Along with Dave, I caught up with others from Macomb, including sophomore coach Jay Ankenbrand along with Randy Ames at the scorer's table.  Monmouth-Roseville score keeper Dave Giles was at the table when I arrived.  He asked me where I was at in the Quest, and mentioned he kept the scorebook for a number of various basketball games one season, but it was in the 80's.

Another familiar face from Macomb came up, Dennis Gordy.  He owns the Sears store in Macomb, and his son Matt, graduated from MHS last year.  We caught up and talked basketball and filled me in on how Matt is doing in college.  He is playing football at Wisconsin Lutheran.

At halftime, I headed down to talk with Macomb head coach Danny Watson.  Outside of our pregame interview, we mainly just caught up, and talked about trying to sell my house.  In my earlier conversation with Dennis Gordy, he was telling me some of the top players on the sophomore squad, that included freshman Blake Lowderman and sophomore Brett Taylor.  Taylor was sporting a face mask.  He had broken his nose earlier this year, then apparently re-broke the nose just hours before this sophomore game tipped off.  He had just gotten clearance to take the mask off, then was involved in a car accident after school Friday, and had to put the mask back on.

My broadcast partner, John Ring, showed up and we talked about the upcoming game.  As the third quarter began, I went in search of Monmouth-Roseville head coach Chuck Grant.  I headed near the locker room where he was last seen and talked with Macomb Dean of Students Ed Fulkerson.

In an earlier blog entry this week, I mentioned Macomb football coach Kelly Sears, and how he would talk about fans hanging around the gym after games.  Ed told me that he and Sears were talking this week, and they were going to charge $25 for each time Sears was mentioned in my blog.  I had texted Sears to see if he was coming to the game earlier in the evening, however he must have been scouting for his next basketball game.  I had a check for $375 ready for him, but since he didn't show at the Hangar, that deal is off.  He will have to fire Fulkerson as his agent!

I headed down into the Monmouth-Roseville locker room to catch Titans head coach Chuck Grant.  The players were getting pumped up listening to some Ludacris.  During our pregame show (with the Macomb band playing), I mentioned this to John Ring.  With the band playing loudly, he couldn't quite understand what I was saying.  Here's how the conversation went on the air....

Me:  I was in the Titans locker room while they were preparing for their game, and their music of choice was Ludacris, you ever listen to Ludacris, John?

John:  (staring blankly at me). 

Me:  You must not listen to Ludacris?

John:  Too much drum....but I think the Titans will need to.....

Me:  (trying not to laugh on the air)

Before coach Grant and I did our pregame interview, I asked him about the head football coaching opening at Monmouth-Roseville.  They are still in the process, and a full search has not quite gone on just yet.  He is awaiting the district to give him a list of teaching openings, since they cannot create an opening.  The opening has not even been posted on the coaches association website, yet, so it will be sometime before a coach is hired for the Titans. 

The game began and it was back-and-forth and very physical.  Freshman post Trayvon Smith was knocked out of the game in the first half (for a few minutes) after taking a hard elbow to the face by Nick Heille.  It was a pretty bad take that Smith endured, but the freshman came back in a few minutes later.  He played a great game in the low post, in what was an extremely physical game.

Monmouth-Roseville led 15-14 after the first quarter, and held a 30-26 lead at halftime.  Alex Temple was en fuego for the Titans in the first half, scoring 16 points, including knocking down four three-pointers.  The foul differential in the first half was 12 against Macomb and just 5 against Monmouth-Roseville.

That changed in the second half, as Macomb picked up just 8 fouls to Monmouth-Roseville's 13, but the Titans were whistled for the first six fouls of the second half.  Free throw shooting certainly didn't win the game for either team, though Macomb did make clutch shots in the 58-54 overtime win.

The host Bombers, who came in shooting 69% from the line, converted on just 7-16 shooting from the free throw line.  Monmouth-Roseville shot just 6-17.  Macomb was 4-6 in overtime.  What Alex Temple did in the first half, Tyler Thorman did in the second half for the host Bombers.  He finished with 17 points, but 15 of those 17 points came in the second half.  Temple finished with a game-high 18 points, and teammate Alex Bresnahan added 17 points. 

It was an electric crowd at The Hangar.  I've broadcasted many games in this gym, and it's the most filled I've seen it.  In fact, after the game I was talking with coach Watson, and he said the only other time he could remember it being like tonight was during the 2005-06 season when they hosted Orion. 

Scouting
On Saturday, the Bombers will take on the Galesburg Silver Streaks at Galesburg.  In the crowd were assistant coach Troy Noble and former Streaks basketball player Ryan Ricketts.  Ricketts is a senior and decided to focus on football in the offseason.  He will call Macomb home for the next four years, as he will be playing football for the Leathernecks.  The two sat next to us, and I talked with Ryan during one of our breaks.  He said he got a good steak dinner out of taking a Friday night off to scout. 

A Little Help
Former co-worker Adam Frankhauser was in the gym taking in the action.  He helped us out on some broadcasts in the past, calling some Bomber games, and was also the voice of Rushville-Industry Rockets football for a season.  He helped out and carried some equipment to my car after the game.

Game 81 Miles:  4  (my one "home" game this season)