Game 51
(1/8/10)
Lewistown @ Knoxville (Boy's Basketball)
Premonitions
The title of this blog will come up in a later paragraph. This broadcast was not even supposed to happen 12 hours before the tipoff. Originally, my broadcast was to be Wethersfield @ United, but due to inclement weather, it was cancelled. After putting in about a 15-16 hour Thursday, I slept in (much needed), and went into the office shortly before noon.
In sleeping in, I woke up from an odd dream. I dreamt that with the extreme cold, my battery was dead, and I was stranded. Nine hours later, this dream became reality! Failure to turn my lights off when arriving at work, drained the juice. It didn't help matters that I was sandwiched in our already small back parking lot, and, oh yeah it was about -20 with the wind chill. After some posturing of his car, co-worker Adam Frankhauser backed in to get the jumper cables across. This was also after another co-worker (Tyler Gumm) and I had to put my Explorer in neutral and push it to make some room. Minutes later, she fired right up.
Earlier in the day, I checked our local schedule to see what games were on the schedule. Seeing this Prairieland Conference matchup, I shot an email over to Knoxville Athletic Director Chad Bahnks around noon, and he confirmed the game was still on. On the way to work, I also spoke with WJBC (Bloomington) Sports Director Greg Halbleib, who is helping me out in a pinch tomorrow, sending one of his play-by-play guys, Eric Lepan, to cover our Monmouth-Roseville game at the Kessler's Shootout at Tolono Unity. I would have made the trip, but with my Galesburg/Macomb game at Macomb, it would have pushed me to the limits driving back after the game. With that in place, I decided to confirm with Camp Pt. Central A.D. Matt Long (and Central/Southeastern girl's basketball coach) that I would in fact come down to broadcast a few games at the Lady Panther Classic. On the docket will be four games (Quincy Notre Dame vs. Brown County, Lewistown vs. West Hancock, Monmouth-Roseville vs. West Prairie, and Liberty vs. Brown County).
The dead battery didn't delay me, and even had time to stop at Burger King (woops, there goes the fast food binge again). I feasted on the two cheeseburgers meal, which I consider much better than a Triple Whopper, or the like. I arrived at Jensen Gym in Knoxville about 7 minutes before tipoff of the JV game.
Lewistown came into this game struggling a bit, losing two of three games (both overtime) at the Macomb-Western Holiday Tournament, and came in with an (8-3) record. Knoxville comes in at (4-10), but has a much better team than in recent years. This is also the first year for the hosts in the Prairieland Conference (since 1992 when they left for the Olympic).
It seemed to be a route in the early going, with Lewistown jumping out to a (15-6) first quarter lead. Quinton Hatfill scored six points in that frame. The Indians couldn't stretch that lead out, and in fact the host Blue Bullets began to chip in, trailing by seven points at halftime (28-21).
Lewistown has one of the biggest teams for 1A basketball. Joseph Jugovic (6'9"), Zack Rilea (6'4"), Ian Simpson (6'4"), and Kevin Battefeld (6'3") all are starters or significant players.
Knoxville was able to pull within four points late in the third quarter, but the Indians took a seven-point lead (37-30) heading into the fourth quarter. The wheels started to fall off in the fourth quarter for Lewistown, coughing the ball up numerous times, with the hosts capitalizing.
The Indians finished the game with 19 turnovers in the game, 12 of them in the second half. Lewistown only mustered two field goals in the fourth quarter. Knoxville took their first lead of the game at 5:08 to play. The game went back-and-forth from then on out. With 0:20 to play, Knoxville led (44-43) and Matt Sagona of the Bullets was fouled, going to the line, shooting a one-and-bonus. The free throw missed, and Lewistown rebounded. Quinton Hatfill brought it up the near sideline and it looked like he was fouled on a block by Sagona, but no whistle blew, and Sagona stole the ball, and was fouled with 0:12 to play, leading by a point.
Sagona had stepped to the line just (1-6) from the charity stripe. Out of a timeout, he swished the first shot, making it a two-point game. The second free throw, nothing but net. Lewistown took the ball down the floor, and Zach Duncan attempted a three-pointer a couple feet behind the line at the top of the key. The shot fell short, and he hustled down to grab the offensive rebound with about 0:03 to play, retreated to the far corner, turned and released a prayer at the buzzer that hit the side of the backboard, and gave Knoxville the upset win, 46-43.
After the game, had to make a fuel stop at Casey's in Knoxville, and grabbed a water as well. No snacks! I always forget my way out of Knoxville, and nearly turned on Route 150, instead of the blacktop that takes you to Route 41. That blacktop was a little slick, but not too bad. Route 41 was clear all the way to Bushnell, and overall the roads were in great condition.
The Quest File Notes
Game 51
Date: 1/8/10
Result: Knoxville upsets Lewistown (46-43)
Miles: 123
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