Game 43: Rock Island @ Galesburg (Boy's Basketball)

Game 43
Rock Island @ Galesburg (Boy's Basketball)
(12/10/10)

A Christmas Tale
My most memorable Christmas gift was given to me when I was a junior in high school. Thinking about it, and comparing to other gifts, it seems silly that a video game takes the top honor. It was the video game, NBA Live '98 for Sega Genesis. Even stranger, I was never a "gamer." Sure, as a kid I grew up on Super Tecmo Bowl on Nintendo, and would spend 12 hours with a group of guys/kids playing tournaments into the wee hours. Why does a video game beat out my first gigantic late 90's cell phone, a flat screen TV, etc.? No idea, just one of my quirks, I guess.



Before I get into the details on why this particular story is relevant to this game blog, there is another back story to the Christmas of 1998. I was sneaky, the kid that would always try to get underneath the Christmas tree before it was time, and shake presents, even try to unwrap them. For one year, and one year only, my mom set the presents under the tree in advance in just gift boxes. To my recollection, she would later put presents under the tree early, but the use of gift boxes came to an end, or wrapping paper would cover them in future Christmases.

The reason? I yearned to play this new game, which featured Mitch Richmond of the Sacramento Kings dribbling on the box cover. Before staying the night at my friend, Luke Owens', house, I carefully cut the tape sealing the gift box, and found the box featuring this video game. It was hidden under a sweater, trying to disguise any shaking that would reveal a video game cartridge. I hid the game in my bag, and Luke and I stayed up all night playing NBA Live '98. After returning home, I found a good time to place it back in the box and seal it back up like nothing ever happened. I would have gotten away with it to, however I gave it away on Christmas morning, with a stupid grin on my face and saying, "oh I am so surprised."

Why do I tell this tale of mischief? On the game NBA Live '98, you could not only create a player, but a whole team. Growing up a huge Iowa Hawkeyes fan (I'll explain in a later blog), I would create the 1998-99 Hawkeyes. Through covering high school basketball, I have now met three members of that team.

Tonight, I met Joey Range for the first time. Joey was an All-State standout for the Galesburg Silver Streaks, graduating in 1998. He joined GHS teammate Rod Thompson at the University of Iowa. Range only spent one year in Iowa City. Many believed him to be an NBA prospect. He is a regular at Silver Streaks games, and we have said hello in passing throughout the past two years. My broadcast partner, Jimmie Carr, interviewed Range after this game because of a topic that has been hot lately...who has been the best player in the history of the Western Big 6. The argument has created a lot of conversation, and Joey Range has been at the top of many people's lists. I met Rod Thompson earlier this season, during Galesburg High School's Hall of Fame night, and another member of that 98-99 Hawkeyes was Tony Ramos, who is now the head basketball coach at Kewanee. Ramos was also a freshman with Range and Thompson, and stands 7'1".

Little did I know when I was creating the '98-99 Hawkeyes on Christmas Day 1998 with a trio of hightly touted freshman, that a little over a decade later, I would be talking high school basketball with them.

Rocky/Galesburg
The Rock Island Rocks were in town for a Western Big 6 matchup at John Thiel Gymnasium. The Rocks feature Stanford-bound Chasson Randle, who would light up the scoreboard with a game-high 22 points in the Rock Island victory (66-54). Randle has been mentioned by many in talks of the greatest Western Big 6 player ever, with most also reserving judgement until season's end.

Galesburg went toe-to-toe with the Class 3A (#3) Rocks. The hosts led 19-14 after one quarter of basketball.

It was an electric crowd at GHS, with the first 1,000 fans receiving a free white T-shirt. It was a packed house with fans in both upper decks. Fortunately, for our broadcast, the GHS band was in the opposite upper deck, as opposed to 10 feet in front of us.

Shooting went cold for the Streaks in the 2nd quarter, as the Rocks outscored Galesburg 18-6 in that frame, taking a 32-25 halftime lead. Galesburg struggled offensively in the 3rd quarter as well, scoring just 7 points.

Randle led the way with 22 points, and Royce Muskeyvalley added 12 points. Galesburg's Brandon Thompson scored 15 points, and Chad Thompson, Ryan McElmurry, and Dalton Davis each added 10 points.

Favorite Name: I've enjoyed saying the name of Royce Muskeyvalley (5'10" Sr.). The last name sounds like a high school. Muskey Valley High School sounds good. If Muscatine ever builds another high school, there's a good name!

Game 43 Miles: 100

Total Quest 2: 150 Miles: 2,089