Game 97: United Township vs. Maine South (Boy's Basketball)

Game 97
United Township vs. Maine South (Boy's Basketball)
Galesburg Martin Luther King Tournament
(1/15/11)

Immediately after going off the air from our WAIK postgame show following the Galesburg/Warren game, I picked up the IHSSN headsets, and went live for the final game of the night, pitting the Panthers of United Township against the Hawks from Maine South.

Maine South took a 12-8 lead after the first quarter, and held on to a two-point halftime lead, 26-24.  It was about midway through the 2nd quarter when fatigue set in.

Typically, during long tournament days, when I broadcast six games in one day, I will start getting tired in the middle of the afternoon.  The typical mid-afternoon crash.  As we readied for the Galesburg broadcast earlier in the night, I realized that I hadn't been tired all day.  It may have been because the day was split up just perfectly.  I had so much going on initially, then three straight broadcasts, followed by prep, more broadcasts, etc.  There was no downtime to realize tiredness.

With the emotional Galesburg win, I think it took a lot of energy away and it became very apparent during my final broadcast.  By halftime, I couldn't stop yawning, and it wasn't because of a boring game, just the rigors of the day had set in.

The Hawks held onto their lead throughout the 3rd quarter, leading 42-38 heading into the last quarter.  The second half was filled with fouls.  Maybe it was because I was tired and ready to call it a day, it seemed like every posession was stalled with a foul or an out-of-bounds.  In reality, there were only 23 fouls called in the 2nd half, quite a few, but not as many as it felt like.

United Township made a run down the stretch.  Midway through the 4th quarter, Maine South had taken a five-point lead, and it appeared as though they would cruise to the victory.  UTHS made it a game in the final minute, but came up short, 54-52. 

The Panthers went 9-15 from the free throw line in the 4th quarter, while the victorious Hawks were 10-14 in that same stretch.  Casey Bruce scored a team-high 15 points for Maine South, and Matt Palucky added 12 points, and Nick Calabrese pitched in 11 points.  Nic Hoepfner scored a game-high 25 points for United Township.

After the game, I wasted no time, doing a quick recap of the scoring and called it a night.  It was bitterly cold, and I had to make a trip to Mobil on Henderson Street for gas before heading back to Monmouth to drop the station car off and switch vehicles.

Gas Prices
Galesburg:  $3.03
Monmouth: $3.19
Miles seperating two cities:  17
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Game 97 Miles:  55