Welcome to Ohio Basketball

You know the scene in Hoosiers when Gene Hackman walks through the gym door right before he coaches his first highschool basketball game for Hickory saying "Welcome to Indiana basketball"? Well tonight I sampled what Ohio high school basketball is like. I went to the Huron Tigers vs. the Perkins Pirates game. The ticket was $6 bucks to get in but I guess everything in Huron is expensive. I soon realized that it was well worth the 6 dollars.

It was a very small and crowded gym which I like.....I think it adds something. Coming from Airport you may think it's odd to hear me say that since our stands went for as far as the eye could see. Anyways, I soon found out that the Perkins Pirates are a perfect 16-0 on the season. I got to talking with some older guys in the stands and I often times nodded my head and acted like I knew what I was talking about......"Vaus is having a good game huh?"......my response "Oh yeah, he's a pretty good ball player." I have no idea who any of the players are so I was pretty much in the blue.

There was one kid who stood out though. In fact he was the reason it was worth my 6 dollars to go. I don't know his name but I know he is #5 for the still undefeated Perkins Pirates. He put on a heck of a show in the first half. He had to drain about 5 or 6 three pointers in the first 2 quarters, not to mention one that fell through the net as time expired at halftime. He had 25 points at halftime and it was obvious he was better than everyone else. He only played about 3 minutes in the second half and ended the game with 28 points. The coach took him out to let the other kids on the team have a chance to play. I'm sure he could have easily scored 45 if he wanted to. The funny thing is he wasn't bigger than the rest of them, he was just quick and a very pure shooter. So thank you to whoever you are who made the game worth it. I guess this kid is an even better baseball player than he is a basketball player.....he's a southpaw and he pitches. I might have to go watch him pitch.

I also kept track of free throws during the game just so I had something to do. This led some people to believe I was scouting the Perkins team. They even asked me if that's what I was doing but I told them I was just keeping track of free throws. Perkins finished the game going 14/19 and the line while Huron went 14/22. Huron's coach was slapped with a technical foul in the second half and there was one flagrant foul assessed to a Huron player for taking out a Perkins player late in the game. It wasn't flagrant in my opinion but oh well, I'm not the zebra out there calling the game. So the final score was Perkins 83 Huron 61........and Perkins improved to an impressive 17-0.

It's been quite a few years since I've watched a high school basketball game and it might be a few more after tonight but I have to say I'm glad I got to see this game tonight. So now I think I'm going to watch some tv and fall asleep. Happy Weekend everyone.