By Troy Bassett/reporter
The first basketball game on South Campus March 11 ended with a controversial overtime, and the other two with blowouts.
The first game was close the entire time. Team 6 led Team 7 by just one point at the half, and the score was knotted up at 50 at the end of regulation.
With two seconds left on the clock, down by one point, Team 6 had one last chance to win the game.
The inbound pass went to Charles Castleberry.
“I caught the ball, knew I had to make a move real fast,” he said. “Clutch came through, and I made the shot.”
The controversy rose when the buzzer signaling the end of the game went off before Castleberry released the ball, but the official ruled that the basket counted.
According to the official, the girl running the scoreboard had started the clock before his signal. Therefore, the clock was one second ahead of actual game time.
This meant that although the buzzer went off, one second was left in regulation, and according to the official’s count, the shot was good.
Team 7 was upset with the call but could do nothing to change it.
“I guess sometimes you gotta go through these games. You just gotta play ’til the buzzer ends, and then some,” said Team 7 player Milan Rasevic.
The second game was close throughout the first half with Team 3 up by only one point at halftime. Team 2 came up short in the second half, though, and lost 54-37.
Team 2 was outnumbered 11 players to seven, and the difference in the number of fresh legs on the court became clear in the second half.
“To be honest, we can’t run with them. We don’t have enough subs. They were fresh,” said Team 2 player Jared Robinson.
The third game was never close. Team 1 struggled, and Team 4 won 66-36.
Team 1’s frustrations grew as the game went on, to the point that one player even walked off the court before the game was over.
Johnny Elliott, who plays for Team 1, said such actions, combined with a lack of team effort and unity, were causing his team problems.
He vowed to continue improving, though.
“If there is a solution, we will find it,” Elliott said.
