On Thursday night I made the wise decision to head over to Columbia Heights (only a 10 minute trek from the22.us HQ) and take in a game between the Hylanders and Minneapolis North. Quite the decision on my part…the game was a up-and-down battle, won by Columbia Heights 73-72. You can read my official article on the game by going to the following link – http://exm.nr/ePye9Q.
Some random thoughts that didn’t make it into the article-
- The Columbia Heights school has been around for a while. I think I saw a stat somewhere saying their last trip to the state basketball tournament was in the 1920′s. There’s a shot this year’s team could get hot and make it in…after all, they are current ranked #8 in the state in their class.
- This was one active ballgame, and the officiating was collegiate-level…meaning you really had to earn your fouls. Probably a good thing too, since there was a lot of activity swatting at the basketball and really getting after it on the boards.
- Combine those two things- older school building, crazy athleticism- and it can be a recipe for disaster. There’s about 2-3 feet of space between the baseline and the wall on each end of the floor, and with about 5 minutes to go, one of the Heights players went flying into the wall after going high up in the air to block a shot. Sure, the wall is padded, but his knee hit a spot that looked like a hinge and therefore wasn’t padded. Hopefully the injury is “just” a bruise and nothing more…I put that in quotes because man, that was one big collision. And concrete walls win those collisions 100% of the time.
- The first two Columbia Heights points set the tone for the kind of game this was going to be- a player followed up a missed shot by flying through the air for a two-hand slam. Those follow-up dunks are the best. The same player threw another one down later in the game…fun to watch.
- Not so fun to watch…when the game turned into poorly run “Showtime” toward the end of the first half. There were numerous 2-on-1 and even 3-on-1 breaks that ended without points because the players were looking for the highlight-reel dunk instead of the easy points. There’s a time for Showtime…and it’s not when it’s a 4 point game.
All in all, definitely a good time. The crowd was into it right from the get-go and didn’t let up the whole game. They’re really into their basketball, and that made the game that much more enjoyable to attend.
Advertisement
