Wesleyan won big tonight with an upset victory over Roger Williams. I only managed to show up at the half, when the Cardinals were down by one. According to one of the other spectators up in the cheap seats, they had been up by around 15 at one point in the first half, but then let the lead slip away. (I can't vouch for the accuracy of the claim, but the fellow looked quite honest and sober.)
The lead see-sawed repeatedly during the second half, with neither team able to pull away by more than four or five points. There were many exciting, interesting moments. And some curious ones too. We were briefly transported back into the mid twentieth century when one of the refs called carrying (or palming) on Wesleyan's number 5. I think the last time I'd heard that call was when on the pick up court back in high school. Perhaps Division III is cracking down on this sort of thing nowadays? It made me feel young again. I may even get back out on the court and try that call on some of my old nemeses. Watch out, Rosenthal. Beware, Keiser.
Roger Williams came into the game with a 7 and 1 record, having beaten some very good teams -- including Trinity a couple of weeks ago. They certainly towered over the Cardinal squad and they had some impressive quickness -- especially their number 1, who stuck very close to Wesleyan's lightning-fast number 5. I'd say the Cards gave away about a foot or two in height at any given moment. Wesleyan, in a rebuilding year with no seniors on the squad, made up for it with their own quickness, patience, and discipline. To their credit, the Wesleyan forwards (listed at about 6'5" or 6'6" managed to do a good job denying the ball to the Roger Williams center, at about 6'9". He did manage to score about 6 or 8 points in the second half, but he didn't dominate the way one might expect.
The game came right down to the wire. At about two minutes to go, it looked like Wesleyan was about to move decisively ahead. Wesleyan was up by two or three and the Roger Williams number 2 missed an easy layup and two or three Wesleyan players were standing around chatting, trying to decide which of them should collect the rebound. But the whistle blew: a foul had been called on one of the Wesleyan rebounders. Up in the cheap seats it was pretty clear to us that the Wesleyan player had simply pushed his own teammate aside in a sudden urge to up his stats. But the ref saw it differently. Anyway, this put the Hawks on the line, if memory serves, and they converted both ends of the one and one. Suddenly Roger Williams was back in it. By one minute to go, after the Cardinals turned it over on the other end while trying to slow down the clock, the Hawks managed to tie it up or even go ahead by one.
We were starting to get a little nervous at this point.
I'm not sure of the exact sequence of events, but I do recall number five driving the lane at one point soon thereafter and getting fouled. (When the whistle blew, I was sure he was being called for traveling. [Remember, I grew up in the sixties when there were rules about holding on to the ball and running more than a step and a half with it.] But it turned out he was headed to the free-throw line. Maybe the ref felt ambivalent about the palming call earlier.) He made both free throws, and the crowd sighed perceptibly -- the Cards hadn't been doing too well at the line for much of the game. I also recall number three, another guard, making an amazing three-pointer. And number five had some lovely drives down the left side as well. But these may have been closer to the five minute mark. And there was some very nice pick and roll action too, with the forwards, around the ten or fifteen minute mark. (Hey, History is not Chronology.)
Anyway, with about 16 seconds left, Roger Williams was down by two (or was it three? Anyway, it was close. History isn't Statistics either.). The Hawks couldn't pull it out, but not for lack of trying. In the end they were obliged to go out fouling, in the hopes that Wesleyan would melt at the line. But the Cardinals were like birds on ice.
An impressive win. Made more impressive by the fact that during the last four minutes there were four freshmen and one sophomore on the floor for Wesleyan. Or, at least, that was according to one of the guys standing near me in the nosebleed section. He sure seemed to know what he was talking about.
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