Many examples pertaining to sportsmanship and the substance of sport were on display in a lopsided 72-13 win for the Blue Devils over the Lakers in 13-14-year old basketball at the Elwyn Ward Recreation Center on Tuesday.
The athletic and swift Blue Devils jumped out to a 17-0 lead after one quarter of play begin 11 points from Zmarion Haney.
The Lakers didn’t notched their first bucket of the game until the 6:53 mark of the second quarter when Tavion Twilley got a steal and converted a breakaway layup.
Despite being down big most of the game, and having only four players to show for the game, a couple of the Lakers’s moms in attendance continued to encourage their sons and cheer them on.
“This is the final game of our season and we are just out here having fun,” said Blue Devils head coach Bruce Brown. “We played a team that was short handed and couldn’t make substitutions while we had three people coming off our bench.”
Despite having a sizable lead all evening, the Blue Devils didn’t just play passively and not make the Lakers work for their points and possessions.
There was a concerted effort to get everyone involved in the Laker offense as they established Jaymari Porter inside and Jeremiah Watkins outside.
As the game entered its final minutes Lakers head coach Bennie McCain continued coach his team up to play hard and not give up. With the game overwhelmingly decided early, he allowed his team to launch a few shots from half court. Twilley and Freddie Hankins hit all net on a couple of the shots from deep.
“It really took a lot of the pressure off the guys and they started to relax and get their heads up,” McCain said. “It’s all about having fun and learning.”
