Just say that this match up between Little Miami and Kings was intense, the score doesn’t favor the situation, overall it was improved. The final score was 65-46, sure Kings won unanimously, but their shooting at the line sealed the deal, even if they hit the Bonus later than Little Miami, which was the case.
After taking a seat in what was called “Hogwarts” in my high school days, I let my ear ring to the lovely sound of student sections. High School sections might be known for humorous chants and taunting opponents on the floor, but “The Rat Pack” and “The Red Sea” were duking it out, while the players, they were playing.
Let’s start for the beginning, starting lineups, it is nothing new but “The Rat Pack” carry on the tradition of bringing the lights up and shining them on their team, they don’t want to leave them in the dark. Lights you may ask, Kings does the NBA style of starting lineups, catwalk floodlight hauling around the walls in Columbia Blue, and announce the lineup. Sure it may be humorous to do the lighting, but it brings the passion of what “The Rat Pack” did by turning on the light.
Now to the game, the first half was all intense, the attack on the lanes by Zack Zimmerman, jumpshots from Luke Schoettinger and aggressive play by Blake Kirk to draw fouls for Kings, these guys find ways to score and towards the end of the 1st quarter, Robert Rothermund had a nice pick n roll play and got some points as well. After all of that, it was 12-4 Little Miami before Kings finished the quarter with a 7-0 run to make it 12-11.
2nd quarter, not much different than the first, Little Miami hit Bonus at 5:31 and some 6th men were getting their points for the night. Nick Rigdon, tough player, had a nice swot inside the paint, Luke Schoettinger was hitting the Free Throw line and mercifully avoided “The Red Sea” distraction, and Jon Kauffman had a nice play with a screen. Now towards the last minute, Kings was on a fastbreak and Rigdon was on the floor, Rigdon made his time worth it, Kings was already in the Bonus but Rigdon was smart enough to give a hard foul to Kings and send a Knight to the wall, the fan-base didn’t like it so the Refs end up giving him a Technical (play was clean). The halftime result was 30-22 Kings.
The third quarter, some intensity was lost for Little Miami, the defense was tired and the press was weaker, Kings took advantage and it was only 46-33 Kings. It was balanced from the past quarter but Little Miami couldn’t handle a refreshed Knights after the halftime break.
The final quarter, interesting and still with intensity trying to go for comeback. The comeback fell through but I witnessed a 7 footer take the floor tonight. The nickname could be Godzilla but his real name is Nate Bonzella. Bonzella started playing this year, if he had played before, he would have Division I recruiters looking at him, unfortunate that he is a senior, hope he gets looked at by a college.
The Final score was 65-46, it looked a lot like the Crosstown Shootout game this year.
Notes:
- Looked through the Social Media’s and found one Kings Graduate claiming on her Instagram photo that this rivalry is “Not a Rivalry”, no need to release the name, but has personal connections to the team. The rivalry is older than the person.
- First time these two teams play in different conferences: SWOC (Little Miami) and ECC (Kings), both were in FAVC from the late 1960s to 2012.
- Oh wait, I got the Instagram photo.
Next blog post, Superbowl XLVII pick.
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