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High School Basketball stories! (Days gone by)


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Ok....so we all have hashed out the old one class system vs new system. I would love to hear some of the fondest memories....crazy high school game moments...unbelievable stories of the hardwood. For example. My senior year...we are favored in the Sectionals after we have put a pretty good whipping on everyone during the regular season. Our bus leaves our town traveling on a two lane highway to the game. Out pulls two trucks in front of us who proceed to drive 20 miles per hour slowing down and speeding up to prevent us from passing and trying to make us miss the game. Luckily our bus driver was also the town sheriff so after he had had enough he called in some back up....needless to say we got to the game with the game clock counting down already and we rushed to the locker room changed and had a minute or two to do a layup line before the start....like all sectionals a crazy atmosphere playing the host school we started slow but by the second quarter had the game in hand...but that kind of stuff also is what made high school basketball so much fun...the hate..the rivalries...the incredible stories. Anyone else like to share!

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I had the distinct privilege , while in high school of watching what came to be not one, but two players who went on to play for a national championship college team. Orsten Artis, and Harry Flourney. Immortalized in the movie "Glory Road " Neither of which played for the same high school in Gary. But both were recruited by a coach who knew BB talent when he saw it.

Who can tell me the answer ?  "My son. Harry Can."

 Glory Road

1966 Texas Western men's hoops roster, now known as UTEP

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I was at this game.  Also called the greatest 2 man shootout in Indiana HS history.  Jimmy Rayl from Kokomo still holds the the B1G scoring record dropping 56 in 2 different games for IU.  Keep in mind no 3 point line.

I also happened to be at the 1968 Rose Bowl, IU vs USC.  USC was rated #1 in the final 1967 AP poll and IU was #4.

https://www.hoopshall.com/hall-of-fame/ray-pavy/

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My apologies on two fronts. First....my high school growing up in Illinois was a football machine and our hoops program was .500 at best....but being born to Hoosiers we drove down to Champaign every year for title games. Growing up we were lucky enough to catch glimpses of some pretty special players from Zeke to Ben to Mark Aguirre to Marty Simmons. Several, several others I've left off but these are the guys I remember the best being a 6 year to 12 year old. 

The craziest games/day ever is something I can't even describe. I've done a cut/paste below from IHSA site that will do it justice. We played Quincy during regular season so we were cheering for them. Again my apologies for the cut/paste and length from another site but it was the craziest day of hoops I witnessed.

The Blue Devils, riding a 64-game winning streak over two years, opened like the defending champions they were, scoring on a slam-dunk off the opening tip and racing to a sudden 6-0 lead that seemed destined to send the underdog Monarchs packing for home. But Mendel kept its composure and wouldn't go away.

Eventually, the Monarchs moved in front and held a nervous 51-48 lead late in the fourth quarter. The Blue Devils rallied to tie the contest at 51-all, and once regaining possession of the ball, they stuffed it in the deep freeze, determined to wait for the game's final shot.

The tactic forced a series of incredible events.

On a contested call with only 32 seconds left, Mendel was slapped with a technical foul for not sending out defenders on the ball-holding Quincy guards. Mark Sparrow took the free throw, hit it and moved the Blue Devils to the front 52-51.

Still in possession of the ball, Quincy was fouled twice—once with 30 seconds remaining and, again, just seven seconds later. Both times all-American Bruce Douglas missed the front end of a one-and-one. Quincy rebounded the first miss, but the second went to Mendel. The Monarchs worked the ball to their end of the floor, but Dennis Douglas swiped the ball and, seemingly, the game from Mendel's hands. As Douglas wrapped the ball in both arms and bent at the waist to protect himself from a swarm of defenders, the ball somehow slipped from his grasp, through his legs, rolled down the lane and out of bounds with only five seconds to play.

Mendel inbounded the ball and worked it hastily to Mike Hampton at the top of the key. Hampton's 24-foot jumper just two seconds from the finish gave Mendel the lead 53-52. Immediately, Quincy asked for a timeout.

That's when things turned even crazier.

In replays of the game, it is obvious that the Blue Devils' players were requesting a timeout the instant Hampton's shot went in-with two seconds still showing on the clock. But, for whatever reasons, Quincy was not awarded a timeout until the clock showed triple zeroes.

Ironically, television stations that were broadcasting the game cut away, switching to other programs, thinking the game was over. But, after a lengthy consultation of floor and bench officials, punctuated repeatedly by Quincy coach Jerry Leggett's insistence that the horn had never sounded, the Blue Devils were awarded the ball under the Mendel basket with an unknown fraction of a second still on the Assembly Hall clock.

In one of the most memorable game-ending plays in tournament history, and with a large television audience now in the dark, Dennis Douglas heaved a court-length pass to brother Bruce, who did not have time to catch and then re-direct the ball, but only to tip it toward the basket. Tipped in time to count, an instant before the final horn, the ball rolled tantalizingly around the rim before falling off no good.

Amazingly, Quincy won the third-place game that night when Dennis Douglas again threw a court-length pass to Bruce Douglas, who had to leap over the out of bounds line to grab the ball in mid-air. Instinctively, after catching the ball, Douglas flipped it to 6-7 Tim Huseman who was moving down the lane toward the basket. Huseman's close-in shot at the buzzer gave the Blue Devils a near-miraculous 63-62 win over Chicago (Marshall).

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You mean we can't tell about our church league careers LOL!

My story was of not getting to live out my dream and that was to be able to play In the New Castle Fieldhouse.  I played through 9th grade but was cut my 10th and 11th grade years.  Was told I was one of the better shooters but was not quick enough and they needed better ball handlers.  I guess there is not much of a need for a slow 5'8 shooting guard.  I thought I was going to get to play in the Fieldhouse in 9th grade but we played in one of the junior high gyms so that dream was dashed.

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