6th grade blows big lead, loses by one

Better to blow a 15 point lead in a tournament game than a regular season or playoff game right? Well, that's the way the 6th grade boys will have to look at it.

In a rematch of last year's championship, the 6th grade boys basketball had an epic meltdown and blew a 27-12 halftime lead and lost in the final seconds of their first round tournament 40-39.

Their championship last year, also a one point loss.

For everything that went right in the first half, it went wrong in the second.

The boys were hitting threes, playing great defense, making lay-ups and free throws in the first 12 minutes of the game. In the final 12, they did none of that.

Adding injury to insult, Jonathan dove for a ball with about 15 seconds left in the game and injured his knee, which forced him to leave the game. He is listed as day-to-day.

Without him, the team was unable to hold their one point lead, as the other team scored with less than 10 seconds left to take the lead.

Off the inbounds, Michael turned the ball over when he threw a pass towards Allen who was clearly making his way downcourt and not expecting a pass. And that was the ballgame.

After putting up 27 points in the first two quarters, the 6th grade was held to 12 in the second half, but a more glaring 2 points in the 3rd quarter when they were thrown around by the other team, which outscored them 17-2.

Their opponent took the lead in the fourth, but the 6th graders showing some fightback came back and retook the lead in the final minutes of the game.

But their inability to hit free throws to make it a two possession ballgame did them in at the end.

The normally steady Jonathan went 3-for-6 from the line in the fourth, and Jason H. went 0-for-3.

As the game grew longer, the 6th grade boys got slower, and the man-to-man defense that was so stifling early on had slowly dissipated.

On the game winning shot, the other team's point guard easily got into the paint where nobody was there to defend a shot, and the push shot fell through.

The point guard on the other team who had looked frustrated in the first half, picked apart the defense at will in quarters three and four.

Jonathan, who had 14 points, including three 3 pointers, started the game off with a shot from long distance. Michael also two three balls in the first half for 6 of his 8 points.

Jason Lei went for 13 points and Allen scored the first 2 points in his St. Mary's career.

But all those offensive numbers are rendered meaningless when a team that is going to contend for another championship squanders a 15 point lead.

All the cliches that the team got too complacent, took their foot off the gas, and began to relax are all applicable for this game.

But again, this is game one of a preseason tournament, and not a championship.