Somehow, someway, the 8th grade wins

The 8th grade boys played to their billing, “The best bad team out there.”

No matter how painful it is to watch them play, the 8th graders more often than not find ways to win, and they did exactly that Friday night in a playoff rematch, pulling out a last second win 23-21 in overtime.

They had the ball with a 21-19 lead with 30 seconds left. The plan was to run out the clock, but Garrick decided to lob an across the body pass towards Raymond, which was picked off by the other team. They took it down and scored on a lay-up to tie the game at 21-21.

With about 15 seconds left, the 8th grade elected not to call timeout and see what could happen. Raymond took it down the floor, and the ball was tipped into the backcourt. The referee inadvertently blew his whistle so the 8th grade had 8.5 seconds left on the clock.

With Raymomd being blanketed, Garrick inbounded the ball to Ryan at the top of the key. Auti got away from the man who was guarding him and got open. Ryan then bounced it nicely to Auti who had a clear lane to the basket.

He took a dribble, stepped to the basket and hit the game winner with just a few seconds left to give the 8th graders their second victory of the season.

It was a game that honestly neither team deserved to win. Both teams were sloppy, didn’t play good defense and at times looked uninterested.

But since ties aren’t allowed in grades six and up, somebody had to win the game.

Garrick and Raymond were both extremely good from the free throw line. Without their poise at the stripe, they would not win the game.

On the contrary, Thomas was 0-for-9, and missed six in the latter stages of the 4th quarter and overtime.

He had a chance to win the game in regulation but clanked both his shots with a little over 10 seconds to go in the fourth.

Raymond hit a 3 pointer early in the 2nd quarter to give the 8th grade (2-1) a 9-2 lead. It looked like they had a chance to pull away and turn the game into a blowout.

But the other team kept it close, making it a 9-6 game at halftime.

What plagues the 8th grade from winning in good fashion is their problems right now are the same problems they had in 5th grade, if not earlier. They play the same style of basketball, except they weigh more and are a few inches taller.

It equates somewhat to football on a basketball court.

There are a lot of strong young men on this team, but they have absolutely no fundamentals. They can’t dribble correctly, pivot, and don’t even have a decent shooting form.

But what they do have is heart and toughness, which explains why they find ways to win games. Almost every player on the team is willing to dive on the floor and play physical to get the job done. Teams do not like playing against the 8th grade, as evident by most of the post game hand shakes.

The 8th grade makes the teams they play uncomfortable, which throws their opponent off their game.

But the basics of basketball for most of the players on the team is so flawed that sooner or later, it’s going to be tough to overcome.

They’ll have all winter break to see if they can figure out a solution.