High School Basketball Game Ends 8-2
February 11th, 2008 at 1:22 pmBy Chris
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It’s not often you get to talk about high school basketball in sports blogs—it’s even rarer to talk about high school basketball played by military dependents stationed overseas—but then again, it’s not often you see an 8-2 final score — after two halves and 36 minutes of basketball later.
But thanks to the Lancers of RAF Lakenheath, we were allowed to revisit the days of Chuck Taylor basketball. After getting crushed by SHAPE High School, 64-24 the day before, the Lancers thought the second game of the double-header would be better played and more winnable by using a hold-the-ball attack. And that’s exactly what they did.
The score at halftime: 4-0.
I asked SHAPE’s head coach, Steve Richardson (who happens to be my father) about his thoughts in playing such a game and he said it was, “a fun game to coach and a fun win to be apart of.” He also indicated how proud he was of his team for showing such considerable patience on defense. Considering the fact SHAPE’s teams are known to get up-and-down the court and for a pressuring style of defense, to play and win such a non-traditional game speaks volumes about the make-up of his 14-0 basketball team.
To say it was a weird two-game series with Lakenheath is probably an understatement. Before Saturday’s ten point outburst, Friday’s game was called at the 4:09 mark in the fourth quarter once SHAPE established a 40-point margin, making it the first time I’ve ever heard of the 40-point mercy rule.
Oh yeah, in case you are wondering about the talent level of SHAPE, you can always look to my brother, Kael Richardson, who is playing JUCO basketball at Volunteer State in Nashville, Tennessee, and he wasn’t even the best player on his team. This means the talent, while not up to Oak Hill levels, is definitely present in Europe.
One final note: I graduated from Lakenheath in 19something. It’s nice to see the alma mater represent like that.
February 11th, 2008 at 6:25 pm
I hear Dean Smith cried tears of joy when he heard about this game.
February 13th, 2008 at 1:07 pm
Tony Yates would be proud (University of Cincinnati coach who tried to beat UK in the 83-84 season using the four corners offense). I can’t remember exactly but I think the halftime score was something like 8-4. Fun. Didn’t Kael play for SHAPES?