How do they follow this? How ‘bout a TAPPS District 2-5A game against the Central Catholic Buttons last Wednesday evening. This game was originally scheduled to be played at the Hive but was moved to Incarnate Word to accommodate the fans since it is a much larger venue.
Even though, I was under the weather and coughing up a storm, I didn’t want to miss this match-up! Just a quick side note…I took a sick day on Thursday and my wife took me to her work at Impact Urgent Care…I got Acute Bronchitis and was prescribed better cough medicine, nose spray, a z-pack, and received a sinus injection shot at the clinic. Hopefully, in a few days, I will be back to my normal self.
Dude, the only other times I have been to Incarnate Word for basketball games was when the St. Mary’s Rattlers played the Incarnate Word Crusaders. This was way back when I was the radio statistician for the Rattlers (my friend, Marc Hoenig was the radio voice). Marc is also responsible for getting me into the High School football cult as a stat man.
Every time the Rattlers and Crusaders played, it was tense and extremely competitive amongst the fans, the players, and especially the coaches…Buddy Meyer SR at St. Mary’s and Danny Kaspar at UIW. Buddy retired in 2004 and Danny is the Head Coach at Stephen F. Austin University.
Buddy Meyer’s son, Buddy Meyer JR, was on the Clark High School basketball team when I was the manager. Buddy, along with at least 3 other Clark basketball players, played for the Rattlers while I was the stat man!!! Yeah, a small world!!! Buddy JR is now an assistant coach at St. Mary’s.
This was my 3rd Yellow Jacket’s game so I am already familiar with the players names and numbers but when I printed out a Central Catholic roster, one name popped out at me and that was #50, Antoine Carr…hmm, I wonder if he is related to Antoine Carr who played for the Spurs?
I had absolutely no issues getting to the game or leaving the game as there is some major construction on Hildebrand and Broadway (2 of the main streets that the campus is on). My official photographer didn’t travel with me to the game…I think my Dad’s back is still recovering from last week’s bleachers! All the pictures he snapped came out really good. Thanks again Dad; payment is in the mail!!
The UIW gym was loud, energetic, and just a great atmosphere for a High School basketball game. I remembered the gym being much bigger! I was expecting a raucous atmosphere for the this game since Coach Smisek told me the Buttons are the Yellow Jackets rival!! I also knew this game would be a battle till the final buzzer sounded.
I did get some words about the Central Catholic Buttons from Coach Smisek before the game…they are big and strong. I would have gotten more, but to be honest, my cough was making my voice extremely hoarse. I just wanted to find a seat away from everyone, camp out, and watch a basketball game.
For High School football games, I am in the press-box and don’t get to hear the sounds of the game. But, man, at all the St. Anthony games I have attended, it is so awesome to hear everything since I am so close to the action!!! I really like it.
When the Buttons left their locker room (which was directly to the left of where I was sitting), I noticed an extremely tall player (I had to ask a Central Catholic fan sitting near me who it was cause he had his warm-ups on). It was 6’8 Tony Lewis!!! Yes folks, 6’8!!! Almost as tall as Tim Duncan!!! Wow!!! That is just totally not fair!!! St. Antony’s tallest player is 6’4 David Wright. But, I knew that St. Anthony would not use that as an excuse.
At halftime, Central Catholic had a 44-33 lead. Tony Lewis was in layup heaven for the Buttons and it seemed like every three pointer the Buttons took went in!! Khalil Howard, the St. Anthony guard, looked really sharp.
It was 60-48 Central Catholic with 6 minutes remaining in the game and it got a bit a feisty as players from both teams were on the floor battling for the basketball and tempers flared. The officials stepped in really quickly to make sure the situation didn’t escalate, but man, it took em several minutes to sort everything out. In the back of my coughy brain, I thought this was just what the Yellow Jacket’s needed to go on a huge run cause I know from previous games, they never give up. Well, folks, my instincts were correct…the Yellow Jacket’s outscored the Button’s 27-21!!! Yeah, I know that if you add up the numbers, it comes out to an 81 to 75 win for Central Catholic.
Man, I got exactly what I expected!!! The end was so thrilling that I was standing up along with the rest of the fans. Late in the 4th quarter, it was really cool to see and hear Coach Smisek preaching strategy to the team.
The Button’s were led by Tony Lewis with 16 points (I was impressed by Lewis’s size and domination). And, dude, he is a SOPHOMORE !!! I was really surprised to not see him on the court in crunch time!! The rest of the scoring was extremely well balanced amongst 8 other players. The Button’s also shot lights out from beyond the arc.
Khalil Howard scored 30 points; dude, he carried the load (impressive layup moves, excellent shooting, and some clutch three pointers), Jackson Becker scored 17 points (he got going toward the end of the third quarter with back-to back three pointers), and Brandon Armstrong scored 14 points for St. Anthony. RJ Chavez, Jax Chavez, Stephen Wallace, and David Wright also notched some points for the Yellow Jackets.
After the game ended, I got a quick word with Coach Smisek…size beat us!! Coach Smisek introduced me to his sons…Andrew and Nico. I would’ve love to chat with Nico about High School football (I saw him in play in the Judson/Churchill playoff game last season), but I really wanted to get home cause I felt like crap.
I am going to attend a game on Wednesday, February 6th at the Hive as the Yellow Jackets play Austin St. Michael’s for yet another thrilling TAPPS District 2-5A game.
On Friday, February 8th, the Yellow Jackets play Central Catholic again and I am expecting another battle and hopefully a victory for St. Anthony.
I am planning to be at the TAPPS District 2-5A tournament on Friday, February 15th and Saturday, February 16th at the University of Incarnate Word. If my work schedule doesn’t interfere, I would like to attend when St. Anthony plays and also the championship game.
