December 26-27

Out and about on Thursday morning as the world began to return to normal, on Friday afternoon I was at McCaskey for a rare basketball triple-header. The annual holiday tournament which has been beset by a variety of problems in recent seasons was canceled (at least for this year), in its place we have back-to-back non-league dates at home involving both JV and varsity. The proceeds from the tournament always benefited the booster club, in lieu of the tournament these two home dates are serving as the fundraiser. Friday's events began at 3:00 with a game involving two of the city's middle school teams, John F. Reynolds defeated Abraham Lincoln (my middle school alma mater, class of 1971). I wasn't obligated to work the game but I did because the kids at that level rarely get the big-league treatment, for many of them it's the only time they'll get to play in The Big Gym in The Big School. The JV/varsity games featured Strath Haven (from suburban Philadelphia) as the opponent, the JPM JV continued on their winning ways with a seventeen-point decision. The varsity game was eerily reminiscent of the game against Elizabethtown, we came out flat and never led in a frustrating 65-64 loss. We trailed by five at the quarter and by twelve at the half, in the second half the guys battled back but could not get over the hump. On the one hand it's good to see the club fight back without surrender but on the other hand we fell way behind early for a second straight game and that trend needs to come to a screeching halt. Elijah Terry (24 points) and Makai Ortiz-Gray (22) were the only two in double figures for JPM as the record drops to 3-4 overall, the boys are back on the floor on Saturday the 28th (night #2 of the tournament that isn't a tournament). Take care, thanks for reading.