Welcome back to our second Story Time with Terry.
This is another sophomore year story for me. But it also needs some background. See, those blue people from just a few towns over from Lisle still get me all riled up to this day.
That would be those people from Aurora University, our long and hated rivals.
The rivalry dates back plenty of years and always draws a lot of fans from both schools to watch the game.
And for me, the rivalry always felt better on the road at Thornton Gymnasium. The gym is an old school fieldhouse with wood bleachers to the ceilings and barely any room to breathe on the court thanks to the closeness of the spectators.
And Aurora would fill the place up as well. Hundreds upon hundreds of fans between the two teams would pile into the gym. And they would always be whipped up into a frenzy.
Some examples, you might ask? Well I was told by Bridge that his freshman year, with our fans being right behind our bench, that during timeouts, our fans would act like they were in the huddle with the team, listening to Bunks.
Another example, comes from my freshman year. During halftime, some Aurora fans and Benedictine fans met at half court and the police had to intervene. It also required Bunks and coach Lancaster from Aurora to speak before the teams took the court again.
And you just don't realize the scope of the rivalry until you hit the floor for warmups. With hundreds of students already in the gym rocking the place, it's pretty easy to get another couple of inches on your vertical. And it's always fun during the game to talk a little smack to the Aurora crowd.
So back to the sophomore year part of the story. We entered the game with a 4-4 record in conference and were coming of a demoralizing loss to Dominican just a few nights before. The game was critical for both teams. With a win, we would give ourselves momentum heading into the second half of the season and keep ourselves in touch with the top of the conference. For Aurora, it was a chance to put a stranglehold on the top of the conference.
The game was played on a Thirsty Thursday, which meant both sides packed the joint and their may have been some students there under the influence (always makes for a better atmosphere though).
Everyone on our team was jacked and ready to go. We came out firing and take a seven point lead. But Aurora slowly whittled that down to nothing and took their first lead with about six minutes left to go in the half.
Cam is playing not up to par to this point in the game. And with Fahey out with an illness, our 2s and 3s were short one in the rotation.
Bunks looks down at me and says, "Terry, go in for Cam."
Now I get up and take off my shooting shirt and head to the scorers table. And it probably looked it as much as I was feeling it -- I was scared as shit. Sure I had gotten real game playing time that season. Wasn't exactly a stranger to playing actual minutes. But this was a different beast. Replacing one of our best players in a fairly critical time of critical rivalry game was a 100x scarier than those other times.
But I got into the game anyways.
One of the things that made it scarier was that I was playing a guard spot. I was playing the 3, which meant me having to guard the other teams 3, which at the time was Shane Roland, a very capable scorer and probably infinitely more athletic than I was.
And being used to guarding guys in the post, this was a interesting change of pace to say the least. I've never been good laterally or keeping guys in front of me. My length helps close on shooters but even then I'm a sitting duck to the drive.
But I did okay against Roland, giving up only one bucket. And I get one on him as well, thanks to a backdoor pass from Nate. But I also screwed up and jacked up an awful, early shot clock 18-foot pull-up J. But I didn't get pulled because Bunks was sending his message to Cam.
Bunks sent his message some more after we finished the half down by 6, focusing some of it on Cam and a lot of it to just our team in general.
But the message was a good one and Cam and the rest of the team came out on fire in the second half. Killa hit two big 3s during our comeback and Jared took us home with a killer jab step 3 that put us up six late in the half.
And the atmosphere during the comeback couldn't have been more electric from our side. Now I'm an emotional guy on the bench, always up and cheering for our team. But I was going insane, jumping up and down like a maniac. I probably got as much cardio from cheering in that second half as I did playing in the first half.
The win was so big and we didn't have a game until next week Wednesday that I may have participated in some after-game activities that may have included me holding my hands in the air during a party for 20 straight minutes. But it was worth it because of our win.
That win was easily one of the most fun experiences I have ever been a part of as a basketball player, made all the better because of the rivalry. And don't worry Spartans fans, we'll experience that rivalry just a few more times. GO EAGLES!!!
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Thanks for joining me again. As always, follow me on Twitter at @turkdigg40 and be sure to come back next week.
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