Bloomingdale v Newsome - Recap of The Big Game

There are two basketball games a year residents of South Hillsborough County should never miss. Newsome at Bloomingdale and Bloomingdale at Newsome. That's true even this year, with Bloomingdale picked as the team to beat. The word in some circles was that Bloomingdale might not even lose a game in the regular season. As is expected when these two teams meet, the crowd of students from both schools was large, loud and entertaining! Before the game even started the chants crossed the gym, with the Newsome students serenading senior transfer Joe Raga with shouts of "traitor" from the west side of the gym. Just in case there were any uninformed in the crowd, The Bloomingdale students responded with chants of "Joe Raga" from the east whenever Raga made a play. They knew they had the upper hand this year.

The problem was, Jon Mackey and the Newsome Wolves weren't about to slink out of the gym with their tails between their legs. They jumped on the Bulls, dashing to a 17-4 lead in the first five and a half minutes, punctuated by an emotional outburst by the Bulls Sean Hayes, for which he was rewarded with a technical and a seat on the bench. The Bulls at this point began to get some composure, even regaining the lead briefly before exiting at the half down by two, 25-23.

The Wolves continued their blazing shooting pace in the second, as everyone on the team would end up shooting at least 50% on the outing. The squad poured in some surprising shots including a left-handed scoop and-one drive through the lane by Dylan Bridges, who was fouled on the play by much taller senior Sean Rooks. Later Stephen MacNeil was fouled on a play and threw up what looked like a shovel pass, which went in for a three point opportunity. Coach Mackey repeatedly threw different defenses at the Bulls, which along with the Wolve's defensive intensity kept the bulls so rattled that they had difficulty sustaining any drives. Time after time the Bulls would pull within four or five points, then the Wolves would switch defenses and stretch the lead back to ten. By the end of the third quarter, the wolves still retained an 8 point 49-41 lead. In the final period, the Bulls made a run, but were lacking some of their earlier enthusiasm. Behind some solid defensive plays, Newsome again pushed the lead into double digits, punctuated by a Jake Hodges dunk as time expired and the Newsome Students serenaded the remaining Bulls faithful with a beautiful rendition of "NaNaNaNa, NaNaNaNA, Hey, Hey, Goodbye".

Samal Shepherd showed us once again that he is one of the premier defensive players in Hillsborough County, as with the able assistance of Trent Mackey and Dylan Bridges the usually prolific Bloomingdale guards were held to a total of only four points. On the other end of the floor Shepherd also filled the nets with 17 points. Mackey proved to anyone who doubted his ability to play the point that he is completely up to the task. Jake Hodges was on fire, nailing jumper after jumper, juking and dishing in the open court, and throwing down a couple of dunks for good measure on his way to 21. The team was once again paced in the hustle department by senior Charles "Smurf" Murphy, who scored 16 points, largely on offensive rebounds. Time and time again Murphy soared from nowhere to snatch the ball from the outstretched hands of the much larger Bulls players, who seemed powerless to stop them. Mackey added 9 points, MacNeil had 7, Bridges, and Cody Dowd added two apiece.

From the Bloomingdale side, Callum Townsend deserves all the praise that has been showered his way. He ended the game with 28 points despite frequently being targeted for special attention by the Wolves defense. To his credit, Joe Raga also played very well, scoring 16 points on the night. He was emotionally supercharged, a "cheerleader on the floor" for the Bulls, which led to a technical foul late in the game from a probably overzealous official. The rest of the Bulls did not score prolifically. Rooks had 9, junior forward Matt Farnsworth added 6, Vandy Coomber and junior Tim Coffey added two. Senior Sean Hayes did not score. Coffey and Farnsworth played excellent defense off the bench.

Congratulations to coach Mackey on a great game plan and on all the Wolves players for playing with great intensity and concentration. Be sure and check back later this weekend for video clips from the game.  The Wolves next travel to Gaither Saturday at 3:00 to take on the Cowboys.

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Last changed: Dec 20 2008 at 7:31 AM

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