THOUGHTS FROM THE STANDS
By John Kendall, Jan. 31, 2008
I have been to many basketball games in my life, but the game inside the IVCC Gymnasium on Jan. 17 was one that I would not forget for a long time. The atmosphere was electric at IVCC Gymnasium as the fourth-ranked team in the NJCAA Division II basketball came into town to take on the IVCC Eagles.
South Suburban came into the game as a former No. 1-ranked team, and they destroyed their opponents by over 20 points to earn a 17-1 record.
Tommy Canale had three goals in the game. They were to keep the game close, out rebound South Suburban, and shoot better than the Bulldogs on three-point shots. IV accomplished two of three goals enroute to the most important victory in IVCC basketball history as they won 81-79 in overtime.
In my mind, IVCC played excellent basketball and actually led by eight at one point in the first half. However, the Bulldogs had the lead at half, 35-31.
I don’t know what South Suburban’s coach said at the half, but it fired his team up because they went on a run, exploding the SSC lead to 17. During that span, two technical fouls were called on the Eagles and the raucous student section was quieted down. What seemed to be an upset in the making all of a sudden didn’t look like it would occur.
But IVCC did not say die after falling down by a considerable margin. All nine members of the Eagle squad contributed in the comeback. Whether it was a Trevor McKey three, a Chad Sipovic pass, or leadership by Dee Purnell and Quentin Noblin, every player on the team did something to help the Eagles comeback. IV would take a 71-69 lead before two free throws by South Surburban would send the game into overtime. The overtime period itself was very interesting; however, it was the last few seconds that made the Eagle faithful nervous.
Following an Eagle timeout, Noblin would receive the ball out on the top of the key. However, the Milwaukee native would lose control of the basketball driving the lane. But with the ball loose, Noblin was able to regain possession and from 15-feet away, would bury a jumpshot with nearly five seconds left. The Bulldogs called a timeout, and with four seconds left, inbounded the ball from half court. Following the inbound, South Suburban would lose control of the ball, allowing the student section to mob the court following the most important victory in IVCC history.
I orginally came to the game as a photographer. However, my journalistic mind soon turned into cheering my new school on. I have only been in the student section for a game once in my life. See, in high school, I was part of our school’s TV station, which I was the broadcaster for the contests, and not a fan (even though I did play cheerleader a lot while commentating!). However, to be in the student section and to actually be able to fully cheer on the IV Eagles like the student section did that night was just awesome!
When SSC lost control of the basketball at the end to seal IV’s victory, the student section mobbed the court to celebrate with the team. I was part of that section that mobbed the court, and to experience that and to experience the victory of that magnitude is one that still leaves me and many fans speechless today.
Canale made a deal with his Eagles in a practice one week prior to the South Suburban game. If you beat South Suburban, there would be a steak dinner on Canale in the near future. “My credit card bill just went up, but this is a bill that I will be happy to pay for,” the IV coach told Lanny Sleven on WLPO Radio.
For the efforts of the nine-man IVCC Eagles on Jan. 17, a steak dinner and a day off of classes seemed to be a very good prize. Congrats to IVCC on the huge win.