FORT SILL, Okla.-- Watching the 100th Brigade Support Battalion play intramural basketball against E Battery, 4th Battalion, 3rd Air Defense Artillery was like watching the movie "Rudy," on the court. 100th BSB's players were smaller, and in the first part of the show it was unsure if they were going to rise to the occasion.
Of course, in keeping with the feel-good movie, the underdog didn't roll over, and instead they fought and took the victory 59-52, Feb. 23 at Rinehart Fitness Center.
4-3rd ADA wasted no time putting points on the board. When 100th BSB was down 14-2 they decided they needed a new plan.
"I think we just went out there and decided to throw some shots up and hope they went in, but it didn't happen like that," said Bryan Williams, 100th BSB.
It was evident they were going to have to work for every basket after Jack Copeland, 4-3rd ADA, chased down his opponent after they got a defensive rebound. He thwarted their plan of scoring by flying in from the perimeter and swatted their shot out of bounds.
100th BSB moved furiously on the court as they made several quick passes before each shot. Their speed seemed to catch 4-3rd ADA's players off guard and it was then the team in blue started to catch momentum.
"What we ended up doing was switching up and going to more of a guard offense, pushing the ball and then working the ball to get the good shot," said Nicola Silva, 100th BSB team captain. "We have the guards who can break down the defense and then penetrate to score either by layup or kicking it back out to get a three-point shot."
4-3rd ADA tried to match the pace, but it didn't fit with the rhythm of their team; at one point a player yelled out to his teammates to slow down the pace.
"The other team played well because they wanted to feed inside to the big men because they knew we had a smaller lineup, but speed compared to height can win most of the time," said Silva.
Speed plus a vertical leap that put 100th BSB's players heads above their opponents didn't hurt either. Down by as much as 12 points, 100th BSB ended the half with a 3-point lead.
"I know everyone was looking at me to do most of the scoring, but my team came through. We just had a lot of people who don't normally play together so we just had to come in and have that group talk," said Williams. "That's when we just had to come together and I mean I pretty much said either we were gonna play as a team or we just might as well go ahead and forfeit."
The teams traded the lead in the second half as 4-3rd ADA tried to keep flared tempers from ruining their plays. Ralph Felix, 4-3rd ADA, contributed to the tug-of-war as he did an under the basket toss up off the board for two points. Every time he made a move his teammates called out "old school," a moniker that might have referred to his by the books moves, which were working.
Copeland stampeded to his team's basket followed by an entourage of players as he hit another two points for the night to make it 40-43, but it was not enough. 100th BSB had already found their stride as a leading pass to Adrian Brocks made the point gap too much for 4-3rd ADA to mount a comeback.
"I think they were probably like the best competition we've had so far. I mean you play a good team like that, that plays as a team-you know they're going to be hard to beat," said Williams.
Intramural basketball scores
Feb. 21
B/2-6th vs A/2-2 FA, 45-37
B/2-2 vs C/ 1-30th, 47-40
578th FSC vs C/2-6 ADA, 42-30
C/4-3 vs E/4-3, 48-41 41 vs C 4-3 48
MEDDAC won in a forfeit
100th BSB vs E/3-2 ADA, 60-41
Feb. 22
168th BSB vs 1-56 ADA, 48-39
578th FSC vs D/2-6, 52-26
HQ 3-6 vs H/2-5, 57-52
HHB/31st ADA vs 1-17, 41-38
2/18th FA vs HHB/4-3, 54-45
1-19 FA vs 571st, 52-44
Feb. 23
100th BSB vs E/4-3, 59-52
1-19 FA vs 2-18 FA 49-45
1/19th FA vs 2/18th FA won-forfeit
C/1-56th ADA vs D2-6th ADA won-forfeit
518th FSC vs A/2-2nd FA 57-44
C/1-30th FA vs B/2-6th ADA 40-39
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