Ganggrene upsets No. 31 Manstallion
By MIKE CONNOLLY
Senior Staff Writer
The first of the mighty have fallen.
No. 31-seeded Manstallion lost to unranked Team Ganggrene 21-17 in the first round of Bookstore Basketball XXXI Friday. Manstallion is the first ranked team to report a loss in this year's tournament.
"We played hard," Gangrene's Ben Dillon said. "We got some lucky bounces and banked some shots in."
Ganggrene built a 17-11 second-half lead before Manstallion stormed back to cut the lead to 19-17. Matt Horney scored the last two points for Ganggrene to steal the upset win.
Ganggrene is made up of four seniors and a junior from Zahm. Three of the players have played together for three years. Their previous experience together gave them an advantage, according to Dillon.
"We play a lot together," he said. "We just enjoy playing basketball. We know how each other play."
Although the 21-17 victory was an upset, it was not necessarily a surprise. Three players from Ganggrene made it to the round of 32 in 2001 but requested not to be ranked this year.
"We thought [a ranking] would pretty much jinx us," Dillon said. "We got a good draw last year. We don't really feel like we are one of the top 32 teams. We figured if we were ranked, we would just lose in the first round."
All Sports Stories for Monday, April 15, 2002
