Bacchus loses after Graves goes down
By TIM McKENZIE
Sports Writer
With only minutes left in the final half of the game, an ankle injury to former varsity basketball player David Graves caused 19th-ranked Bacchus to stop worrying about Bookstore Basketball and think about their teammate and friend.
Bacchus went on to lose the game 21-16 to unranked opponent What The Hell Are Robster Craws?.
"As soon as [Graves] was injured, we stopped caring about whether we won or lost — his health was more important to us than the game was and losing him really knocked the wind out of our sails," said Bacchus captain Nick Lambrecht.
Bacchus could not have lost Graves at a more pivotal point, as they trailed 18-15. Though Lambrecht cited the Robser Craws' sportsmanship as they played the game 4-on-4, he also commented that his team cared more about Graves' health and no longer about the outcome.
Five Notre Dame employees proved that they still what it takes to compete by winning a close game through determination and team effort. Team Irvin Jones, made up of Huddle employees Danny Williams, Stacey Locke, Deauto Smith, Robert Allen, and captain Irvin Jones, earned a berth in the top 32 with their 21-19 win over Houdini, comprised of students Ed Smith, Pat McAllister, Ron Sulewski, Ryan O'Malley and Mark Yost.
"As employees, we just wanted to let everyone know that we're a part of Notre Dame," said Jones after the win. "We're here to show the young guys that we've still got it."
Houdini's Smith cited a number of missed jumpers as his team's main shortcoming, but has no regrets about the game.
"It was very physical and we played hard," said Smith.
Despite a 21-19 loss to Heteroskedasticity, Bly and the Family Stone isn't focused on their loss and is already looking forward to next year's tourney to make another appearance.
"We played well tonight," said Bly member Dave Goett. "Even though we were down [in the first half], we made two big comebacks."
With a smaller and quicker roster, Team Bly and the Family Stone, made up of Alumni Hall's Dave Goett, Dave Finocchio, Paul Sifuentes, Ben O'Connor and Marcos Sosa, relied on tight pressure to steal the ball and convert on a number of perimeter shots.
Unfortunately, this momentum wasn't enough to carry Bly, as Heteroskedasticity used their size advantage to wear down Bly's defense.
"We're all taller guys, so our game plan was just to pound it inside," said Skedastic player Ed Wasilewski.
This strategy worked well towards the end, as Bly and the Family Stone exceeded the foul limit, allowing the Skedastiks to pull ahead with free throws.
The second-seeded Adworks continue their push to the finals of the Bookstore Basketball tournament with a 21-10 win over And You Thought a Root Canal Hurts. Adworks member Brian Ostick cited raw athleticism as his team's main advantage in the game.
"We have five athletic guys who can all play basketball well," said Ostick.
Adworks' roster also contains students Jason Sullivan, Abe Elam, Carlyle Holiday and Justin Tuck. Ostick also noted that his team's three varsity athletes give them an athletic advantage over smaller teams. Team And You Thought a Root Canal Hurts had no regrets about the game, however.
"It was a hard-fought game and we gave it our all," said Dick.
And You Thought a Root Canal Hurts also included students Tim Caprio, Dan Kelly, Tim Neuner, and Chris Crane.
All Sports Stories for Tuesday, April 23, 2002
