HURRICANES SHOCK PANTHERS IN NAIL-BITER REMATCH, 25-23

Saturday, February 26th -- In a Rocky Balboa vs Apollo Creed match-up, the Hurricanes took the court in a rematch with the previously undefeated Panthers, against whom the Hurricanes fell in a pre-season game as well as the first game of the season.

Due to an unannounced schedule change in week two, the Hurricanes entered game one a little short-handed, pitting only six players against a full Panther line-up. Although they put forth a valiant effort, they eventually ran out of gas and fell short, as the Panthers pulled away in the fourth quarter for the victory.

Therefore, although they did not take any other game for granted, the Hurricanes eagerly looked forward to and trained hard for the game six rematch.

The Panthers on the other hand, (possibly due to their previous victories) obviously severely underestimated the heart, energy, improvement and determination of the Hurricanes...and it showed.

The first two scoreless, scrappy defense filled minutes of the game should have been an indicator to the Panthers that the Hurricanes were NOT going to cower or lie down and play opossum. 

Although the Panthers struck first with smooth execution resulting in a successful basket on a give-n-go play, the rest of the quarter would be characterized by excruciating defense, board battles, disrupted plays, and steals. Patrick scored two buckets and Michael sank a shot off of a rebound to keep the Hurricanes within one at the end of the first quarter, 7 to 6.

The second quarter would not prove to be any easier. Although the Hurricanes had a tough lineup on the court consisting of Conrad, Patrick, Allen, Carlos, and Jordan, they only managed to get eight shots off, connecting on three of them (2 each for Conrad, Carlos and Allen) plus an additional free throw by Allen, for a half-time score of 15 to 13 in favor of the Panthers.

Perhaps the most entertaining play of the game belonged to Jordan, the smallest player on the Hurricane lineup that day. As Panther star and big-man #9 was taking a shot, Jordan the "Stealth Man" sneaked up behind him, flew through the air, and firmly rejected the shot, causing a wild roar and applause from the stands.

Whatever the coaches said in their counsel to the players at half-time...worked. In the second half, the Hurricanes continued the high intensity and defensive pressure, and offensive opportunities started to open up. Nick and Chandler each hit for two points, and Allen sank a jump shot and a layup, to give the Hurricanes a two point advantage over the Panthers by the end of the third quarter.

Mysteriously and visibly absent from the scoreboard, were 10 or 12 points that Hurricane leading scorer Conrad customarily contributed to the game. By the end of the third quarter, he had scored only scored 2 points, and did not appear to be an offensively aggressive as usual.  When questioned about it after the game, he justified his personal strategy:

"I knew they would concentrate on me, so I decided to focus on dishing the ball out, rebounding and defense."

And THAT he definitely achieved - racking up 8 rebounds, five assists, four steals, and an amazing 10 blocked shots for the game.

The fourth quarter was an all out basketball version of a slug-fest. As they had done all game long, the Panthers continued to own the boards, outrebounding the Hurricanes by an estimated ratio of 3 to 1. But while the Panthers owned the rebounding advantage, the Hurricanes owned the floor, accumulating disrupted play after disrupted play, steal after steal. On offense, although the hurricanes only scored one field goal and two free throw shots for the entire quarter, but they slowed the game down with a passing-oriented strategy, and continued to dominate time of possession.

With two minutes to go, Hurricanes center Carlos turned the ball over, giving the Panthers possession of the ball, and thus, an opportunity to tie the game. Carlos stayed focused and quickly redeemed himself, however, by racing down in transition to make a quick key steal.

Following a time-out, as the clock ticked down to under a minute the Hurricanes still held a 2 point advantage. Patrick put on a dribbling clinic to burn time off the clock. With less than twenty seconds remaining, he attempted a pass to Conrad, which was intercepted by the Panthers' forward #8, who broke away for an a easy layup...that rolled around the rim and dropped outside the bucket, causing a football fumble style scramble for the ball. The Panthers recovered and shot again. Then Conrad stepped in from out of nowhere to steal an attempted Panther pass, and he was immediately fouled with four seconds remaining in the game.

Conrad missed his free throw shot, which bounced off the rim and rolled loose on the floor for nearly two seconds. Panther center #4 recovered the ball and got as far as half court before letting fly with a desperation Hail Mary shot which fell far short of the basket.

Much to the shock, awe, and dismay of the Panther team, coaches, and fans, the end of game whistle blew to a final score of Hurricanes 25, Panthers 23.

The Hurricanes (visibly the smaller and lesser experienced of the two teams) earned the hard-fought and well deserved victory - through hard work, dedication, cohesion, teamwork, persistence, hustle, tenacious defensive strategies, and effective offense. Each player contributed significantly in some way to the victory.

Defense has always been at the forefront of the coaching philosophy and strategies of the Hurricane coaching duo.  During this game the Panthers' star players (who usually each average double digit scoring) were held to a combined 8 points (2 points for #3, 6 points for #9). No individual on the Panthers scored more than 6 points, and the Panthers team was held to 4 points both the 3rd and 4th quarters (only 8 points for the 2nd half).

Kudos to Coach Q and Coach Chris, who have meticulously analyzed the team's performances, strengths and weaknesses after every game, and made the necessary adjustments during the practices.

During the closing huddle of the last practice, the coaches went over their strategy for the game against the Panthers; loading up Patrick and Allen with the task of stopping Panther star point guard #3, and tagging Michael and Carlos with stopping the star center (#9). Conrad was to play a floating defender role, assisting whenever and wherever needed as reinforcement...for closing gaps, double teams, etc. It would be up to Jordan, Chandler, and Daniel to shut down the other Panther players - which would be no easy task given the size and strength advanage of the Panthers.

The coaches provided final words of encouragement at the close of practice:

"We can beat that team...they don't know how much you guys have improved...this team can beat any team out there if you guys put your minds to it...focus...we believe in you."

With one game remaining, the Hurricanes have a distant shot at a tie for 1st place (if the Panthers lose their final game), and a strong shot at 2nd place (if the Hurricanes win their final game).

But regardless of the final standings at the end of the season, nobody can take away the outstanding, exciting, memorable, underdog victory that the Hurricanes pulled off on Saturday, February 26th against the Panthers. It was the type game on which movies are based, and it will be remembered and talked about for many years to come.