Brian Lester - Perfect Run as No.1

Perfect Run as No.1

BRIAN LESTER

Aquitaine Ltd

Phoenix, Arizona

Cover design by JD Smith Designs

Copyright 2017 Brian Lester

All rights reserved. This book or any portionthereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoeverwithout the express written permission of the publisher except forthe use of brief quotations in a book review.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2017952457

ISBN-13: 978-0-9980858-3-8

ISBN-10: 0-9980858-3-9

www.aquitaineltd.com

DEDICATION

For the University of Findlay mens basketballteam, the Oilers, who came to embrace the pressure rather than letit serve as a burden .

TABLE OFCONTENTS

Chapter 11: StormWarning

Chapter 12: GLIAC Opener: SaginawValley State

Chapter 13: Battle with Lake SuperiorState

Chapter 14: Revenge - Part1

Chapter 15: BulldogBusters

Chapter 16: Charged Up While Being No.1

Chapter 17: Road Test inWisconsin

Chapter 18: AvoidingShock

Chapter 19: Motor CityMagic

Chapter 20: Knocking DownNorthwood

Chapter 21: Waxing theWildcats

Chapter 22: Dominating theHuskies

Chapter 23: DragonSlayers

Chapter 24: Revenge in theRivalry

Chapter 25: Close Call in theUP

Chapter 26: Survival inSaginaw

Chapter 27: Revenge Part2

Chapter 28: Big Win OverBulldogs

Chapter 29: Topping theTimberwolves

Chapter 30: Breaking the Hearts of theWarriors

Chapter 31: Impressive RoadWin

Chapter 32: Sweep Success in theUP

Chapter 33: Mauling theMarauders

Chapter 34: Rolling Over the RivalEagles

Chapter 35: SeniorDay

Chapter 36: TightBond

Chapter 37: GLIAC TournamentOpener:Northwood

Chapter 38: GLIAC TournamentSemifinal:Michigan Tech

Chapter 39: ChampionsAgain

Chapter 40: GivingBack

Chapter 41: NCAA Tournament Opener:GrandValley State

Chapter 42: NCAA Tournament RegionalSemifinal: Southern Indiana

Chapter 43: InstantClassic

Chapter 44: RememberingJavonte

Chapter 45: Importance of RolePlayers

Chapter 46: Previewing the EliteEight

Chapter 47: Hype Reaches ItsPeak

Chapter 48: Battle ofUnbeatens

Chapter 49: Securing a Date withDestiny

Chapter 50: On the Doorstep ofGreatness

Chapter 51: Heavyweight Fight for theTitle

Chapter 52: Reflection on theJourney

Epilogue

About theAuthor

prologue

Only the sound of my fingertips rapidlytapping the keyboard of my laptop as I sat on press row slicedthrough the silence of the Grand Valley State Fieldhouse inAllendale, Mich., on the night of March 18, 2008.

I was under the pressure of deadline for TheCourier, a daily newspaper in Findlay, Ohio, and in the midst ofwriting my game story on the gut-wrenching end to an NCAA DivisionII championship quest for the University of Findlay mensbasketball team. On a night when it seemed the Oilers were destinedfor glory, destined to return to the Elite Eight for the first timesince 2005, destiny was not on their side. Everything that couldhave gone wrong that night did for Findlay in a Sweet 16 showdownagainst Grand Valley State, a bitter but respected rival in theGreat Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. The Lakers enteredthe game at 35-0 and co-owners of the No. 1 ranking in the nationwith Winona State out of Minnesota. Twice during the season GrandValley humbled Findlay, both times in Allendale, including inDecember when it clobbered the Oilers 82-60.

The second time was in the championship gameof the GLIAC tournament, 10 days before their battle in the NCAAtournament. Findlay played hard but its rally attempt fell short ina 73-67 loss, adding more fuel onto the fire of one of the mostphysical and heated rivalries in a conference featuring schools inOhio and Michigan.

The latest encounter on a Tuesday night inmid-March was supposed to be different in an arena that, in pastgames, had been a house of horrors for Findlay. Winning here wasrare, not just for Findlay, but for any team. Still, the Oilerswent into the game optimistic and eager for revenge. Instead, thegame played out like a nightmare.

Findlay was beaten and bruised by the Lakers,who dominated over the course of 40 minutes of basketball and,finally, lost 75-58 in front of a frenzied, sold-out crowd. A dayearlier, head coach Ron Niekamp, who retired in 2011 without everhaving a losing campaign in his 27 seasons with the Oilers, waswell aware his team would have its hands full against theLakers, who were gunning for a second consecutive trip to the EliteEight.

They have great athletes and area very deep team, Niekamp said of the Lakers after the Oilersbounced Gannon University from the regional tournament, with an88-82 win in the semifinal round on Sunday night. They have madeus look pretty ordinary the first two times we played them. We needto search for answers and come up with a good gameplan.

Niekamp and his staff were excellent when itcame to preparing the Oilers for a game, and he and his assistantcoaches stuck around after the game against Gannon to scout theLakers in their regional semifinal battle with Northern Kentucky.In this instance, the preparation was little help against a Lakersteam that owned the night, setting the Oilers game plan on firewith a stellar shooting performance and a sensational effort ondefense.

The blue-clad crowd roared every time one ofthe eleven 3-pointers the Lakers hit ripped through the net. Theband played its music at a deafening level every time the Oilershad to burn a timeout to try to figure out a way to slow down theLakers, who seemed to have as much momentum as a train speedingdown a track at 200 miles an hour.

Shots wouldnt fall with any sort ofconsistency and the Oilers struggled to string together defensivestops against a Lakers team with a golden shooting touch. Thatgolden touch was most evident in Jason Jamerson and Pete Trammell,the most dangerous outside shooters in the Lakers talented lineup.Jamerson and Trammell knocked down four 3-pointers apiece topunctuate their 17-point efforts. As Jim Heller, my friend and thevoice of the Oilers that season, would later tell me, the SecretService couldnt have guarded Jamerson and Trammell thatnight.

The Lakers shot 47.8 percent from the fieldand hit eleven of their seventeen attempts from beyond the arc.They led 42-25 at halftime and went 15-of-18 from the free-throwline in the second half to kick the final piles of dirt onto theOilers grave.

I thought our strong start wasbig for us, Grand Valley head coach Ric Wesley said in a post-gameinterview. We shot the ball extremely well, and we did a lot ofgood things on defense to make it difficult for them to comeback.

It seemed no matter how hard the Oilers workedto scratch and claw their way back into the game, they stayed twosteps behind the Lakers, shooting only 37.1 percent from the floor,a surprising statistic for a team that came in as one of the bestshooting teams in the nation at 51.5 percent. Josh Bostic, theundisputed team leader who was named an All-American at the end ofthe season, scored 19 points. Starting point guard Marcus Parkerpoured in 15 points, and Morgan Lewis, Bostics best friend and oneof the most athletic players on the team, scored 10 points. No oneelse scored more than six. The balanced attack Findlay counted onso often during a 28-5 season was nonexistent, mainly because ofhow well and how hard the Lakers played on defense.

When the clock mercifully hit zero and theLakers kicked off their celebration, hoisting the regionalchampionship trophy as their fans cheered, the last thing theOilers wanted to do was stick around to watch the thrill of themoment unfold for Grand Valley. Players wore looks ofdisappointment and pulled their sweat-soaked jerseys over theirheads to avoid watching the Lakers bask in the glory of a Sweet 16victory. Known for its football success, Grand Valley won fournational titles in a five-year span during the decade, its win overthe Oilers added to its growing basketball reputation.