One Shining Moment

Join me, if you will, as we revisit one such moment, the closing seconds of regulation play in an 8^th grade boys basketball game between Collegiate and St. Bridget School on January 26, 1979, in the West Gymnasium.

 

Back then, the rivalry between the two schools was intense and produced numerous down-to-the-wire nail-biters that seemed a middle school version of the fervently contested varsity games between the Cougars and Benedictine, the next stop on the educational journey for many St. Bridget guys.

 

Winning was a badge of honor. Losing simply wasn’t acceptable. That said, while (at least in retrospect) no one actually considered these games the do-all, end-all of life, players and coaches on both sides often found it difficult to leave the gym and quickly put the events of the afternoon behind them.

 

Such was the case that memorable Friday.

 

From the moment the referee tossed the ball in the air, the teams went at each other with spirit and resolve. Collegiate led 12-8 after eight minutes, trailed 20-17 at the half, then pulled even at 31 at the end of the third quarter. The fourth period was as ruggedly and passionately contested as the first three, and with 0:06 remaining, St. Bridget held a 39-37 lead and had possession of the ball.

 

The Cougars were forced to foul.St. Bridget missed the front end of a one-and-one. The home team rebounded and quickly called time. Length of the floor to go. Four seconds left. Undefeated season at stake.

 

As his team hustled to the bench, the Cougars’ brash young coach – that would be me – conferred with student assistant Sarge Reynolds about a course of action. Our best chance, we quickly decided, was to screen away, then pass to midcourt and use our final timeout.

 

Thankfully, the plan worked, but when the ref blew his whistle, only two seconds remained.

 

Sarge and I had another quick decision to make: lob the ball inside to either Tom or Rob Crosby, our 6-0 twin towers, or launch one from the cheap seats and hope for the best which, in those days before the 3-point arc, would be a tie, then overtime.

 

St. Bridget had zoned us throughout, so we surmised that they’d stick to that tactic to protect the basket. The choice, then was simple.

 

Jeff Armstrong would deliver the inbounds pass to Frank Mountcastle, our point guard. The Crosby twins would line up at the high and low post on the ball side to keep the defense honest, then position themselves for a possible rebound. Greg Robins would set up at the foul line, then pop out toward midcourt to serve as an outlet if Mountcastle wasn’t open.

 

With tension palpable, the teams retook the court. The ref handed the ball to Armstrong, who faked a lob inside to freeze the defense, then passed to Mountcastle, who was unguarded, just a few feet away.

 

With the clock now ticking, Mountcastle dribbled twice to his left, then squared up, sighted the hoop, and let it fly.

 

“At the time,” Mountcastle recalled recently, “I was probably all of 5-feet-2, 95 pounds. It was a long way to the basket, maybe 30 feet. I was actually almost underneath the side basket right in front of our bench.”

 

From my vantage point directly behind Mountcastle, I followed the flight of the ball. Wide left, I recall thinking. That’s OK. We’ve played a great game.

 

“It was all I could do to get the ball to the basket,” Mountcastle continued. “Then it banked off that white, wooden backboard (and through the net) literally as the buzzer sounded. I wasn’t trying to bank it in, for sure. I was just heaving it towards the rim. You could see it wasn’t going to go in clean. Then, it was like, ‘Holy smokes!’

 

“Everything had to go right. How many times do you have a group of 13- and 14-year-olds that can execute a pass to half-court, catch it, call time-out, and then execute a last-second play and have it all work? We as a team accomplished that. There were a lot of people there. It was pretty raucous. There was a buzz going. We weren’t going to lose that game.”

 

With firm control of the momentum plus poise, grit, and unwavering motivation, the Cougars held forth in overtime to claim a 44-41 victory. They finished the season 12-0.

 

“We were a collection of folks who played well together,” said Mountcastle, now managing director of Harris Williams & Company and, by the way, chairman of Collegiate’s Board of Trustees. “We were all pretty good buddies. There was definitely camaraderie. An undefeated season doesn’t happen every time. I do remember that. I think everyone else does too. That season was definitely a lot of fun.”

   -- Weldon Bradshaw

Note: In the picture accompanying this Reflections, Rob (54) and Tom (55) Crosby are establishing rebounding position. Athletic director Petey Jacobs (arms folded) and legendary 8th grade English teacher Hugh Addy (seated, over Mountcastle's left shoulder) are looking on. Mountcastle now serves as the chairman of Collegiate's Board of Trustees.