basketball saturday

We are in the middle of basketball season here in Indiana. Marcus and Cale are busy with practices and games. This week, everyone was able to see both the boys play. I brought my new camera in the hopes to get some awesome photos and figure out what all the buttons mean. I have been offered the advice of reading the instruction manual, but I prefer on-the-job training.

In game 1, the Indiana Hoosiers duked it out with Michagan State.  Mich. St. is the probably the "best" team in the K-1 league.  They have several kids that show some skill with shooting and ball handling.  Cale is one of the better players on his team right now, so he plays much of the game and gets his hands on the ball more than most.  I think in the game he scored at least 10 points (out of 25 pts total) and was at the line shooting free throws twice (of which I think 3 of the 4 went in)

Cale was tickled to be guarding one of his little best friends-Alex.

The cheering section was ready to go.

Cale and Ewan both asked for spiked hair this morning.

The Hoosiers pulled out a win: 25-24.  Cale got the basket with about 1 minute left that put his team up for the win.  There was plenty of cheering/yelling from the parents, especially at the end as the score closed up.  I hope that I didn't shout too much.  I usually try to cheer for any player that's doing well (it is K-1 ball, after all).  Many times what I yell at Cale is "pass the ball!" since he likes to take the shot instead of share the ball.  He is getting better at that, but still sometimes will wait for one of the "better" players to open up instead of passing to an open teammate.  I did look over and see Cale's friend upset that his team lost.  I felt bad for him, it is hard to lose.  I think that was their first loss of the season.  All the teams play each other twice, so a rematch is coming. It was an exciting game to watch and it's fun to see Cale's skills improve.

On to game #2: Wake Forest (gold) vs. Miami (orange).  A few weeks ago, these teams met with a Wake win.  Marcus played a good amount of the game.  He does a good job on defense.  He held onto the rebound he got and he tried to go for a shot once.  Andy also pointed out that the person he guards does not get open to shoot, which is good from a defensive standpoint.  This is the 3rd grade league and these boys play rougher, now that they are older.  I think Marcus is a little intimidated by the roughness and I have to remember that he is sometimes a whole year younger than some of his teammates.  Wake played a good game, but came up short 15-14.  The important thing is that Marcus likes playing, which he said he did when I asked him later.