Mattawan @ Kalamazoo Milwood: recap

[GoatCow#1]

Upon request of u-14 CDBA'er Luke Srodulski, I attended todays 8th grade matchup between Luke & Thomas Hoff's Mattawan Wildcats and Kalamazoo's Milwood Middle Magnet School Lancers.

It was sort of a step back in time for me. I was a Lancer in 1979 & 1980, when the school was simply Milwood Junior High. The gymnasium in those days that was just called the gym, now has a name, the "Dale Steeby Gymnasium". Dale Steeby was the principal of the school way back when "yours truly" wore the #10 for home games and #11 on the road(that's how it was "back in the days"). We warmed up for home games with that "Kool and the Gang" smash hit, 'CELEBRATION' playing over the speakers....

Enough reminiscences for me!

Entering the gym, I decided to sit on the Mattawan side. Why not?, Mattawan has two CDBA'ers to zero for my alma-mater. It was cool to hear "What's up, Coach Darryl?", as I approached the stands. I look up, and Luke is smiling and so is Thomas(wearing a Camp Darryl hoody)....
I'll skip writing about the "B" game, because no CDBA players were playing.

The 'A' game:
The game was actually exciting from the start. Milwood shot 1 for 11 from the 3pt. line in the 1st quarter and held a 4 point lead at the end of the first six minutes.
The Milwood second unit attacked the basket in the 2nd quarter to open the game up a little. Mattawan tried to stay close with Thomas Hoff's nifty passing to #35, and Luke Srodulski along with #14 causing several turnovers on the point of Mattawan's Diamond Press. Mattawan went into half-time down 5.

The 2nd half started with Mattawan bringing the Diamond with intensity. At the point of the intense pressure was one Luke Srodulski! Luke came up with 4 steals early in the quarter, and after one steal in which he scored a lay-up, Luke smacked his hands on the floor and yelled "Let's go!!!!" (ala Duke). On the very next play, #14 stole the in-bounds pass and passed to Luke for a score!
Srodulski finished the 3rd hitting a deep jumper from the Left, about 19'8"(3pt line is 19'9"). At the start of the 4th, Mattawan was only down 2pts.

Enter Thomas Hoff. By no means does the previous sentence imply that Thomas wasn't playing until the 4th, he just decided to make his presence felt at this time. Behind smooth dribble-drives, and slick passing Thomas started to take the game over. Hoff scored on various forays to the basket, often electing to finish with his Left hand. Hoff, also a former Elks free-throw champion, went 6-6 from the line, including icing the game with 8 seconds to go.

Final score:
Mattawan Wildcats; 40
Kalamazoo Milwood Middle Magnet Junior High School, Lancers; 38

Players of note(Yes, this IS Camp Darryl biased)-
THOMAS HOFF; 14 pts(6-6 FT), 7 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals.

LUKE SRODULSKI; 6 pts, 2 rebounds, 3 assists, 4 steals.

Special mention:
#32 & #3 of my alma-mater(don't be surprised if these two are at tryouts).


#'s 35, 14, the kid with the headband, and Alex Porte's little brother, of Mattawan.

FWIW(For What It's Worth):
I was unaware that last year Mattawan lost to this team by over 30 pts! This information was given to me via a voice-mail which seemed to be coming from the Mattawan lockerroom after the game.
I was thanked for attending, apologized to for my "old school" losing, and then told that the caller had to go because they were soooo excited about the win.....
You're welcomed, Luke!(Thomas too! I heard you in the background)

I enjoyed watching the game with Dr. & Mrs. Srodulski, and Mrs. Brown(Hoff).

-Darryl

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ November 26, 2007 07:43 PM: Message edited by: GoatCow#1 ]</font>

[GoatCow#1]

bballmom
Junior Hostboard Member


posted November 30, 2007 08:03 AM
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It was a very exciting game, considering what the score was the previous year between these two teams. However, you have one mistake in your recap. #14 Cory Werner scored the final basket for Mattawan giving them the two point win. The names of the other boys mentioned in your recap are:
#35 Dillon Hastings
#14 Cory Werner
Kid with headband Joe Pilanko (not sure on last name)
And Alex Porte's little brother David
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Posts: 1 | Registered: Nov 2007 | IP: Logged | Problem w/ Post?


Ok, I made a mistake and gave THOMAS HOFF credit for the game winning basket. THOMAS' two free-throws tied the game and #14 scored the winning basket.

My bad........

NOTE: I attended the game to watch the Camp Darryl members. I often attend games for this reason. The post that was written by me was geared toward kids in this program. I'm not writing these game recaps as a newspaper article, therefore mistakes may sometimes be made by me. By no means am I trying to discredit anyone or give false credit.

Furthermore, upon accepting our invitation to become a member of the Camp Darryl Basketball Academy, parents/guardians are asked to sign a waiver allowing us to post their son's name(and photo) on this website/message board. With only two players from our program playing in this game, I chose only to write their names. Alex Porte is a former Camp Darryl member, and this is why I wrote "Alex Porte's little brother". In such cases that a name is posted and a player's not from our program, It means that I've talked to their parent/guardian and told them of possible post and asked permission to use name.

We appreciate non-Camp Darryl members visting our website. There is a lot of information on here about opportunities to join our organization and updates and such about current & past members.

If you have any questions, please contact me(Darryl) at 269-217-6498 or [email protected]

Once again, thank you for informing me of my mistake.

-Darryl