Tuesday, November 27, 2008:
For consecutive days I spent my late afternoon in a middle school gymnasium.
This day I attended the Portage West Pioneers(DANIEL TUMM) @ Kalamazoo Maple Street Falcons(VON WASHINGTON III & MARCUS ALLEN) game.
Not the former NFL great:
Arriving a little late for the 'B' game, I was able to see Marcus Allen steal the ball at half court and go in for an uncontested lay-up as I was paying admission. Marcus is the starting TWO-GUARD for Maple Street. Those of you who remember Marcus may seem alarmed that he is a two-guard. After all, Marcus was the shortest/smallest player on the 2007 u-13's, but he was AT LEAST 2" taller than the point guard on his team!
Yes, I did chuckle a little at that.
Marcus, showing confidence and significant improvement, handled the ball very well and hit 3 spot up jump-shots. Marcus also showed improved passing skills as he fed many teammates for baskets. He added two more lay-ups and finished with 12pts in Maple Street's 25pt win over Portage West in the 'B' game.
BTW(By The Way), don't scoff at 'B' team ball in the Kalamazoo area, most of the Kalamazoo Public School 'B' teams can hang with and beat average 'A' teams from other areas.
The 'A' game:
Bang the Tumm slowly:
Portage West featured Daniel Tumm as the starting Center, Maple Street's Camp Darryl player was point guard, Von Washington III.
This game didn't begin in a smooth manner for either team as this was Maple Street's first and Portage West's fourth.
3 minutes into the first quarter you'd have thought that West was the team playing their first game and Maple Street their fourth! West appeared nervous and committed several turnovers while attempting to run the 'flex' offense. Daniel Tumm got great post position several times and was somewhat effective by drawing fouls on Maple Street's front line. Daniel, coming off of a twisted ankle over the weekend, went to the line three times in the first half(all for two-shot attempts), struggled from there going 1-5. Tumm did have 2 assists feeding the ball to cutting teammates with slick bounce passes. Daniel rebounded very well and was able to break the Maple Street press on several occasions with his above average ballhandling skills.
Mr. Washington's neighborhood:
Maple Street's 8th grade class President has serious game!
Von Washington has vastly improved from when I last saw him(March-2007/Midland, MI.). Running the point for "Tom Izzo worshiping" Coach Rahsaan Hawkins' Falcons, Von had a game comparable to what 'Sparties' see out of Drew Neitzel(most of the time).
Von, having ditched the Rec-Specs and sporting contacts, scored in every way imaginable. Lay-ups out of the offense, jumpshots, "and-1's", on the break, etc. Von was truly the leader of the Falcons. He set up the offense and controlled the tempo of the whole game.
The 2nd half:
Maple Street's two athletic bigs doubled Tumm in the post and boxed-out well enough to keep him off the boards in the 2nd half.
No other Pioneer gave Tumm much help on the boards and the Maple Street's bigs were able to initiate several fast-breaks by controlling the boards and throwing great outlet passes!
Maple Street pretty much maintained a 20+ point lead most of the 2nd half. Due in part to their rebounding and torrid shooting.
Daniel Tumm scored on a couple of nice moves around what seemed to be all of the Falcons in the 2nd half. Daniel, I have to take some of the blame for the defense that was played against you, I told coach Hawkins that "you could go!!". Coach Hawkins, being a coach who has the utmost respect for the Camp Darryl program, took my word and kept his best on you at all times.
A College atmosphere.....
I must give a "shout-out" to the 'Maple Street Maniacs'. This pep group was very entertaining and reminded me of Duke's 'Cameron Crazies'.
They held up newspapers as the Portage West starters were announced,and waved Pom-Poms as West attempted shots. This crew displayed tremendous school pride, and were not distasteful in any of their chants and dances! During time-outs and at half-time, music was played over the speakers(classic Rap!), and some of the 'Maniacs' would dance and or have a Hula-Hoop contest(is this making a comeback?). The 'Maniacs' along with a very tempting(I actually didn't buy any candy....) concession stand(Popcorn!!) made the game very enjoyable.
'A' game final score:
Kalamazoo South Maple Street Middle Magnet Junior High School, Falcons- 47
Portage West, Pioneers- 29
Noteables(once again, this IS Camp Darryl biased!):
'B' game:
MARCUS ALLEN, Maple Street- 12pts, 2 rebounds, 6 steals, 2 assists.
'A' game:
DANIEL TUMM, Portage West- a hard earned 7pts, 12 rebounds, 2 blocks, 2 steals, 3 assists.
VON WASHINGTON III, Maple Street- 20pts, 5 assists, 3 steals, 3 rebounds
Special Mention:
Maple Street's "bigs"; #50 and #55. If these two show up on January 20, all of our guards will be very happy!
Mark Justice(#35) also of Maple Street.
It was nice seeing Marcus Allen's Mother & Grandmother, Mr. & Mrs. Tumm, Mr. & Mrs. Washington, and Coach & Mrs. Low(Von III's Grandparents).
-Darryl
<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ November 29, 2007 02:44 PM: Message edited by: GoatCow#1 ]</font>
