HS Basketball – 5 on 8

Since moving to Colorado, one of the things I have been most happy with has been the level of the officiating through all sports.  Yes, you have your bad official here and there, and officials will have a off night, but this game, the Ralston Valley Mustangs were not only up against the Lakewood Tigers, but also the officials.  And the worst thing about the night?  I saw it coming before either  team took the court.  I am not sure what it is, but one official that covered this game has a habit of wearing off on the other officials, and there is nothing worse than blatant bad calls.  The RV girls had this official against Columbine, and he cost the girls about 10 points.  But in this game, the calls against Ralston Valley were even raising the eyebrows of the Lakewood coach.  I could write for days on each of the bad calls, but instead, I will give an example.  Near the end of the game, the Mustangs were pressing. They were in desperation mode and their press was working.  A Lakewood player was heading right into a two man trap and in an attempt to try to beat the trap, he started a crossover or at least change his direction.  He ended up getting crossed over and carried the ball for two steps and then ran into the RV trap.  Just what the Mustangs wanted.  Right in front of the official.  The call?  Foul on RV.  And to be fair, if the Lakewood player would not have carried the ball and taken two steps, he probably would have been fouled, but he made two infractions prior to the “foul”.  Horrible.

The Ralston Valley Mustangs came into this game as the 2nd place team in the Jeffco League while Lakewood was sitting in 5th place.  Right from the start, the Mustangs looked flat and the Tigers did capitalize on this by jumping to a 15-4 lead over the home team in the first quarter.  RV got back on track in the second quarter, keeping pace with the Tigers, but Lakewood still outscored them 11-10 and took a 26-14 lead into the locker room at halftime.

In a combination of poor play and great defense from both teams, both teams were held to 5 points each in the 3rd quarter.  In the fourth quarter, the Mustangs tried very hard to make a big run at Lakewood, but were hampered by questionable calls by the officials and frustration setting in.  It was the only quarter that the Mustangs would win in the game, but scoring 18 to the Tigers 17 was not enough to come back from their first quarter woes.

The Stangs are on the road for all but one more game this season and are really going to have to turn things up a notch if they are going to make a good run into the playoffs.  One of the RV players needs to step forward and take control of this team and lead them if they are going to go anywhere.

Here is my 10 Shot from the game.

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