Rollercoaster ride of game ends with Spencer Rocket win


By Valorie Brecht When the Abbotsford Falcons traveled to play the Spencer Rockets last Thursday, the game proved to be anything but boring.
The rough-and-tumble contest left spectators on the edge of their seats, with plenty of fouls and mishaps along the way. One player couldn’t slow his momentum enough and jumped on top of the announcer’s table to avoid a collision. That happened again in the second half. Another player was dazed after getting knocked in the head with a basketball from only a few feet away. Two opposing players nearly collided with the Abbotsford bench after falling to the floor while grappling for the ball.
The rushed nature of the game hampered Spencer’s ability to score initially. Starting with a basket from Blake Bargender, Abbotsford went ahead 7-2 in the opening three minutes of the game.
“I think we played really good defense, and on offense we kind of didn’t get into anything right away because it was such a transition game. So we played well in transition and then eventually on offense, we got some open shots and got out to a 15-point lead there,” said Spencer coach Charles Jennings.
Once Spencer was able to slow things down and regain some control, the shots started falling. With baskets from Sam Bezlyk, Weston Nieman, Davide Chemello and Mathers McHone, the Rockets got out to a 7-point lead by halftime, 26-19, and gradually increased that lead in the second half.
However, two and a half minutes into the second half, the physical nature of the game led to an injury. Spencer’s Madden Prybylski collided with another player and separated his shoulder. The game was delayed for several minutes as Prybylski lay on the court until he was able to carefully get up and walk off, to the sincere applause of the crowd. After that, the Rockets picked up one more basket from Breckin Miller to extend the lead to 15 points, but the game was far from over. While the Rockets were perhaps still a bit flustered by the injury, the Falcons began picking apart the Rockets’ lead, aided by some poor ball handling on Spencer’s part. “We had way too many turnovers and got careless with the ball,” said Jennings. It didn’t take long until the Falcons had all but caught up with the Rockets, trailing 48-46 with 7:39 left on the clock. Miller made a 3-pointer on the next play and shortly after Abbotsford was sent to the line after being fouled upon. Thankfully for the Rockets, Abby missed all three free throws. But not too long after, Abbotsford’s Grayson Totzke made a 2-point basket to make the score 51-49, Spencer still ahead.
Jennings called a timeout, but afterward neither team was able to score with heavy defense on both sides. Then Abbotsford coach Garrett Rau called a timeout. A few plays later and the teams were tied at 53, with 1:42 left. Ten seconds later, Bargender was fouled and went to the line, making one, to put his team ahead for the first time since the first half, much to the excitement of the Abbotsford student section. Spencer hastily fired off a couple of shots in the next minute, but missed both.
With 19 seconds left, a foul was called and Abbotsford went to the line but missed. Bezlyk got the rebound with 15 seconds left and powered down the court. Abbotsford was in the bonus, so Spencer’s goal was for Bezlyk to get fouled so he could go to the line. He got fouled with 7.4 seconds left and went to shoot. With all eyes on him, Bezlyk sunk his first free throw to tie the score at 54, and made his second shot as well to put Spencer 1 point ahead.
Abby got the ball back and immediately called a timeout. Back on the floor, the Falcons flew down the court and took a quick shot but it was no good. They ran out of time, leaving Spencer with the 55-54 win.
Bezlyk had a game-high 19 points. “He made those free throws and played good defense to close it out. So, he was clutch,” said Jennings.
Bezlyk also had 21 rebounds and three steals, creating more opportunities for his team.
“I thought we did a good job rebounding. We had a lot of deflections and steals,” Jennings said.
Jennings was especially proud of his team for playing well even with a lean bench. After Prybylski was injured, the team was down four regular varsity players, with the other three being Reed Knecht, Austin Lalicata and Tyler Peterson. With seven main players left, several of them were running on tired legs and were on the court the entire game or nearly the entire game. Bezlyk played all 36 minutes, Chemello played 35 minutes and Nieman played 34.
Jennings was quick to acknowledge the contributions of several players, in what truly was a team effort.
“Breckin Miller played phenomenal and shot really well. We were really short on our bench tonight with a lot of players injured. Madden played really well before he left. Drake Johnson played just great defense. Davide (Chemello) played really well too. He had some clutch shots for us too,” said Jennings.
Chemello scored 11 points for the Rockets, including three 3-pointers. Nieman and Miller each had 10. McHone picked up 3 and Prybylski scored 2.
Jennings also acknowledged the energy and scrappiness of Abbotsford that led to such a competitive, engaging game.
“Abby played really well. I give props to them for their hustle,” said Jennings.
With their win over Abby and loss against Colby the following night, Spencer earned a 2-5 record. They will play Owen-Withee at home on Thursday before a weeklong break for Christmas.
Spencer’s Madden Prybylski makes a basket falling away. His coach, Charles Jennings, praised how he played in the Dec. 14 game before he was taken out in the second half due to a shoulder injury.
VALORIE BRECHT/STAFF PHOTO
Sam Bezlyk sends one up for Spencer in the team’s home game against Abby Dec. 14. Bezlyk scored early and often, accumulating 19 points on the night.
VALORIE BRECHT/STAFF PHOTO
