TMA vs Kitsilano(Vancouver) 12/19/07

On Wednesday December 19, 2007 the Panthers went into international waters and competed against a Canadian team from Vancouver by the name of Kitsilano Secondary High School. A school that has 1500 students and has four boy’s basketball teams from 8thgrade to 12th grade. A very well coached team with players that know how to play, know their roles, limitations and have good chemistry versus the undefeated Panthers of TMA. The Panthers just coming off an emotional win versus neighborhood rival FDA went into the game without two starters captain Sean Corley and forward Lenny McNeil and the return of junior guard Trevor Dillard. The pace of the game accelerated as the Panthers became erratic on offense but remained stable on defense and found executing difficult in the paint. Kareem Green had an impact in the paint and Jamel Duncan played well in the 1st half contributing on offense and defense. The Panther's offense seemed to stifle once ball went into Green and the Kitsilano defense converged on the big man with double and triple teams. Green forced shots against double teams and this led to fast breaks by the Kitsilano and bad transition defense by TMA. This gave Kitsilano confidence as the 1st half wore on and the panthers were down 31-28, a small lead compared to the 4 point deficit the panthers suffered versus FDA the night before.

In the second half which is usually the half of the Panthers sluggish play led to much of the same as Kitsilano’s lead ballooned to 14 points in the third quarter. Life was struck into the panthers after a timeout as the jungle started as three consecutive steals led to converted baskets and cut the deficit to 7 with a three converted by Daniel Berroa. With 45 seconds left in the game and the Panthers down five points a lay up was converted by Trevor Dillard to bring the lead to 3 and got the Panthers an emphatic timeout to the ref into their defensive set. Kitsilano turned the ball over and gave TMA a chance to possibly tie or cut the lead to one and TMA returned the favor by throwing the ball out of bounds. What happened next almost brought down the flair of a great game. TMA is on defense Rudy Macedon gets the rebound with 12 seconds on the clock and pushes the ball up the sideline and passes it to Antoine Hackman. Hackman drives baseline and tries to kick it out to as teammate but the ball goes into the backcourt. As the referee blows the whistle Jason Givens punches the ball and gets a technical foul for unsportsmanlike conduct. Kitsilano made 1 of 2 free throws with 2.1 seconds left and this ended the Panthers for undefeated season. Kareem Green led the Panthers with 23 points and 12 rebounds and Trevor Dillard pitched in 12 points. Next up is the Salisbury Lion’s Club Holiday Tournament in Salisbury Maryland versus Walbrook HS of Maryland. The Panthers record is now 9-1 and 6-0 in the league.