NM State Aggies vs Chicago State Cougars Men’s Basketball 1-1-22 Part 2

 

Continued from Part 1.

Halftime

Our stat of the game so far was that Chicago State had accumulated 11 fouls.  Hot courtside reporter, Megan McCormick, talked to AD Moccia during the break.  I’m sure he didn’t mind.  I wonder when she started with the team.  Oops.  I have another phone call.  This is unprecedented.  It’s dad.  I think he called to taunt me about how bad the game was to this point to further emphasize how glad he was that he didn’t come.  I think.  I couldn’t hear him. 

 

Well, I’m sure he would have regretted not coming if he knew what was coming up next.  The Diaper Dash was on!  It was the baby race to end all baby races.  There was something close to 30 babies entered.  PA Ed gallantly read all of the babies’ vital stats as prepared by their parents.  “He likes eating, pooping, and peeing,” was said about one entrant.  A former Volleyball player had an entry, though I didn’t recognize her.  The race began and the crowd roared louder than during the game.  However, only one baby actually made it across the court.  The rest never made it past the start.  At Ed’s urging, the proud dad brought the kid over so he could congratulate him. 

 

A guy in a suit carrying a trashcan walked down the line of the courtside seats.  He was collecting the trash.  How’s that for service?  PA Ed introduced the Raising Canes free throw promo for the half.  If an opposing player missed two free throws in a row this half, everyone got free chicken.  It was not added that they weren’t open today.  This didn’t payoff anyway, so it didn’t matter.         

 

 

Second Half

Will McNair muscled his way in down low for a bucket to start the half.  The Chicago State coach must not have liked that and called an immediate timeout.  What happened next was that an “administrative technical foul” was called.  Even with the radio call, this foul was basically unexplained.  The Aggies got one free throw for it, but the Cougars got the ball back. 

 

On the next trip, Johnny McCants missed a last-second shot at the rim, but got his own rebound as the shot clock reset and scored anyway.  Teddy Allen then hit a three and it was 38-26 Aggies.  During a stoppage, Teddy and Mario McKinney directed a little kid with a mop to get the sweat in the lane.  Mario fist-bumped him afterward.  Jabari Rice hit a three.  McNair got a tip in off a miss.  It was suddenly 45-28 with 15 minutes still left in the game.

 

After a scramble for the ball at midcourt between four players, Teddy came up with the ball and finger-rolled the ball in.  Nate Pryor got back on defense and drew a charge on a fast break.  He came back and drove into the lane for a layup and drew a foul.  He missed on that, but it was his first foul shot of the year. 

 

With the Aggies out to a big lead, play got a bit sloppy again.  The Aggies were not getting back on defense at times.  It was 49-32 with 12 minutes left at the next media timeout.  The Aggie reserves came in.  Mike Peake made an “easy” layup.  “Well, it was an ‘easy’ layup if you’re calling the game and not getting hit by two defenders,” said Jack Nixon on the radio broadcast.  Chi Chi Avery made a layup for his first points.  Virshon Cotton made his first points with a three.  It was 58-36 Aggies with 9 minutes left.

 

Avery came back with a thunderous, crowd-pleasing jam.  It was 62-38 Aggies with 7 minutes left going into another media timeout.  The T-shirt Gatling cannon was wheeled out and unloaded into the crowd.  One of the referees looked like he was scolding a fan on the sidelines.  However, the fan was laughing afterward.  Ron said they’d been talking all during the game.  Neither of us were sure if it was a friendly exchange or not.

 

Avery drew a foul.  Jack praised his team-leading free throws skills right before Avery missed both.  Jack took the blame for that citing the “Sportscaster’s Jinx.”  Jabari and Cougar, Jahsean Corbett, traded coast-to-coast layups to give you an idea of the defense in the game.  It was 68-43 into another media timeout with 5 minutes left.  Out of the break, Corbett got a steal and jammed it.  Even the Aggie crowd, “Ahh’d,” at that one.

 

The Aggies were up 70-48 with 3 minutes left during another timeout.  The Whataburger Fry Shuffle game came up on the video board.  I got confused during the game, but the contestant had no problem picking the right one to get a prize pack.  At least they’re open today and serving good burgers, which Ron and I had had earlier.  Jump in the Line played, a Pan-Am favorite.  One of the Aggie players almost started dancing, before he caught himself.  A couple of little kids danced in the aisle anyway.

 

A Chicago State shot swirled all the way into the basket and then came back out.  The whole crowd went, “Oooh!” at that applied Physics demonstration.  Then, Teddy Bayi Ba Mandeng, whose name Jack had been tripping on during the game, went down to the floor hard and had to come out.  The crowd gave him a nice round of applause.  It just wasn’t the Cougars’ day.  Another Cougar player missed the front end of a pair of foul shots.  The remaining crowd got excited about the prospect of free chicken on a miss, but were denied.  In the final seconds, Avery handed the ball to a Cougar player, who took it down to the basket, but chose not to shoot.  78-61 Aggies final.

 

I got close to counting all the points right, just off by a point.  Then I saw the official scoring and realized I was off all over the place.  I had trouble with radio reception after we left our seats.  I gave up before getting the final totals.  I should have taken Ron’s cue.  He was very content to keep sitting there, so that he could keep watching Megan at courtside.  I also missed Coach Jans’ postgame interview.  I’ll guess he said something like, “We were just toying with them in the first half.  We let them hope for a while, then we crushed their dreams.”  Actually, I saw the TV interview later.  He said that he expected the Cougars to play tough.  The Aggies just had to wear them down.  He was also very happy with the turnout given the circumstances.

 

Jahsean Corbett and Brandon Betson carried Chicago State with 26 and 23 points respectively.  Their team played some very tenacious defense for a half.  The Aggies’ constantly rotating in fresh legs ran the Cougars down.  If Chicago State had a couple more horses, they could have run in this Derby. 

 

The Aggies spread the scoring around magnificently.  I think just about everybody in the game scored.  Jabari Rice led the Aggies with 15 points and 9 rebounds.  Chi Chi Avery and Teddy Allen had 11 points, and Johnny McCants 9 and Mario McKinney had 9.  Some poor first half shooting, mostly 3-point attempts, was what kept this close for 20 minutes.  If Yuat Alok had been playing, this might have been over quicker.  Nate Pryor is my player of the game for being a real spark plug off the bench.

 

In spite of the freezing cold outside, we went for ice cream at PQ Treats afterward.  (Say it with me, “Ice cream is for winners.”)  The local convenience store chain where the stand is had sold out to Circle K.  The last time I’d gone for ice cream, they didn’t have any.  I was worried they were going to shut the affiliated PQ Treats down.  We were in luck; they were open.  Ron got a mint shake and brain freeze.  I got an “Elvis” Frozen Tornado with bananas and peanut butter and it was great. 

 

We started checking updates from the Rose Bowl.  Ron missed a great game (I don’t have cable), as Ohio State beat Utah, 48-45, with a field goal at the end.  I was glad that getting those free tickets for today’s game in November finally paid off.  It was too bad dad didn’t want to come, but it was admittedly not that great a game other than the result.