Sat Feb 11 2012
COPLEY — Kent Roosevelt head coach Cameron Black told his players as they took the floor on Saturday night at Copley High School, “Remember, one ball, one team and one dream.”
Unfortunately for the Rough Riders, it only takes a blink of an eye to change the thrill of victory into the agony of defeat and shatter that dream.
The Riders’ district championship dreams came crashing down when Akron East’s Steve Thomas drained a 3-pointer at the buzzer for a 63-62 victory. The winning basket was set up with seven seconds showing on the clock after Roosevelt had taken a two-point lead with 9.7 seconds remaining.
The win for Akron East advances its season to the regional tournament, while the Riders’ season comes to a close despite a valiant come back effort by a determined team.
Kent Roosevelt’s season ends almost exactly the same as last year.
The Riders suffered a one-point loss in the district title game last year to Barberton. Coach Cameron Black said following Saturday’s heartbreaker that about the only difference from last year’s loss was that happened at the other basket — the Riders missed a game-winner last year as time expired. The dejected feelings however are the same.
This Riders did not get the respect they deserved when they entered the tournament as the No. 7 seed. The Riders have clawed and scratched in every game at Copley. They beat a good Hudson team (by 2), upset rival Stow (by 1) and then knocked off the No. 1 seeded Twinsburg (by 3). They came within a second of grabbing the district final.
Just like Black told his players when they started the game, the coaches lead this group as a team. Led by Black, all four coaches instruct players at timeouts. Assistant coach Justin Gopp had the clipboard in front of the players with nine seconds showing, diagramming the final play.
The quartet of coaches attempted to console the team following the game, maybe the hardest part of coaching. They all talked about the special group of kids, the special group of seniors and the special season that just concluded.
All four coaches thanked every player for their efforts, especially the four seniors that have worked so hard to upgrade the program.
Collin Kane, Marcus Wright, Matt Bradford and Cameron Black II have worked hard every day in practice for four years according to their coaches. Black told the team following the game they are the hardest working team he has ever coached.
From the opening whistle the contest was a battle of East’s quickness against the size and power inside of the Riders. Roosevelt turned over the ball seven times in the first quarter and early in the second stanza East had pushed out a 14-point lead. It took three quarters for the Riders to handle the East quickness and knot the score at 45-45 entering the final period.
The Roosevelt forwards stepped up with Marcus Wright scoring 21 points, while Black powered his way to 19 points. Both players had nine rebounds. Sophomore Rich Graves hit a 3 and a two to keep pace with East before Wright gave Kent a 62-60 lead with 9.7 remaining.
The soft-spoken coach Black wanted to talk about the positives of the season and make sure his players did not hang their heads.
“I can’t tell you it’s not going to hurt right now, but this has been a great season and you guys are a great team, please don’t hang your heads,” Black told his team.
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