Spartanburg Methodist College basketball players turned disaster into delight.
SMC was set to play at home 3 p.m. Saturday in an important Region 10 game against Cape Fear Community College. Bridges Arena was packed. The crowd included kids from Brothers Restoring Urban Hope, a mentoring group that serves Spartanburg, Greenville and Cherokee counties.
But at the scheduled time for tip-off, the teams kept warming up. Fifteen minutes later, they were still warming up. And looking around.
No officials.
Finally, after discussions between the head coaches, SMC interim athletics director Dan Kenneally tapped on a microphone and made the unfortunate announcement that due to unforeseen circumstances, the game was postponed.
Cape Fear’s team, which had traveled nearly five hours on a small bus from Wilmington, N.C., packed up and left.
“There was some kind of miscommunication with the head of officials,” SMC coach Nori Johnson said. “I’m not quite sure. Things like this happen. I’m really disappointed for everybody. We had a great crowd. We had parents come from out of state to see their kids play. I feel for Cape Fear. I expressed that to (head coach Ryan) Mantlo. They didn’t want to sit around and wait (until 5:30 p.m. when replacement refs could make it or 7 p.m. for the originally scheduled crew). I can understand that. It’s a lot to ask of those guys.”
After the announcement, SMC’s team posed for pictures with the youth group. And that was supposed to be the end of it. Fans were encouraged to go outside watch the second game of the baseball team’s doubleheader instead. But, at least at first, nobody left.
The kids stayed out on the court. They picked basketballs out of the rack, started dribbling and shooting. Then they began challenging SMC players.
“Hey, No. 11,” one of the kids with a basketball said to Shameik Ware, who is, at 5-foot-9, the shortest on the Pioneers’ roster. “Come get me.”
Ware laughed and went out to apply some defense.
Others were crowded around 6-foot-11 Will Brown, the tallest SMC player, and they were trying in vain to take ball from him. Brown would tease them by holding the ball down at their level and then lift it up over his head. They kept jumping and he kept laughing.
“At least the kids got something out of it,” Johnson said. “I like that our guys are interacting with the kids. … They love Will. They’ve probably never seen anybody that tall.”
There were pockets of things like this all around the court and it was crowded under the baskets, multiple balls being shot and rebounded and passed by kids who were thrilled to actually be on a college court playing with and against college athletes.
Everybody was smiling. And fans stayed in their seats to watch the fun. Frustration and disappointment about a schedule ruined had been followed by unscheduled joy.
“They were really looking forward to the game,” said executive director Victor Durrah, a former SMC player. “But just getting them out of the neighborhoods and into a different atmosphere was nice. It’s great seeing them having such a good time with the players.”
Durrah said part of the group’s mission is to expose children to college activities. And there has probably been nothing more meaningful to them than what they got Saturday at SMC.