SPRINGFIELD – Geri Halliwell of the Spice Girls, a British rock group of the mid-‘90s, had a best-selling songtitled “It’s Raining Men” from the hit movie “Bridget Jones’s Diary”. On Wednesday night in DII boys basketball tournament action at Springfield High School the Knights of Alter sang their own version, “It’s Raining Threes”, as they dominated Greenville’s Green Wave by a 80-23 count.
The champions of the Greater Cincinnati Catholic Co-ed League poured in thirteen longrange baskets, nine in the first half alone, to swamp the Wave and advance to the second round of tourney action against the winner of the Thurgood Marshall—Springfield Shawnee contest. Alter featured a roster with no player listed under 6’0”, ten of whom are 6’4” or taller. Combine that with talent, teamwork, and hustle and the game’s outcome was never in doubt as the Knights raced out to a 27-10 first quarter lead. With the starters playing only the first period and another three minutes in the second half (played under a running clock) the second team took over stretching the lead to 53-14 at intermission.
Thirteen Knights scored, paced by 6’8” junior Charlie Uhl’s 11 points as they improved their
record to 18-5. Alter had 24 rebounds with only 6 turnovers while Greenville had 12 rebounds but was once again hampered by 19 turnovers.
For the Wave senior Chace Drew contributed 6 points while fellow classmates Jack Chick,
TJ Barr, and Ryan Staver also concluded their high school careers. The Wave finished the
campaign with a 3-20 mark.
Coach Matt Hamilton’s squad will return three of the top five scorers from this year’s team
and a host of underclassmen who saw action at the junior varsity and freshman levels.
Summer workouts, individual practice, and summer league games are a must for the Green
Wave if they are to improve both as a team and individually.
Alter exhibited everything you could want in a high school team—height, length, skills,
hustle, and teamwork to go along with good coaching. They’ll be a handful for the rest of the district tournament and possibly further down the tourney trail. If you’re a Knights fan, it might just continue to “Rain Wins”.