As the lights went out at Pershing Auditorium on Thursday night, March 10th, 1988 Wahoo had qualified for the fourth spot in the Class B semifinals with a narrow 61 - 58 win over Ord. In the post game interview, Ord Coach, Clayton Steele was quoted, “It seemed like it got awful rough in there. You don’t have to be very smart to figure out what happened in there. He (Bartek) just posted up and they called fouls on my kids .... Merry Christmas.”
There are many ways to win / lose a basketball game. Coaches know all of them. It might be more efficient if reporters could just give the coaches a menu following a game, kind of like visiting a fast food outlet. They could choose by number. They could opt for a #4 -- “Loss -- we just couldn’t make our freethrows.” #6 -- “Win -- we forced them into turnovers.” Or its flip side, #7 -- “Loss -- we didn’t take care of the ball, we were careless.” And, of course, there’s #10, seldom cited in public but commonly referred to in private -- “Loss -- the calls didn’t go our way.” State Tournament games are no different than any other game, except they are more intense. When Coach Steele uttered the words, “ ... Merry Christmas,” he was in deep frustration as his Chants had given up a 12 point lead and lost their bid for a first round upset win over Wahoo.
Through three quarters, the supposedly inexperienced boys from Ord made the Warriors look like the team that had forgotten how to play. The Chanticleers were shooting well and the usually aggressive Wahoo defense wasn’t causing them any problems. At half time Ord was up by 14. Coach Anderson commented,”We didn’t look very good or very smart for three quarters.” With 7:21 left in the game, the Warriors were down 52 - 40. But Wahoo came back with Troy Glock scoring twice from the field and adding a freethrow and Steve Malousek driving for two baskets. The lead was cut to 52 - 49 with 5:16 to go. Baskets by Glock and Dan Bartek then gave Wahoo the lead with 3:27 to go. The lead changed hands three more times and then Bartek was at the line for a one and one with the score tied at 58. Bartek made the first freethrow. The second was off the mark, but Troy Glock grabbed the rebound. Ord was forced to foul and Kevin Jeppson calmly stepped up and made two to give Wahoo the final winning margin.
On the court just before the Wahoo / Ord game, Hartington Cedar Catholic had upset the #2 seed, Seward. So Friday night, the Warriors would realize their goal of getting back to the same place they were a year ago -- in the semifinals at the Bob Devaney Sports Complex. But this time they would be the favored team, playing an unranked Hartington C. C.. Perhaps the midseason loss to Syracuse would be mentioned as the team prepared to take their next step toward that championship. In any case, the late trip back home to Wahoo was a merry one -- kind of like Christmas.
Realization, Pt. 3 -- slime |
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| Dan Bartek scores to give Wahoo a 58 - 56 lead against Ord. |
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"I didn't know we were down by 12 points. I can't believe we did it." -- Troy Glock
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| Ord roster and season record as it appeared in the State Tournament Program. |
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| Dan Bartek prepares for the freethrow that put Wahoo ahead at 59 - 58. |
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| View the details of the game with Ord. |
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