by student writer Bryant Lisenby, 8th grade
Exceeding Expectations The Story of the 2019 SMES A Boys Basketball Team
“Being on the SMES A Team was a fun and inspiring experience.” —Jack O’Donnell ast fall, ten athletic students at St. Martin’s Episcopal School were put together to form the St. Martin’s A-team for basketball. With only one returning member from the year before— Truman Thompson— the inexperienced team hoped for the best in the season. After the first week or two of practices, the team realized they were not the most talented of teams and would have to win games with great effort instead of great skill. The team spent most of their time at practices working on rebounding and defense. A lot of conditioning and hard work was in play during these practices, as the boys would need to be very scrappy every game in order to win. The first game was thrown very quickly at them, but they managed to put up a good defensive fight against AIS. Offense, however, was a different story and SMES took a close loss at 24-20. After the game, the coaches and players were proud of their effort and believed that they would have a successful season after gaining more experience. Two days later was the next game, but the story was much different this time. They played away against Atlanta
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Summer 2019
Academy, and dominated on every level possible. SMES was taller, faster, and smarter, which led to a 64-19 win. The team then had two solid weeks of practice heading into Christmas break. After the break, many players were thinking that they would tear up the remaining eight games left in the season and possibly even win the league. This was not the case, however. St. Martin’s put up great fights against everyone they played, but their lack in size, strength and experience proved to hurt them in the second part of the season. The SMES A basketball team struggled, but they did not let it get the best of them. Coach Rob Harris and Coach Mark McDaniel kept the players’ confidence high, and motivated them before each game. “Our team was not the most talented of teams, but our approach to every game ultimately led to us winning some,” said Coach Rob. The Warriors finished the regular season 3-8, but ended on some high notes in the playoffs. The first round of playoffs was against Holy Spirit, a team SMES lost to earlier in the season. On the bus ride to the
ST. MARTIN’S EPISCOPAL SCHOOL
game, the players learned that their next school day was canceled due to “snow,” so the players knew they would have a day of rest and could give 110 percent to this game. The game tipped off, and SMES’ energy and focus put them up 14-4 quickly. The first quarter ended, and SMES had completely outplayed Holy Spirit. In the second quarter, Holy Spirit cut into the lead and in the third quarter they made a comeback ending with SMES only up by five. In the fourth quarter, Holy Spirit’s momentum caused them to take their first lead of the game. SMES called a timeout, and was down 34-33 with three minutes left in the game. SMES got right back into it after the timeout, with Bryant Lisenby driving in and kicking to Matthew Aronowitz who hit a clutch three-pointer. Holy Spirit came down the court and made a layup with a very slow, offensive possession. With 45 seconds left in the game, SMES took the ball down the court. The Holy Spirit defense had a breakdown, and Nathan Altiery was wide open for a layup, putting St. Martin’s ahead with 15 seconds to go. Great defense by St. Martin’s led to a shocking win over Holy Spirit. The next game came and went, with St. Martin’s putting up a great effort but ultimately losing. Despite the team record, this team went from being predicted as one of the worst teams in the league to exceeding everyone’s expectations.
