JAN. 23
CATHOLIC RED
Roman 70, North 62
  WOW!! That is about all I can say about this game. It was amazing. The two best teams in CL Red by far going at it. It was nuts for all you who missed it, there were probably 800-900 people there. Ted had the luxury of a chair, where I had the nice Pit floor. Before the game I went back to talk to some of the players. The usual -- How you feeling? Ready to win? The regular answer was, "Gotta stay calm . . . Just a regular game." BLAH, BLAH, BLAH. Then I asked Puck (Also known as Hock, Tom, and stats guy) how he was  feeling? His response: “I’m a little tight. Had a lot of stats in that JV game. Got a finger cwamp. But I will get thwough it.” He was prepared for battle.
  The first half was superb. Roman kept building leads but North always came back. Then came the incident. Roman’s Maalik Wayns  got called on a charge. But what happened after was the real problem. I was sitting right in front of it and had the perfect view and angle. Maalik Wayns got up, but while doing it grabbed Jaleel Mack’s throat. I do not know if this was intentional but it sure as anything looked like it. Technical foul for Wayns. The Falcons were led by Josh Stevens, a 6’2 3/4 man. He is a hustle player and does all the little things that need to happen. The reason that I think that North Catholic lost to Roman was one thing -- TURNOVERS! Way too many. Every fastbreak it seemed as though it was first one to get on the floor gets the ball. That’s what kind of game it was. It was footballish; North should have put in Dennis Logue to battle Roman’s Kevin Regan to see who is the better QB. (Both fill that role for the football team.) At the end of the half it was 33-31 Roman.
  The second half was even more intense than the first. Rakeem Christmas had some monster dunks and some great blocks. However, he was digging a deeper hole for himself in foul trouble. The Falcons were always down by two or even up by two or three at some points. It was just a hard fought out game all around. The Falcons were losing momentum going into the last few minutes of the 4th  quarter. Then the worst came Rakeem Christmas fouled Rakeem Brookins while he made a wing two-pointer. This just put the icing on the cake. Rock was fouled out. Then Roman just made fouls from there on and history was history. It was a great game and had an oh-so-close to a championship game feeling.
  P.S. - I am sorry for missing a lot of reports I have had a CYO game most nights of North’s games. I know I am not doing my job right when I get a maybe Mark Hueber’s report will be posted depending how he is feeling on tedsilary.com (ha ha). Also this is my last year of Grade school and I have still not picked my high school yet. I will have a special article about me on where I pick in the Daily News. I will be there with my North Catholic hat and my Saint Joe's Prep hat. There is now an online poll on www.tompuckleheadnutmanheadfakesmckenna.com.  You vote I will listen. Ha ha ha. This is by far my longest report ever done!