With T.C. Howe comin’ off of a close loss in the City Championship Game in double overtime to Cathedral 88-86 on Monday night. It was mandatory that I see them again on Friday night playin’ for the Indy Region Conference Championship against Manual. Both teams fell off in the joint ready to battle and you already know that TheJayGravesReport was in the buildin’.
Manual’s got a team full of thoroughbreds that can get up and down the floor and do I really need to explain to you the energy that Howe plays with? Unfortunately, the Hornets were without the Alpha Male Tony Hopkins due to an injured right ankle and down the stretch his absence made all the difference in the world. Without him in the lineup Howe wasn’t able to match the intensity in the closin’ moments as the ball game got away from them.
When the smoke cleared Manual walked outta the joint with a 57-53 win. They had the trophy, a boyz sneakers and jewelry and braggin’ rights.
I thought that they were goin’ to have to rush Manual head coach Don Bowling down to Methodist Hospital after the game was over because that dun was a complete mess on the sideline tryin’ to finish this game. His heart was racin’ 100MPH and he was about to pull all of his clothes off tryin’ to keep his boyz from fallin’ apart. He was as intense as they come and did a helluva job to close out the game. At the very least he needed to take a nap in the locker room before headin’ back over to Manual. It was crazy bruh!!!
Let’s keep it real or all the way 100, whichever comes 1st! Howe was clearly not the same team without Hopkins and Manual took advantage of it when it counted. The Redskins’ Jalen Johnson led all scorers with 23 points. The 6’8″ junior was on fire and made sure to put boyz on notice that he and his homies were in the buildin’ lookin’ for that hardware. Senior point guard Joshua Pack finished with 12 points on his way to Big Momma’s house for dinner.
This cat was ballin’ bruh! Do you hear me? He was aggressive with the rock and wasn’t takin’ no for an answer. He got to the rack when he wanted to and went up on a boy like he was 6’8″ and he’s listed at 5’11” and bruh…he ain’t 5’11”. Yes…Johnson was goin’ to work on boyz but it was the lil’ homie Pack that was the catalyst that made it happen for the Manual Redskins on Friday night. He controlled ball movement and kept drawin’ the double teams etc. Big Ups to Joshua Pack for playin’ a helluva ball game.
Howe was led by both Kycia Washington and Jamil Turner-Hall who dropped off 16 apiece.
It was a great ball game from start to finish with Howe leadin’ at the break 27-25 but Manual stayed in the rear view mirror before takin’ over in the fourth quarter. Hopkins’ leadership and energy was clearly missed as it got thick down the stretch and Manual showed the heart of a lion to win it.
Salute to Manual as they walk out of the joint winners and you can stop me when I start lyin’!
Playas Thesaurus:
1) Dun: noun – the person in question, dude, guy, etc. It’s whoever I’m talkin’ about and its non-gender specific.
2) Ole boy: noun – the person that I’m currently talkin’ about.
The G is excluded from the endings of all words because the G is near and dear to my heart because I’m from “The G” which is Gary, Indiana. So I only use the G when I’m talkin’ about “The G!”
The caption under the photo isn’t real but its real talk!