BW Staff edges out EMS, takes championship

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Joel Mease
  • 7th Bomb Wing Public Affairs
DYESS AIR FORCE BASE, Texas --  The 7th Bomb Wing Staff defeated the 7th Equipment Maintenance Squadron 54 - 48 March 20 in the 2007 Over-30 Intramural Basketball Championship.

The 7th EMS only lead of the game was by a 4-point margin early in the first half. 7th BW Staff's Hewitt Cox, who led the team with 18 points, kept the 7th EMS from regaining control of the ball game. 

"They found a way to double-team me in the second half, but it just opened up our other players to get some key buckets down the stretch," Cox said. "We really needed that shift on defense to keep our lead."
 
The 7th EMS kept the score close the entire game, only allowing the 7th BW Staff's lead to grow to a 9-point lead on two separate occasions. 

In the closing minute of the first half, it looked as if the 7th BW Staff was going to put up their largest lead of the evening, but 7th EMS's John Schoettelkotte hit two 3-point shots one of them in the final seconds to end the half with 7th BW Staff in front 29 - 24. 

At halftime, 7th BW Staff's Jermaine Parrish said his team wasn't playing up to its potential. He also added that he planned to keep employing a 2-1-2 defense to prevent the 7th EMS from attacking the basket. 

Their plan worked for most of the time in the second half as the 7th BW Staff was able to stretch their lead to 8 points based on the timely shooting of Tim "Kee" Keawmanee. Kee put up 11 second-half points with 9 of them coming on three 3-point shots. 

In spite of Cox and Kee's best efforts, the 7th BW Staff was not able to put 7th EMS completely away as Eric Johnson and his maintainers made a last minute charge that nearly sent the game to overtime. 

Down by 7 points and only 30 seconds left to play, Johnson hit a quick lay up to pull within 5 points. After Parrish missed his free throw attempt, 7th EMS's Erik Reed hit a quick bucket and was fouled on the shot. Reed missed his free throw opportunity, but he had pulled the game 3 three points. Despite their late charge, the maintainers were unable to retake the lead. The 7th BW Staff was able to make their free throw attempts to pull the game away in the final seconds of play. 

"I really thought (7th EMS) was the team to beat all year," Parrish said. "We were able to come up with the shots when we needed them the most to pull this one out."
The 7th EMS agreed that the 7th BW Staff put up the shots when they needed to and played a great game. 

"The Bomb Wing played a heck of a game," Johnson said. "We really had the potential with our guys to win this championship. They are a great group, and I am proud of what they were able to accomplish this year." 

For some players like Randall Gardner, winning the championship was extra special. 

"It's a great experience to get this just before I leave Dyess," Gardner said. "I had never been able to experience this in my entire career, so I couldn't think of any better way of leaving Dyess then by being a part of this team." 

Parrish maintains that the 7th BW Staff was on a mission from the very start, and they plan to defend their crown at the start of next season's league play.