Dwyane Wade, Dwight Howard highlight Gatorade REPLAY series
A. Isaac Thousands of fans packed St. Xavier University in Chicago Friday night to watch the Brother Rice Crusaders and the Bloom Township Blazing Trojans battle in the Gatorade REPLAY Series. Most probably came because of the star power in attendance. Dwyane Wade would be coaching the Bloom squad, Dwight Howard the Brother Rice team, and new Bulls forward Carlos Boozer would serve as REPLAY commissioner.
Whatever the fan’s reasons for coming though, is irrelevant. Because in the end, they were treated to a high-intense, entertaining game of basketball.
The story for this rivalry started ten years ago. Bloom defeated Brother Rice on a controversial basket late. The Bloom folks will tell you there was a tenth of a second left on the clock. The Brother Rice people will say time expired.
You can make the call yourself in the video below.
So ten years later, the blood still boiled between these two schools. Players from the game were asked to come back and participate in a eight week training regimen to prepare themselves for the rigors of the contest. And most jumped at the chance. Two of the players, Sidney Bloom and Joe Chapman, were already in basketball shape as they play professionally in Europe. But for some of the others, the training was needed.
When the game started, I’ll be frank in saying my expectations were low. I’ve watched a fair number of amateur basketball over the years and most turn out to be rather ugly affairs riddled with turnovers.
But that was not the case here.
Ten years after being embroiled in a low scoring 42-40 affair, the teams came out on fire. Some of us who were observing wondered if they could keep the blistering pace going. Our questions were answered when early in the 3rd quarter the score was in the 60s.
After trailing by as much as 17, Bloom staged an incredible comeback sparked by the aforementioned Chapman. They took a five point lead into the final quarter but ran out of gas. Led by Brother Rice’s Sidney Holmes massive double-double (22 pts, 18 rebs), the Crusaders were able to pull away late.
The intensity in the late stages of this game was incredible. On two separate occasions, honorary coaches Dwyane Wade and Dwight Howard argued vehemently with the officials. Wade was even seen imploring his team to keep up the defense by slapping the floor on the sidelines.
But in the end, Brother Rice’s size underneath proved too much. Fittingly, center Sidney Holmes was given the MVP award.
I asked REPLAY commissioner Carlos Boozer after the game to give us his overall impression of the contest.
“Unbelievable man, I’m gonna tell you–after 10 years, I wasn’t expecting these athletes to be in the kind of shape they were in. That threw me off, threw me for a loop a little bit because they were both so intense, so competitive, it was a close game”.
In the press conference afterwards, both teams joked that the score was now 1-1 so a tiebreaker was definitely needed.
“Maybe we’ll have REPLAY 11 in another 10 years”, one player joked. Well, if you do fellas, let this guy know. It may not be as competitive as it was Friday but it will sure be entertaining.
We’d like to thank the fine folks at Gatorade for sponsoring the trip and allowing us time to interview the athletes involved.
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