WINGATE— When the two best teams in a league face off, the players are usually so even that the outcome comes down to who gets the breaks.
Catawba College’s men’s basketball team got a break in its South Atlantic Conference showdown at Wingate Wednesday night — it just wasn’t the one the Indians wanted.
In a horrifying accident in the early minutes, Catawba’s Terrence Hamilton drove to the hoop and crashed to the floor with a fractured leg.
It ended the 6-foot-6 star’s year and ended any hope of Catawba winning the game. The Indians played in a daze from that point on and were routed in Cuddy Arena 104-68.
“Mama said there would be days like this,” sighed Catawba coach Jim Baker. “We played poorly, what can you say? I’m disappointed and I’m sure everybody in that locker room is disappointed. But you can’t take it personally. You learn from it.”
Wingate (13-1, 3-1 and ranked eighth in the country) played with such abandon in front of their raucous “Cuddy Crazies” that Hamilton’s presence may not have helped the Indians anyway. But the scary finish to his season haunted his teammates.
Wingate surged out to a quick 11-2 lead when Hamilton drove with 15:32 left in the first half. He hit the floor with a thud and didn’t get up. Twenty-five minutes later, he was taken off the floor on a stretcher, slapping five with his teammates as he was rolled away.
“It’s sad,” said Baker. “Terrence is such a good kid. It’s no-sir, yes-sir. He says his prayers every night. He wants to do right.”
Baker tried to keep his players from walking over to Hamilton. The bone was sticking out of his leg. It was a gruesome sight.
“It turned my stomach,” Baker said.
“I saw his leg all crooked and twisted and I lost it,” said teammate Ned Gusic, who immediately charged an official and was tagged with a technical foul. “It was terrible. I think we lost our edge after that.”
When play resumed, so did the Wingate bombing. The 11-2 lead quickly went to 23-3.
“When (Hamilton) got hurt, it changed the complexion of the game,” said Wingate coach Parker Leketa. “Itold my guys, ‘This can’t change our momentum.’ We had a run going before the injury and after that terrible incident, we put another one together. It was the difference in the game, really.”
Gusic composed himself somewhat and along with freshman Duke Phipps, did lead Catawba back to within 41-27 at halftime so there was a glimmer of hope. And that was despite shooting just 35 percent from the field and missing 7-of-10 free throws.
“We missed all those shots and had one of the best players in the league out and were still only down 14,” Gusic said. “That was encouraging.”
Baker knew what his job was at halftime.
“There was nothing much he could say,” Gusic shrugged. “He tried to cheer us up. We all had Terrence on our minds.”
And when Bryan Carter slammed home a dunk off a feed from Tevon Raikes to start the second half, a comeback seemed possible.
Nope.
Wingate quickly upped the lead to 19 at 62-43 and then ran off a 12-0 surge as the lead reached 30.
“We just couldn’t make any plays,” Baker said. “It seemed everything bounced their way.”
Just as Baker thought it couldn’t get any worse, his 6-foot-10 center Alex Luyk, who leads the SAC in blocked shots, went up for a rebound at the 10-minute mark and came down clutching his right knee. He limped out of Cuddy on crutches.
“We think his kneecap came out,” explained Baker. “But I think Alex will be OK. Terrence is out for the year. Doctors said he probably needs surgery.”
Leketa was stunned by the margin of victory and said he never expected anything like this. And as a coach, he wants to win with the best players on the floor.
“(Hamilton) is such a great athlete,” Leketa said. “He’s powerful, he’s quick, he can play defense and he can rebound. He was our biggest worry coming in. I hate it for him. It changed the game.”
Changes must be made and Baker sees Bryan Carter taking over for Hamilton. And neither coach thinks Catawba (12-2, 3-1) is going down the tubes. The Indians are simply too talented.
Wingate has lost once in the league already, that at Presbyterian.
“We’re still in first place and we’re 12-2,” noted Baker, whose team was rated fifth in the South Region and 25th in the nation. “We’re a good basketball team.”
Leketa agreed.
“Bryan Carter will take over for them,” he said. “They’ll bounce back.”
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NOTES: Catawba was outrebounded 33-18 in the first half ... Seven Bulldogs had at least eight points. ... Phipps played 27 minutes and led the Indians with 16. Gusic had 15. ... Wingate hit Catawba with lithe athletes like Sun Valley’s Jonathan Tyson (20 points, 10 rebounds) Titus Miller (16 points) Keenan Dunn (13), and Lorenza Harrington (12). Even burly Trey Raley, who looks like a candidate for an XFL offensive line spot, was 3-for-3 on 3s off the bench. “They just kept bombing,” said Baker, shaking his head. “I kept waiting for them to cool off.” ... Catawba is home Saturday to face Newberry.
CATAWBA (68) — Hamilton, Raikes 8, Luyk 3, Gusic 15, Robertson, Whitehead, Bryant, Phipps 16, Jernigan, Parker 1, Parks 2, Carter 8, Petty 8, Hagaman 4, Everett 3.
WINGATE (104) — Dunn 13, Tyson 20, Bah 2, Harrington 12, Hankins 8, Miller 16, Vandergrift 2, Raley 9, Daise 8, West 3, Thompson 5, Curran 6.
Catawba 27 41 — 68
Wingate 41 63 — 104
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