Red Cloud’s Heart Breaks in Three

RCHS Basketball. Photo courtesy of Red Cloud Indian School.

Red Cloud’s Heart Breaks in Three

By Shawnta` Jones ‘14

First- Alliance by one at the buzzer.

Next- Eagle Butte by two.

Lastly- Todd County by seven. 

Three heartbreaking losses in just four days. 

The Crusaders woke up Saturday morning 7-2 and by Monday evening they were 7-5 because of a three game losing streak.

Against Alliance, Red Cloud had a five point lead with a minute and a half left of the game, but had four missed free throws and consistent turnovers. Alliance's shooting guard made a buzzer beater three to shock the Crusaders and their stunned fans. Kobey O’Rourke led the Crusaders with 32 points but was still not enough. 

“We probably should’ve beat them,” said head coach Christian McGhee. “We missed free throws. We didn’t box out. We didn’t do the little things that we were supposed to do.”

Next, the Crusaders traveled all the way to Eagle Butte and came into the game with a 7-3 record. Eagle Butte recently had an impressive win 85-81 over the Dell Rapids. Red Cloud had faced the Braves at LNI in a close game but lost with the score of 71-79. This was another nail biting loss. “We could’ve played better defense and talked more on the court. We definitely didn’t play to the best of our abilities,” said forward Kobey O’Rourke. “I plan to start being a leader and to get my teammates going and motivated.” 

“Against Eagle Butte, I felt like we did good because they are highly ranked in the state and we go to their place and only lose by two,” said McGhee. “I think that’s an improvement from what we did at LNI.”

Lastly, the Crusaders fell to the Todd County Falcons by seven points on Tuesday with the final score of 71-78. Todd County scored layup after layup during the game and also shot well from the foul line. A factor for Red Cloud's sluggish play could’ve possibly been getting home from the Eagle Butte game the night before at 1:30 am. This game added on to their heartbreak of their losing streak.

“I know we were tired coming back late from the game and everything. But these kids are 15, 16, 17, 18 years old kids. They should be ready to go at any time. We only have 20 games a year, but that’s partially my fault for not getting them motivated and not having them ready,” said McGhee about the TC game.

The Crusaders plan to go over film, work harder everyday, and to be ready for future games.

“My plan is to take it game by game, and to not think way ahead. I want to take it one day at a time and one game at time,” said McGhee. “So right now we're just focusing on Custer, which is who we play on Saturday. We’re not looking past anything else. In the end we just hope to meet our ultimate goal. I mean, we know we can play with everybody. We just have to get ready for the end of the year.”