Oregon-Davis Awash in Joy
HAMLET - The Streak is over!
The 56-game losing streak of the Oregon-Davis boys basketball program was pronounced dead around 9:20 p.m. Thursday night in the Bobcat Den.
The Bobcats 59-50 Northland Conference victory over Michigan City Marquette touched off a celebration unseen at Oregon-Davis High School for many years.
Not since a 41-37 victory over Culver Community in the 2000 Culver Sectional has an Oregon-Davis team savored the sweet smell of victory. And this was a win the Bobcats truly deserved.
�I don�t think after we played Culver there was a whole lot of people that thought that we could win this year,� an elated Bobcats coach Travis Hannah said as the celebration inside and outside the Bobcats lockerroom could be heard. �We�ve believed in each other all year long.�
Oregon-Davis was knocking on the door to top two of Indiana�s longest losing streaks of all time; Lowell�s 62 games and Jackson Township�s 65 losses set in the 1950�s.
But players involved with those Jackson Township teams will have to live with the indignity of knowing their streak remains the standard for losing in Indiana basketball.
The Bobcats triumph was more than outscoring an opponent, grabbing more rebounds, or dishing out more assists. Rather, it was a group of players that worked hard throughout the season and never wavered from the hope that one day this losing streak would end.
�I told them how proud I was,� Hannah said of his post game talk. �This is an exciting thing. We talked about enthusiasm breeding success. This is fun and this is what it is about right here.�
No one enjoyed the moment more than senior Casey Krulik. Krulik experienced just the second win of his entire basketball career, elementary, junior high or high school.
�It�s good for the community that we finally broke the streak,� Krulik said. �Hopefully, this will put us back on the map.�
Both Krulik and Hannah, who hugged near the bench in the game�s closing seconds, shared the emotion of winning.
�He worked with us during the summer,� Krulik said of Hannah. �That is what got us to win this game.�
�That kid hasn�t won a basketball game since he was in sixth grade,� Hannah said of Krulik. �So for him, it was a nice way to finish off his senior year. But we�ve still got four games left.�
One thing Oregon-Davis had that really spelled the difference Thursday night was its ability to play with confidence.
When Marquette shots weren�t dropping, doubt began. Every made Bobcat basket not only gave the players confidence, but energized the small, vocal crowd.
�We talked before the game that in the late 80�s and early 90�s, that�s the way it was here,� Hannah said. �People hated to come here and play. The crowd was a huge factor, there�s no doubt. But I�m not going to question our community because they�ve been behind us all year long. With the exception of Christmas Break and the (Northland) Conference Tournament, we�ve had pretty good crowds here. They know basketball.�
Sophomore Seth Dickson said the crowd played a huge role.
�The crowd helped us the whole game,� Dickson said. �They got us jumped up and I think this is a new beginning. We�ve got eighth graders coming up next year and we�ll be better than what we are right now.�
Oregon-Davis enjoyed the fruits of its success in the first half and built a 31-20 lead, but Hannah didn�t let up.
�I was still ticked off about a few things,� he said. �It�s nice going in when you have a cushion, especially when you have kids that haven�t won. And you hate to get into a real tight game down the stretch where kids haven�t won before, and that might not be the greatest. But to have that cushion kind of paid off for us.�
The Bobcats had a 17-point lead at one point in the third quarter before the Blazers made a move and got the lead to eight in the final minute. But when O-D had the game won, chants of �Warm up the bus� echoed through the gym, an unheard of thing for the longest time in northern Starke County.
�To me, this closes a chapter of Oregon-Davis basketball,� Hannah said. �I�m glad it�s over. I�m still 1-15 this year.�
A classy Marquette coach Eric Simpson praised the Bobcats.
�No one died,� Simpson said. �We�re certainly not feeling good about the situation. But in a sense, you�ve got to be happy for Oregon-Davis. They played well and were the better team. Travis is an excellent coach. We didn�t want it to happen to us, but we�re glad that they�re out of the situation that they were in.�
Simpson then proceeded to let his views be known on a recent article that ran on the front page of a local newspaper detailing the losing streak.
�As an Athletic Director, I�ve been extremely disappointed in some of the coverage,� he said. �Much has been made about those guys and losing games. And that�s not necessarily what it is about at this level. We try to work as hard as we can to tell them that this is more than basketball. And it�s more than wins and losses.
�And when the local press wants to remind these guys about wins and losses, that�s not a good situation for young men,� he said. �I�m glad that it is over for them and I wish these people around the kids would be less focused on the wins and losses.�
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