Each game this season when Alyssa Ervin and Furman University played, I block off two hours to watch along and in each case I have no idea where the story I will write after will take me.

Saturday afternoon the Paladins headed into Greensboro to face the Spartans. UNC – G currently sits seventh in the league of eight and Furman handled them at home  earlier in the season. But you cannot afford to overlook any team that is playing Division 1 Hoops, especially if they are in your league.

  Then three things happened inside of the first five minutes of play that quickly had me nervous about the outcome.

#1 – The Senior Day crowd is really into the game and this will challenge the Paladins.

#2 – Lauren Bailey is whistled for a foul and on the play the 5’8 guard crumbles to the floor. Bailey and Alyssa Ervin are the two 3-ball threats for Head Coach Pierre Curtis and the Greenville, Tennessee native contributes start to finish in a number of ways. Thoughts and Prayers for her and her family 👪 during her recovery 🙏.

#3 – The Spartans scored the first 13 points of the game.

At that point you start thinking about how to write ✍ about one that got away.

As fast as they gave up 13 points, they managed to get them back. Now its about overcoming a slow 🐌 start and crusing to an expected victory.

UNC – G regained control again and took a 31 – 24 lead into the halftime break.

Once again, Curtis pushed all the right buttons during his halftime chat as Furman dropped 25 points over the next 10 minutes of action 🎬….Leading 49-44, all that stood between the team and another SoCon victory was 10:00 more

The suddenly red hot Buccaneers handed league leading UT – Chattanooga its second loss in the last stretch on Saturday but for the Paladins to take advantage, they needed to take care of business themselves.

Tied up at 59 – 59, Furman needed a basket 🧺, badly. On a day where Coyle had dominated the lane and Ervin had only made 1 3-pointer……

The terminology used is from the Logo and that might be stretching it but ESPN logged it as a 26 footer. That is JJ or Steph range and it found the bottom of the net !

Just like that it was 62 – 59 and 96 seconds later the Tar Heel sweep was officially in the books 📚!

On a night when you have taken just six shots over 38+ minutes, it takes a little somethin – somethin to want the ball in your hands with the game on the line.

Late Game Ervin Magic indeed has somethin – somethin but heck, those who have watched her for years now, that’s hardly Breaking News.

Thursday night is only four days away !

Carroll County High School 🏫 graduate 🎓 and All – Time Boys leading scorer, Bryce Smoot had himself a Day this past Saturday and both our Family 👪 and his simply could not be prouder / happier for him !

For those of you that don’t know the story, I get to do one of my favorite things by sharing my space with someone else’s words.

Russell Smoot – pen 🖊 to paper,

Hey Jerry!
How are you feeling buddy? I really hope to see you soon!
I was gonna give you a little run down of the path which has taken place before today.
It starts off with pre season practice! Both Bryce and Brayden feel good about pre season workouts and the first couple of weeks of practice! They both felt as if they were competing with the team and showing their talents. Bryce in particular really felt that his shot had never felt better!
The beginning starts with the heartbreak of the first two pre season scrimmages! Much to the boys surprise, both of them did not see the any during the first two scrimmages! They couldn’t understand why with the first two scrimmages and the coach seeing what his players on the team could do, Why did he not give them a chance to show what they could do? These were pre season scrimmages and they didn’t get a chance to play! Feelings were hurt but it was time to just show the coach what they could do! They both felt like they were at least in the upper half of the team. as far as talent. Even the manager of the team was asked between two of the starting guards who he thought was the better shooter! Out of no where and to their surprise, he replies that Bryce Smoot was the best shooter on the team???? What??? Thats what he said!! However it was not going very good.

    As a matter of fact, there were 17 players on the team and the coach stopped letting either one of the boys to participate when they scrimmaged each other?? They went through drills, conditioning, but when it came time for team scrimmaging each other, they were put in the third team and coach did not even let them scrimmage each other??
Brayden made a choice that it was time to move on and just focus on his studies. Bryce had to show that he belonged. Bryce did extremely well in practice. there were times when he would tell me, Dad I have never shot better in my life. I don’t think I can do any better, but the first game the team won by 20+ points and he did not see the floor for one second!!

    This was true for the next three games?? He finally got some clean up time when they were either up by 25 or more, or down 25 or more with just a couple of minutes left in the game! He finally got a total of 2 and a 1/2 minutes in a game. That game we sent you his first 4 points scored at college level, but it was literally right when he came in he scored back to back buckets! He was quickly taken out and did not go back in. Still keeping his head up because he was able to contribute two baskets he thought he might get more opportunities. This was not the case. As a matter of fact, the next time he got to play he was actually the very last of sixteen players to go in!! This continued on.

   The assistant coach tried to keep his spirits up and would tell him to just keep working hard, that his hustle did not go unnoticed. It did not have any effect on more playing time. Shortly his assistant coach told the team that he would be offering morning drills before practice for any one trying to up their game. Bryce went to every morning pre practice workout with him. Most of the time it was only him and two other guys. Bryce said he would train them hard and they would be worn out before official practice would begin.

    He still was if not the exact last player to go in on a blow out, then he was next to last to go in! He just kept going to the pre workouts and eventually the assistant coach started handling the team scrimmages! The assistant coach did not break the team up into first team-second team-and third team, he mixed up the line ups and let them fight it out! Bryce was doing very well, scoring as much as anyone in the team.

   However, it did not result in any more playing time. As a matter of fact, when he hit a deep three pointer and got fouled, the coach would scream at the defender!! When he would get a steal against the starters, the coach would yell at the offense for not taking care of the ball. Never acknowledged Bryce! It was tough.

   Anyways one player became ineligible for grades, one got hurt, and one quit!?That left 14 players. Bryce finally started to see 5 to 6 minutes a game, but it was split up into 1-2 minutes at a time. As soon as the blood got running through his legs he came out. It did not matter if he scored, dive on the floor for a loose rebound, or snagged the rebound out of a 6 foot 6 player on the other team. He only got two minutes at a time. Mostly after game was decided. Still a couple of minutes was sure better than zero minutes so he Kept scrapping for time. He just began hitting shots and scoring 6-8 points a game even the most he got was around 4 minutes. He would still average more than a few starters who played 30-35 minutes a game.

     Fast forward and Bryce out of no where started to be the first or second guard off the bench! He hit a double figure game, however even though he was second guard to come in, he still never saw more than 6-7 minutes. Fast forward to last Friday. The team left for Virginia Beach to play a three game tournament. First game he hit a deep fading away three and had an and 1, finishing two for two with 6 points only taking two shots. Yesterday he was the first sub to come in. It actually mattered because it was in the first few minutes.

      The team got off to a bad start and was down 11. Bryce hit a three and a fast break layup, before you knew it m, the team went up 26-25. Bryce came out and did not go back in the first half. The second half the other team had extended there lead to 17 and Bryce got in again. He got hot! He hit three deep threes and got fouled on one and made 2 out of three foul shots bringing the team within 5 points with a serious shot of winning.

    Bryce ended up leading the team in scoring with 16 points for the game. 4 for 6 from the three point line with a transition layup and two foul shots. He got about 11 minutes and made the most of it!!

Thanks Jerry, you mean a lot to our family!

Russ, I know that good things come to those who wait ✋ and God Bless you and Mama Smoot 🙏 for raising your Children that very thing !