 |
|
| Saturday, November 30 Power outage shuts down season opener for James Associated Press |
||||||||||
|
AKRON, Ohio -- LeBron James can shoot the lights out -- but not with the lights out.
James, widely acknowledged as the best high school basketball player in the country, and his Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary teammates had their season opener cut short by a power outage Saturday night.
The Division II Fighting Irish were up 45-10 over Wellston, a Division III school from southern Ohio, with 47 seconds left in the first half when the lights went out.
''It's very disappointing,'' coach Dru Joyce said when the game was suspended after a 45-minute wait.
''I honestly want to finish. I'm willing to sit here two or three hours to do so, but the power company said something about a five-hour wait.''
Referee Steve Blankenship said the decision to suspend the game was an agreement between athletic directors and coaches from both schools. The schools must decide whether to pick up the game or leave it unplayed, he said. Joyce said school officials discussed trying to resume the game sometime in Columbus.
Players from both teams were unavailable for comment as authorities tried to clear the standing-room-only crowd from the 1,700-seat gym.
FirstEnergy Corp., the utility serving northeast Ohio, said about 500 customers were without power, but the cause was not yet known. Fans braved up to six inches of snow to see the nationally ranked Irish play one of only two games scheduled in their own gym this season.
The school will play nine games at the nearby University of Akron, two at Cleveland State and have a coast-to-coast road schedule against the best prep schools in the nation.
Resuming the Wellston game in Columbus could come in conjunction with St. Vincent-St. Mary appearance at Ohio State on Dec. 28 to face Columbus Brookhaven, but would add to the club's heavy load.
The reason for the packed schedule is James, a 6-foot-8 senior who already has two state titles, two Ohio Mr. Basketball awards and a Sports Illustrated cover.
Before the blackout, which also affected a pay-per-view cable audience in 14 Ohio counties, James stood as a man above boys without breaking a sweat.
In about an 80-second stretch in the first quarter, James:
The show continued early in the second quarter, when he swished another 3 to make it 31-7. Just 55 seconds later, a rim-rattling right-handed slam made it 39-7.
Senior Romeo Travis, a 6-foot-6 center already committed to play for Akron, was the game's leading scorer at the time of the blackout, while James had 11 points. Travis was at the foul line, shooting for his 16th point, when the lights flickered as he released the ball.
''No, it wasn't good,'' Blankenship said. ''We know that much. After that, we were all pretty much guessing as to what to do.'' |
| |||||||||
