Rewind to Feburary 1st, 2007. It was a cold winter night, and I just wanted to watch some basketball. I went with a friend of mine to watch Eric Gordon and his North Central team play Loyola Academy, which featured Michael Jordan's sons Jeff and Marcus. Gordon was a consensus top 5 recruit that was headed to Indiana University the following season. The game was televised nationally on ESPN2. The game was such a big deal that my friend and I had to scalp tickets outside the school for double the ticket price.
The game started off with to a fast pace, with both teams trading buckets and keeping it close at the 1st quarter break. I can't remember the score exactly, but I know neither team had more than a 4 point lead at the end of the 1st quarter. Eric Goron led North Central with 17 points after the 1st quarter. The second quarter was a much different story as North Central raced out to a 50 -27 lead at halftime. The game went on the be a huge blowout, with North Central defeating Loyola Academy 88-47, but the story of the night was Gordon's performance.
Eric Gordon finished the game with 43 points, and was scoring from all over the court. On two straight possessions he hit NBA range 3-pointers, foreshadowing to his future career. He drove to the basket with power all game long, scoring at will in the paint using his strength and ball-handling. In the 3rd quarter he capped off his performance by stealing a pass and running down the open floor to throw down a reverse dunk. The way he dominated his competition on national TV was extremely impressive, and a game I won't forget.
Here's a SportsCenter recap of what he did that night:
No comments:
Post a Comment