For the third year in a row, the Westside staff is victorious over the Westside students. In the closest students vs. staff basketball game during that three-year stretch, the student team, made up of senior boys and girls, fell just short of ending the staffs’ victory streak.

In a game of four eight-minute quarters — with girls playing quarters one and three and boys playing quarters two and four — the female staff set the male staff up with a 13-7 lead after one quarter of play. Led by Assistant Principal Trudi Nolin, a former basketball standout at Doane College, the female teachers established a post presence and found their way to easy buckets in the paint.

In the second quarter, though, the senior boys found their three-point strokes, and rode the ball handling and passing skills of Graham Cahill to a lead. The senior boys’ scoring was opened up by a Tom Kutilek three-point shot, and things only heated up from there. Kieran Carter, Max Petersen and Jacob Andrews each chipped in points in the quarter while Cahill led the team with six points in the quarter.

While the game was filled with laughter-inducing moments, one of the highlights of the game was a minor skirmish between senior basketball player Reece Watanabe and social studies instructor Jon Preister. After Watanabe fell to the ground after a rebound, he says the heat of the moment took over, and it ended with one of Preister’s shoes being removed and thrown off the court.

“When on the ground I [saw] a foot being barbarically swung in my direction,” Watanabe said. “Instinctively, I stuck my arms out, and when my arms connected with the foot, my hand got tangled in the mess. As Preister tried to wiggle his kicked leg out of the entanglement, his shoe happened to slip off in my arms. From that point, I was just determined to get back in the game. I proceeded to stand up and throw the shoe, not knowing what the random object was in the heat of the moment.”

The seniors went into the half leading 24-19. In the third quarter, the female staff stormed back. While senior Clair Selby was able to hold Nolin, a traditional powerhouse for the staff, mostly in check, coming up with numerous steals, other staff members found ways to score. The senior girls, meanwhile, were held to only four points in the quarter. The four points were enough to keep the lead for the fourth quarter, which the senior boys started off with a 28-26 lead.

In the fourth quarter, the male staff members dominated for the first six minutes, taking a 42-30 lead with two minutes remaining as business instructor Brad Metzler took over the game for the staff, passing, scoring and ramping up his ball pressure on defense to lead his team. While things were looking bleak for the students, the game was not over. Cahill took over for the students, scoring seven points and coming up with an assist on a Petersen three-point shot to get the students within two with 26.7 seconds remaining.

The students fouled the teachers, putting math instructor Andrew Easton on the line. Easton made his first shot, although a lane violation was originally called. Confusion ensued, as referee and social studies instructor Otis Seals reversed the call and gave the staff the point, making the score 43-40, although the students seemed unaware of the reversal.

On the other end, the students tried to get a shot off before Anthony Boone was fouled with under four seconds remaining. When Boone was awarded two shots, the students realized the score was, in fact, 43-40. Boone missed his first free throw before purposely throwing his second shot off the rim to try to give the students a chance to shoot a three-point shot to tie the game, but the ball fell into the hands of a teacher.

On top of the heated basketball action in the fourth quarter, students were given another comedic relief by senior Luis Torres.

While the students were pressing the staff, hall supervisor Waverly Jones set a pick on Torres. Torres proceeded to flop violently, in what has been dubbed by many in attendance and on the teams one of the most impressive flops ever. Torres threw himself backward in an effort to get a foul called, but the referees saw the play as clean.

“The refs weren’t calling any fouls, and I wanted to see if they would’ve called what could have been the biggest call of the game,” Torres said.

Proceeds from the event, which had a $3 entry fee, go to Westside cheerleading.