 I asked my wife, Carolyn, if she wanted to go out on a date, like
the old days, when our son, Nathan, was a Railer. We could catch the
Railer game and then get a pizza. I reminded her we could sit across
from the pep band and watch the pageantry.I had circled this game
on my calendar when the schedule came out. Lanphier fans were
always, let's say, enthusiastic, and I also wanted to get a look at
their highly touted freshman.
Boy, were we in for a treat!
As I found a parking spot at the end of the lot, I thought,
"pretty good crowd tonight."
I stopped to buy a couple of 50-50 tickets, and when the person
in front of me threw down a $5 for six tickets, I thought, "why
not," and did the same. It turned out the fourth ticket was the
chosen one, one of the three I handed to Carolyn on the way up the
steps. When her number was called, I said, "You're buying the
pizza!" I had an inkling the night was going to be special.
We sat on the very top row, at the center-court line, with the
wall as our backrest, and took it all in. The sophomores made a
comeback win, and I thought, "Nice. Good start."
(This is all from memory. Don't confuse me with the details. This
is my date.)
Jordan Nelson made his first shot from the corner, a beautiful 3.
I said my first quiet "wow." But I think that was it for the
quarter. He may have gotten another bucket, but I remember him
missing his next four or five shots and ending the first quarter
with three or five.
I said to Carolyn: "He is our leading scorer. If we're going to
win this game, he needs to get at least to 20."
My next "wow" moments were from Nathaniel Smith, the way he went
to the hoop and finished at the rim. This was a high-scoring,
offensive game, and he was keeping the Railers in it. Our team
trailed by three at the half. Jordan had a decent second quarter,
but nothing to write to you about.
The real fun started about halfway through the third quarter when
Nathaniel got his fourth foul and reluctantly went to the bench.
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Then the tide turned. It has been a long time since I have seen a
high school player take over a game the way Jordan did. He was in a
zone. He made everything. Wow. Wow. Wow.
When he finally missed a shot, a well-guarded 3 that just bounced
away, I could see the disappointment in his face.
I looked across to the scoreboard and noted his point total at
31. I said to Carolyn, "Can you believe it?" What a performance.
He stuck at 31 for quite awhile. Nathaniel came back into the
game and started contributing again. But Lanphier kept coming back
and narrowed a 12-point lead to five.
That's when reality started to look like fiction. In the last
four minutes, everything went Jordan's way again. Free throws. A 3.
Layups. Everything. Wow. Wow. Wow.
When he got to 40 with under two minutes left, the young man in
front of me, said: "The record is 44!"
Can he do it? Yes, he can. It was one of those really special
nights in a long history of Railer special nights: Jordan Nelson put
up 48! WOW!
I read the next morning over a piece of leftover pizza that
Jordan broke the Railer single-game scoring record of 44, held by
Chuck Verderber, unmatched for over 43 years, until Feb. 4, 2011.
Jordan Nelson, all I can say is: "Wow, 48! Thank you for a
great date!"
The pizza was pretty good, too. Thank you, Carolyn, for buying.
[By BRAD NEAL]
Game report
posted Saturday in LDN
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