City of Basketball Love

Michael Bullock (@thebullp_n)
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HERSHEY — Standing in a Giant Center hallway 12 months ago, filled with disappointment and undoubtedly wanting to leave and head for home, Jassir Jordan handled his difficult business and answered every single question.

Same thing happened in December to Jordan and his Aliquippa teammates, all of whom went through a similar post-game experience following another tough loss.

Whether with his basketball-playing buddies or milling about with the guys he played football with, no one would have blamed Jordan if he mentioned that Hershey was not one of his favorite places to spend time in and visit — even briefly.

Until Saturday.

Finally coming out on top — following consecutive losses in state finals in different sports — the 5-11 Jordan certainly was enjoying the vastly different emotions he was experiencing following Aliquippa’s satisfying 68-49 victory over Mastery Charter North in the PIAA’s Class AA basketball championship game.

Significantly different emotions than Jordan experienced last year in that sullen Giant Center hallway following the Quips’ 62-51 loss to Conwell-Egan.

And significantly different emotions than Jordan felt in mid-December following the 49-14 setback Aliquippa was dealt by Southern Columbia at Hersheypark Stadium — the concrete edifice parked just across the parking lot from Giant Center.

“It’s great,” admitted Jordan, who rang up 22 points and dished out seven assists in Saturday’s final. “[When I was here last year and in December] we were crying both times and we had to come and talk and now we just won a championship.

“It’s great. It’s not too much to say, but we’re so glad we won.”

And the Quips (30-0) were determined to prevail.

Going home yet again without those gold medals would be unacceptable.

“Aliquippa, we’re about winning,” Jordan said. “We have so much pride. I can say that we hate losing more than we love winning. It just makes you want to win so much. That’s what we talked about when we lost.

“We just wanted to come back here and redeem ourselves and win,” Jordan continued. “Coming into this game, there was so much seriousness. We came down here on a business trip. It wasn’t a vacation or anything like that, we just wanted to win so much.

“The seniors got together last night — me, Chucky [Humphries], Sheldon [Jeter] and Kaezon [Pugh] — and had a long talk. We knew we had to come here on business and win this thing. Not only for us, but for everybody.”

Business trip or not — and barely bothered by pre-game anxieties — the Quips were remarkably content when they finally wandered back into Giant Center early Saturday afternoon and grabbed seats in the 11,000-seat arena.

“We were very comfortable,” Jordan continued. “One thing I can say is when we got here before the game to watch the girls’ game, Sheldon looked out on the court and said, ‘Was the lights brighter last year or different?’

“I said, ‘No, we played here before and you’re used to it.’” Jordan added. “I told him, ‘It’s the same thing and the fact that we played here before.’ You know coming in here that we just want to win we don’t want to lose. So we had to act like it.”

And they did just that.

Up 25-22 at the break — and leading 33-28 several minutes later — Nick Lackovich’s explosive Quips promptly embarked on a 15-4 run that opened things up.

Jordan, in fact, collected nine consecutive points during that pivotal stretch.

A short time later, that long-awaited championship trophy was being passed around Aliquippa’s much-happier basketball-playing bunch.

“It’s heartbreaking when you lose,” said Jeter, who also banked 22 points. “To come all this way and you lose — and now we know what it feel like to win.

“Our last time doing it and we went out with the gold.”