It’s safe to say that the Highland boys basketball team isn’t the same powerhouse that it was in the 2023-24 season. Or at least it didn’t look like it when they played a preseason exhibition game against the Utah Rush on September 26, which ended in a lopsided 60-19 loss.
But, there was a unique twist that could be the reason the Rams struggled so much during the contest.
“It was tough with the wheelchair. There are so many extra elements. You have to do the hand movements right so you can turn,” Highland junior Ben Richards said. “Thinking about all that you can forget about basketball strategy”
That’s right, the game was played in wheelchairs.
When asked about the adjustment of playing in a wheelchair, Highland junior Grady Lee was very passionate about the new level of difficulty.
“Yes! Yes it was! It was very hard to adjust,” Lee said.
The Utah Rush is the beehive state’s own Junior National Wheelchair basketball team. Their season consists of tournaments all over the country that span roughly six months. Last year, in the national championship tournament, the Rush finished No. 8 in the nation.
The Rams were simply playing a team outside of their league, which was evident from the look of the teams as they were warming up. This explains why the Highland faithful began cheering for the visiting team instead of the home boys before the game even started. After the Rush won the tipoff, it was all downhill for the Rams from there. The Rush sliced straight through the Highland defense for bucket after bucket.
Among the Rushes top scorers was Highland’s own senior Travis Carpenter.
“I’ve been playing for the Rush for about a year now,” Carpenter said. “I started wheelchair basketball because I wanted to play sports, and wheelchair basketball is one that I can do.”
Saying that basketball is something that he can just “do” would be an understatement. He doubled the Rams top scorer in points with the stat sheet showing Carpenter ending up with 12 points.
Richards, who ended up being Highland’s top scorer with six points, was nervous before the game looking at the poise and skill that the Rush demonstrated in pregame warmups.
“We were looking at their side of the court and we were like, ‘wow they have some hoopers over there,’” Richards said.
Obviously, Richards thought that six points in such a difficult sport was deserving of something a little extra.
“It felt really nice; I wanted to get the game ball but I knew that for some of those guys it meant a lot to them,” Richards said.
The game was played as a fundraiser and had live auctions during halftime but not only that, in the second half spectators could pay the score table to add points to a team of their choice. Even though that option was given very obviously to try and get Highland back into competitive scoring range, the effect was just the opposite. The score was chaotic for the remainder of the game. So, although the real final score was 60-19, the scoreboard showed the Rush winning by a score of 381-257. Although it might’ve felt like that scoring was roughly correct for the Rush, it was very evident that the 257 was not an accurate demonstration of the Rams performance.
“We really did not pull through in the end. I felt like we could’ve definitely played better, but those guys were just straight hoopers,” Richards said.
Carpenter thought it was a good start for his team.
“I felt our team’s performance was really good. We could play a little bit better but it was good,” Carpenter said. “It was pretty fun to beat them.”
The game was high stakes for Carpenter, as it was such an odd situation. Playing for the home team and defeating the home team. Obviously, Carpenter picked the right side of the game to play for.
“Even though we got killed, it was fun,” Lee said.
If anything positive came out of the game for the Rams, it was definitely their attitude.
“It was really hard moving around. I’m super grateful for everything that I am lucky enough to have,” Richards said.
“It really does give me a deeper appreciation. I feel so lucky that I am able to do everyday things like walk, and even more than that play basketball,” Lee said.
