Story originally printed in the Winona Daily News or online at www.winonadailynews.com
Published - Saturday, May 10, 2008
Hustle Up All-Stars put on a show at Saint Mary's University
 Hustle Up Streetballer JFK throws down a dunk in front of Winona All-Stars' Jesse Muench, center, of Fond du Lac, Wis., and Winona Daily News' sports reporter Rick Solem, right, during the exhibition game Sunday at Saint Mary's Gymnasium in Winona. (Photo by Andrew Link/Winona Daily News) |
The rule is, if you get dunked on, you sit out the rest of the quarter.
I’m not sure who it was. I only saw the bottom of his shoes.
Maybe Highrizer, maybe Springs. The referees stopped the game and sent me to the bench.
With me on the pines, the Hustle Up Streetball All-Star team took over.
OK, maybe it was already up 50. The final score read Hustle Up All-Stars 184, Winona “All-Stars” 123.
Things started slow with everyone, including the crowd, just feeling the game out. In the second quarter, the music started playing, one of the Hustle Up guys got on the microphone and it was on.
With alley-oop dunks, crazy dribbling and the occasional 3-point barrage, the Hustle Up team did what everyone expected.
What nobody expected was Winona Radio’s Aaron Taylor swiping the ball from Hot Sauce — one of the world’s most popular streetballers known for his ball-handling ability.
“That was funny,” Hot Sauce said. “He was playing some crazy, odd defense.”
No offense to Taylor, but his game needs some work.
Taylor took the steal down the court, and missed the layup hard off the glass. Or did he pass it?
We’ll never know, but the ball ricocheted off the glass right to teammate Jason Flowers for the tip dunk.
No stats were kept, but if there was a team MVP it was Jason Flowers, not to be confused with his younger brother Jonte.
It was a little role reversal for the two. Usually Jason is in the crowd watching Jonte play for Winona State University. Sunday, Jonte was in the front row at Saint Mary’s University watching his brother put on a show of his own.
“That felt real good,” Jason, 24, said. “Normally I’m watching. I’ve been to a lot of his games.”
Added Jonte: “I haven’t seen him play in awhile. Boy he can jump.”
Just over 500 people showed up to watch the show.
Hot Sauce was easily the most popular amongst the kids.
“He can dribble a lot,” Winona Middle School’s Donald Ellis said.
Blake Watts, who also goes to WMS, had seen streetball on TV. Now he can tell his friends he’s seen it live.
“It was a lot cooler being there,” he said. “Hot Sauce was my favorite.”
Talking to the Hustle Up team afterwards, they mentioned they play just about every day of the week. Some play 250 games in a year.
They were in West Virginia on Saturday, before busing to Winona. Today they’re in Bemidji, Minn.
The locals on the Winona team were SMU assistant coach Ray Winter, former SMU players Dan Cormier, Mike Rohr and Eric Lear, along with Jason Washington, Javier Pitchfork and Winona Radio’s Aaron and Greg Taylor. SMU students Alex Conover and Marcus Webb coached. I think they retired soon after the game.
I’d just like to make a note: the locals had one dunk by Lear. Cormier missed his attempt. I got one in warmups, but I don’t think that counts.
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