In the space of 18 hours, two basketball games involving teams in my market were marred by injuries to key players, and those injuries couldn't come at worse times.
On Saturday night, Troy High advanced to the semi-finals of the Section 2 Boys' basketball tournament, with the Big 10 champions dispatching Bethlehem of the Suburban Council. However, as the back page headline in The Sunday Record declared, the Flying Horses were "in no mood to celebrate". One of their star players, Javion Ogunymeni, injured an ankle during the game, and had to be removed from the court on a stretcher. His status for Thursday's semi-final game vs. another Suburban Council school, Shaker, is in doubt.
Earlier this afternoon, on Senior Day at Times Union Center, the Siena Saints closed the regular season by beating Canisius, but, like Troy High the night before, victory came with a terrible price. Late in the second half, Siena's Evan Hymes was injured, and it looked like it might have been a knee or an ankle. With the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) tournament starting later this week, Hymes' availability is questionable at best. The Saints' roster is already decimated by injuries and pre-season eligibility issues that took a couple of players off the roster before a game could even be played. If Hymes is lost for the post-season, Siena conceivably could be one-and-done in Springfield, Ma., come Friday.
Oh, by the way, the Troy-Shaker game on Thursday? It's at the T-U Center. You don't want to think that the injury jinx could strike again so soon, but stranger, crazier things have happened.........
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