Delaneys star in episode of February Foolishness

If you are a basketball fan, surely you have heard of March Madness, the term used to describe some of the unlikely, unbelievable, improbable, and impossible things that happen in the month of March every season at the end of tournament games everywhere, but most notably in the NCAA's popular Division 1 Men's Tournament. Well, maybe you did or didn't know it, but March Madness has a close relative that goes by the name of February Foolishness. Although games in February lack the life-or-death urgency of tournament games, they don't lack for some of the same crazy, bizarre, and absurd finishes. I mean just look at some of the things that just happened this February. You'd be a fool to think any of them were possible - until they actually happened, that is.

South Dakota State trailed rival North Dakota State by 17 points early in the 2nd half and by 9 points with 2 minutes remaining and didn't lead at any point in the game until senior G David Jenkins launched and hit a shot from just inside the half court line at the buzzer to win the game 78-77. Missouri State stole an inbounds pass and, after a wild scramble, hit a shot from half court to beat Illinois State 66-65. And how about Iowa? The Hawkeyes, with 3.3 seconds on the clock, threw a length-of-the-floor pass that deflected off the hand of one Hawkeye player right to a another who hit a 3-point buzzer beater from the corner that banked in off backboard to beat Rutgers 71-69. The ball didn't bank in off the glass, it hit the top corner of the frame around the glass and went in. I mean you could take that same shot a thousand more times and not do that again.

Well, there was no finish quite as dramatic as those in the Southland Conference last weekend; but in the game at Huntsville, Texas, league-leading Sam Houston State suffered a collapse of epic proportions and was on the brink of what would have been one of their worst losses ever. At the end of the day, however, the Bearkats were spared that ignominy, and they have a pair of twin brothers to thank for it. Senior guards Josh Delaney (photo above) and Cameron Delaney both equaled their career highs in points to lead SHSU to a 119-113 double overtime home victory over Houston Baptist.

I've been taking my sweet time working on DG174 (and I'm still only halfway done); but after reading the story of what happened in this game, I decided it was time to break my silence.

The Bearkats had beaten HBU 4 straight times, including by a 71-65 score in their first meeting this season, and were a 9-point favorite to make it 5 in a row over the Huskies. And for most of the night it looked like they were going to cover the spread very comfortably. They took a 3-0 lead when Cameron Delaney (photo on left, from the Bearkats' game on Jan. 12) hit a 3-pointer on their first shot of the game and maintained the lead for the entire 1st half, closing out the half on a 23-7 run to up the lead to 19 points at 51-32.

HBU briefly got the lead down to 15 early in the 2nd half; but it was back up to 21 when Cameron left the game with 6:48 remaining after picking up his 4th foul; it was at 24 when Josh also took a seat on the bench a minute later; and it was up to 25 points at 90-65 with only 5:17 to play. At that point, according to ESPN.com, SHSU's probability of winning the game was 99.9% (you think?); but then, out of nowhere, HBU mounted a comeback that the game recap on the SHSU website describes as "unfathomable."

After the Huskies scored 13 points in a row to make it 90-78 with 2:47 to play, the Bearkats called timeout and the Delaneys subbed back into the game, with SHSU's win probability still certain at 99.2%. But then the HBU run kept on going, eventually reaching 21-0 to make the score 90-86 with 1:14 on the clock. During the run the Huskies shot 6 for 7 from both the field (including three 3-point FG) and the free throw line, while the Huskies were going 0 for 4 from the field with 3 turnovers, and missing their only FT attempt (on the front end of a one-and-bonus).

Josh Delaney (photo on right) finally ended the Bearkats' drought with two free throws but didn't end the foolishness. The Huskies made three more shots in a row, including a 3-pointer with 8 seconds left that tied the game at 95. That made it 12 possessions in a row for the Huskies on which they had scored either 2 or 3 points). Had they made it 13 they very likely would have won the game, because after tying the game, they stole the ball with 6 seconds left, only to miss an open 3-pointer with 3 seconds to play.

Overtime began and the SHSU collapse continued, as HBU scored on their first three possessions to take a 101-95 lead and complete a ridiculous 36-5 run that took less than 7 minutes. But all was not lost, not with the Delaneys coming to the rescue. Cameron hit a three and Josh hit two threes on the Bearkats' next three possessions, and just that quickly the game was tied at 104. Josh scored on the next two possessions too, and the game went into a 2nd overtime tied at 108. Josh's 6th 3-point FG of the night put the Bearkats back in front at 113-110 with 3:33 to play, and from there they pulled away to win 119-113, as the Huskies finally cooled off, missing their final 5 attempts from the field.

On the first link below is the game recap from the SHSU website. And the second link is to a video of some of SHSU's highlights. There's no announcer (just music) but on several of the shots you can see the clock above the basket, and that'll give you an idea of at what point in the game they happened. Josh finished with 30 points, matching the 30 he had vs. Abilene Christian in the SLC opener on Jan. 5; and Cameron scored 25 points, the same as he had against Incarnate Word on Jan. 12. In combining for nearly half of the Bearkats' points the two shot 16 for 27 from the field, including 11 for 19 from 3-point range, and hit all 12 of their FT.

http://www.gobearkats.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=93025&SPID=11358&DB_LANG=C&ATCLID=211792368&DB_OEM_ID=19900

https://twitter.com/BearkatVid/status/1099570447119802368

Not only in this game but for their success all this season the Bearkats have had the Delaney twins to thank for. Prior to this season Cameron and Josh hadn't played or scored very much, with the 8.1 points and 23 minutes by Josh last year being the highest average for either of them. But in the last of their three seasons together (it's not four because Cameron played his freshman season at Denver in 2015 before transferring to SHSU and rejoining forces with Josh) they both moved into the starting lineup for the first time and both are playing 30+ minutes per game, with Cameron leading the team in scoring at 13.5 PPG and Josh third at 10.3 PPG. Josh's 30-point game vs. HBU earned him SLC player of the week honors (first link below), matching the same feat of his brother from a month earlier (second link below). And oh, by the way, the Bearkats are having one of their best seasons ever. They're currently 20-9 overall and 15-1 in conference play, having already wrapped up the SLC regular season title with a week to spare. Their previous best ever SLC finish was 14-2 in 2010, so they still have a chance to surpass that.

 http://www.gobearkats.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=93025&SPID=11358&DB_LANG=C&ATCLID=211792627&DB_OEM_ID=19900

http://www.gobearkats.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=93025&SPID=11358&DB_OEM_ID=19900&ATCLID=211788248

Quite obviously Cameron and Josh are fraternal, not identical twins; so they're not difficult to tell apart. Cameron (6-foot-4) has grown to be 4 inches taller than Josh and has slightly (but noticeably) darker skin than Josh. One thing that is hard to tell is who has the longer dreads. It tends to look like Josh's may be longer, but that's because he lets them flow more freely in games than Cameron does. If you took out a tape measure though I think Cameron's dreads would prove to be longer. The two had tremendous success in high school at Harker Heights, Texas, a city about halfway between Austin (to the south) and Waco (to the north), with Huntsville about 150 miles to the east. The photo (above on left) of the two standing back to back is from 5 years ago in an article in the Killeen Daily Herald after they were named All-Area co-MVPs. If you want, you can read that article on the first link below. The second link is to a 3-minute feature on the Delaneys done last year by Bryan TV station KGAS.

http://kdhnews.com/kdhpressbox/sportsstats/high_school/boys_basketball/heights-delaney-twins-share-starring-role-and-all-area-mvp/article_20db7226-acd4-11e3-ae19-001a4bcf6878.html

https://www.kagstv.com/video/sports/ncaa/delaney-twins-bring-it-for-sam-houston-hoops/499-2897066

The SLC, of course, is one of those mid-major leagues where teams hardly ever get an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament; so while winning the regular season crown is nice - and clinches at worst a bid to the NIT - the Bearkats are going to have to win the conference tournament if they want to go to the Big Dance. They've lost in the semifinals of the SLC Tournament the last 3 straight years. Hopefully this will be the year they finally get over the hump.
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As for those three crazy finishes I mentioned at the beginning of this post .... if you like, you can see them on these links.

Here's Missouri State's game winner against Illinois State: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XKC38-NYQg

Here is the absurd shot by Iowa to beat Rutgers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=feTamGT_qmU

And finally the shot by David Jenkins (photo on left) to beat North Dakota State: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yD9wCRL3UyU
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