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Crazy basketball with
local team vs Harlem Ambassadors |
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November 15, 2014 |
It was basketball and more as the Harlem
Ambassadors came to town to challenge the local
NBA Wanna B's team yesterday, Friday, November
14. Not only was there fancy
ball handling, impressive scoring moves, and
athletic play--on both teams--but somehow during
the game, a football game broke out, also a
wrestling match, and somehow around sixty
members of the audience ended up doing a line
dance on the basketball court, led by the Harlem
Ambassadors.
The Harlem Ambassadors are a traveling
basketball show, with skilled players, all of
whom played at the college level and are college
graduates, who perform fundraising basketball
events for local non-profit groups along with
entertainment for the military.
The Ambassadors were challenged by a roster of
local, also skilled and talented players,
including Brion Poston, Conner Bennett, A.J.
Bennett, Andy Rice, Dave Schuman, Chris Sabin
and his dad, Ryan Farrens, Kelly Hinthorn,
Amethyst Aitken, Ketta Everhart, and Cynthia
Franke.
(yes, we are still trying to get the complete
roster of players--please let us know the ones
we are missing!)
The event, brought to town by the Bonners Ferry
Chamber of Commerce, was a  fundraiser
for local events, with concessions and other
funds going to help out the Valley View PTO.
The game featured lots of action, with some
eye-popping plays and dunks by the visiting
Ambassadors, but actually some pretty amazing
hoops from the Bonners Ferry team, also. The
local NBA Wanna B's were able to slam in three
dunks on the Ambassadors, from Andy Rice, Chris
Sabin, and Conner Bennett.
One of the more remarkable plays occurred when
Lade Majic, the Harlem Ambassadors coach, chief
prankster, and (wired with a microphone) team
narrator, tackled A.J. Bennett just as he was
contemplating putting up a long three pointer.
Midway to the floor as he was being tackled,
A.J. somehow launched his shot, four or five
feet behind the three point line. The shot
swished through the net at about the same time
he completely hit the floor
The first half of the game was closely
contested, even though there seemed to be a lot
more going on than just basketball, including
dancing on the court, and displays of amazing
basketball handling skills. From time to time,
audience members ended up on the court, either
as part of a special competition, or to collect
a prize drawing, but no one could collect their
winnings without first publicly demonstrating
their own personal "cool walk."
Although the first half of the game was fairly
close, with Bonners Ferry in the lead at times,
in the second half the Ambassadors began to pull
away, and ended the evening with the win.
From here, the Ambassadors move on to their next
venue. They travel extensively. Within the next
three weeks, they will have played at events in
four U.S. states including Alaska and also into
Canada where they have shows scheduled in
British Columbia and far north into the Yukon. |
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