Hardwood Paroxysm: The greatest things we’ve ever seen on a basketball court

The greatest thing I ever saw in person was Aeneas against Ryan

By Ian Levy (@HickoryHigh)

I attended high school at School of the Arts in Rochester, NY. As you can probably guess from the name, we were not known for our athletic department. We had no soccer or football program, fielded a track squad only in those years where interest reached a critical mass (at least five willing students). We did have teams that “played” baseball, tennis, golf and basketball but  there was nothing remarkable about any of those teams, with one exception. That exception was Aeneas.

Aeneas was our basketball star. Probably 6’4”, he was athletic and polished beyond anything else I had witnessed in person. He played inside and out, doing pretty much everything for our team (I say “our team” because of school identity, not because I was actually on the team). Aeneas was a year older than me, a senior when I was a junior, and ended up playing D-1 basketball at Manhattan, briefly.

We had a fledgling tradition at the end of basketball season: the Junior-Senior game. This game was open to everyone, not just players on the team, meaning for one night I had the opportunity to be on the court with Aeneas.

Midway through the second-half, Aeneas darted into the lane (my recollection is that he had already scored about a billion points by then), swiped an entry pass and rocketed in the other direction. I was out at the 3-point line, but there was no way I was getting in the way of that one-man fastbreak. Our transition defense never materialized, simply melting in front of him as he loped toward the basket. All except my friend Ryan. Poor optimistic, hustling, energetic, Ryan. Somehow, coming from the other wing, Ryan managed to catch Aeneas in the open court and, briefly, get between him and the basket.

At this point, everything slowed down. From across the court, I could see Ryan struggling with the horrible realization that he was about to be physically destroyed. Half-stumbling, half-surrendering, Ryan fell to his knees, and then onto all fours. A step inside the free throw line, Aeneas effortlessly launched himself up over Ryan and dunked as hard as I’d ever seen. He had the courtesy to clear Ryan completely, not step on his back or kick him on the face as he went about his business. If there was a silver lining, that was it.

The gym exploded. People lost their minds, running onto the court, screaming and waving their hands like a Price is Right audience. It took a full ten minutes to restore order and resume play.

That was the greatest basketball play I’ve ever seen in person.