ASHTABULA — Mention the word “heat” in the same breath as basketball in this part of the country and the first connotation will not be one of pleasantry, thanks to a certain player from Akron and his deeds which seemingly set the Cavalier franchise and Cleveland community back several years.

However, as a heat wave of record proportions grips much of the country, temperatures nearing the mid to upper 90s could not stop a group of young men from Cleveland’s east side, calling themselves the Riding Dirty, from overcoming a nearly two hour wait as teams settled the loser’s bracket to win the 2012 West Side Shootout Saturday at the new home of GO Ministries, formerly  known as Thurgood Marshall Elementary School.

A jump shot by Jeremy Moore from the left corner for the Riding Dirty shortly after 7 P.M. capped a day that began at 8:30 A.M., sending a talented group of friends who either played together at Martin Luther King High in Cleveland or live in close proximity to each other, capping a 15-5 win over a group of Tom Cats of former local stars in Ashtabula County.

“I told the boys before the game,” Riding Dirty coach Warner Lewis said, “that if they played defense in the championship game, they would win. All of them can score, so playing defense really becomes important for us. I knew they (Tom Cats) would be tired because they did a great job coming all the way out of the loser’s bracket. We just had to stay focused and play defense, and the kids did a great job.”

Riding Dirty, made up of Moore, Quay Lathan, Ray Austin, Donzell Stearns, Caleb Hicks, and Darron Overby, got big contributions from all of those mentioned at various points of the tournament. They won their first game fairly handily in the 11-team event, then went at it tooth and nail with everybody else before settling in to watch the Tom Cats fight their way through three tough games to reach the title game of the double elimination tourney.

“We knew they would be tired,” Overby said. “It was also important, in this heat, for us to get going again after sitting so long ourselves. They are a good team, but we got things going again in the last game when we needed to.”

The Tom Cats won the loser’s bracket semifinal game over a Betty’s Beauty Salon team led by former Lakeside stars Emilio Parks and Harry Story. The thrilling 15-13 winner came from another former Dragon and 2012 West Side Shootout Most Valuable Player, Ace Jones. Jones nailed a long 3-pointer, much as he had done many times in his Dragon days, but he wasn’t done.

As was the case in most of the games in the tourney, the Tom Cats knocked off the Ducro Funeral Services team, made up of many former Painesville high school stars, mostly from Harvey.

Jones nailed a jumper from the top of the key for a 15-14 win and a spot in the title game. It also required two-straight wins for the Tom Cats over the rested Riding Dirty guys, a tall order against a team with a very tall guy in the middle by the name of Ray Austin.

After battling to an early 3-3 tie, seven-straight points from the Riding Dirty team stole the last vestiges of air from the Tom Cat sails, and they just didn’t have enough left to compete.

The heat and high humidity took the air out of a lot of sails during the day. With players who have participated for many years coming from as far off as Washington , D.C, and New York City, according to tournament director Bill Osborne, as well as local stars such as Cody Blizzard, Kevin McCaleb, Brandon Hanna, Bill Downs, Kieron Jones, Tim Osborne, and Ray Henton, to name a few, the games were well played considering conditions on the two outside courts at Thurgood Marshall.

“This tournament has been going for well over 30 years now,” Bill Osborne said. “Robin Thomas was the first director, then the late Doug Miller took over for a few years, and then my brother, Mike, and I got into the act and have been doing it ever since.”

One of the biggest factors facing brothers Osborne out of the normal realm of play is equipment, and a shattered backboard early in the morning nearly put a damper into festivities.

But a replacement backboard was quickly picked up and set into place, allowing things to get back to a two-court system, and the slowdown only delayed the grand finale.

Key to that effort came in how the officials kept things running during games. With both Osborne brothers being joined by Hobart Shifflett, Adrian Mathers, and Tim Bell to keep things rolling between baskets and misplays, the crowd, which at times seemed to be well over 500 fans of all ages but dwindled to “only” 200-300 at the end, witnessed a superb effort from all the participants who braved the extreme weather to come out and have a great time.

Those fans were treated with the fantastic finishes supplied by Jones to set his team up for a title shot and the efforts and solid team play from the winning Riding Dirty team from Cleveland.

Cold water, other beverages and food was supplied by GO Ministries, as well.

Kelly is a freelance writer from Jefferson.

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