Wyatt Street's Big Moment

Loogootee Senior Manager plays on Senior night

Hello and welcome back.

If you travel around martin county anytime during the winter, you'll likely hear the locals talking about are their loogootee lions basketball teams. and why not, this year the lady lions will be competiting for their first state championship this saturday against pioneer.

And the boys basketball team sits in the driver seat for a blue chip conference title for the first time since 2013.

But it's what happened on senior night last friday that still has the town buzzing.

<it's a cliche' for a reason, "in 49 other states it's just basketball, but this is basketball, but this is indiana".

It's a saying everyone from the hoosier state knows well..

Especially loogootee senior wyatt street.

Growing up here in loogootee, basketball is...just about everything.

When we went to state, we won state in 2012, i was only in fourth grade and i remember just about everything of it.

As a little kid i always looked up to brian ackerman and conner witmer, guys like that.

So it's no surprise that basketball played a huge part in wyatt's childhood.

But this lions senior isn't quite like the rest of his teammates.

Wyatt was born a month premature and as a result his growth is slower than the average person.

Wyatt measures in at 5'1"...by comparison lions junior standout silas bauer measures in at 6'7" so when street got to high school he decided it was time for a change.

Stree} i've played basketball my whole life, then my sophmore year i didn't get to play a lot, so i decided to change my role and become manager.

Basketball's his passion.

You know there's a lot of different things you can do to stay involved in the game.

And he's way more beneficial to our team in this role than he would be as the 12th man on the bench.

He's never pouted about it, he's just done everything you've ever asked him to do and he always does it with a smile on his face and he's just a terrific kid.

It's that attitude and dedication that earned wyatt the surprise of a lifetime.

Haywoo} i think we made the decision in november that he would dress at least on senior night, with the hope that'd we'd be able to get him in.

Stree} and he just told me out of the blue.

I was, it was fourth period, i was going down to do laundry, he had a p.e.

Class down there and he just stopped me and sat me down and told me to get ready.

So when senior night finally arrived on february 21st, wyatt suited up for varisty for the first and last time.

But things weren't going to plan at first.

Haywoo} it was a tight game for most of the way and, actually, with about two minutes to go i actually turned to wyatt and apologized and said you know we're not gonna be able to get you in.

But then, as luck would have it, things turned in the senior's favor.

Haywoo} we kinda spread it out there at the end, with 20 seconds left it seeed like the right time to get him in.

Stree} all i heard was the crowd when i ripped off the warmups and then stood up.

That's the last thing i heard.

Then it was game time.

Pa nat po} now entering the game for loogootee, senior wyatt street!

With just under 20 seconds left in the game wyatt got the oppurtunity he'd been waiting for as he fired a three before time expired.

Haywoo} when he shot it, i was happy he got a shot off, but i didn't think in a million years he was actually going to make it.

He is a great shooter, he's actually one of our best shooters, but being that nervous and first time being into a game i thought, there's no way he's making it.

Well actually i was down on the opposite block so i saw it was lined up and i saw it had the distance on it and as soon as it went in, it was a miracle.

Everyone was on their feet, gym went estatic, it was awesome.

In a day in age when all we see in sports is "me" instead of "we", it's refreshing to see a young man setting a team first example for future generations.

Harde} you saw after the shot he hit, that game, all the little kids surrounded him and were giving him high fives and everything like that.

That shows his work ethic, i mean he put in the work to try and play and realized he might not have as much capability or as much oppurtunity as the other guys to be able to play.

And he carried his love for the game over to helping his teammates.

Stree} on a team everybody has a roll.

Whether your the star player or if you're a bench player or if you're the manger.

Everyone has an important role on the team, so,