CourtKings need help to avoid first loss during CCMS exhibition

By John Burbridge sports@charlescitypress.com

CHARLES CITY — If you can’t beat ‘em, sign ‘em.

That was the ploy the Cedar Valley CourtKings resorted to midway through a series of exhibition games May 26 inside the old Charles City High School gym.

After holding off a late run against a makeshift team of Charles City fifth-graders, and needing a buzzer-beating alley-oop slamdunk from Terry Carter to narrowly defeat a squad of sixth-graders in a subsequent game, the defending Midwest Basketball League champions were in danger of losing for the first time this season against a determined group of CCMS seventh-graders.

One of the reasons is because they had no answer for Mario Hoefer.

Likely inspired by the pre-tip ribbing he got from Carter and the CourtKings’ mascot “Loo” about his purple UNI socks, Hoefer was a purple blur on both sides of the court. His nifty in-traffic take and finish to the hole, and long-range 3-point bankshot — he called it … or at least knew it was going in the second it left his hands — helped give the seventh-graders a 7-0 lead.

So what did the CourtKings do? They made Hoefer one of their own as he played the second half of the game in a CourtKings uniform.

“They asked me to play for them,” Hoefer said of his change of alliances, which resulted in another CourtKings victory. “It was fun playing with them.

“I love basketball. I’ve been playing it most of my life.”

The CourtKings didn’t leave the old gym unscathed. In the final game against a team of Charles City teachers and administrators, the home team prevailed … but it got a little help from the officials.

Charles City seventh-grade teacher Andrew Christensen, who was supposed to be serving as an impartial referee, had the ball find him in the corner beyond the 3-point line during the final seconds. In an act that likely made the late, great Basketball Hall of Fame referee Earl Strom turn in his grave, Christensen took a shot in behalf of his fellow employees and hit nothing but net for the 1-point victory.

The CourtKings are owned by Charles City residents Gary and Marla Rima. The exhibition games were part of an end-of-school-year assembly where CourtKing players — including former UNI star Anthony James — talked to the middle schoolers about the importance of hard work, community service, overcoming adversity and continuance of education through graduation and beyond.