The 13th Man

At first glance, the box score of the Tri-City Suns vs. Bluegrass Stallions game looks pretty ordinary.

Five Stallions scored ten or more points, Lucasz Orbzut had five blocks and the Stallions rolled at home, 124-99.

However, if you’re an avid fan of the Lexington ABA team, or a basketball junkie in general, there is one line that should stick out. A player for the Stallions named Tony Chase played a little less than four minutes and managed to miss all seven shots he took. Sounds like a rough night.

Before you roll your eyes and scream, “Hey, I could do that! Maybe I should go try out for an ABA team!” you might want to know the background story of Chase, who had the number 13 on his jersey that night.

The Stallions have a promotion called “The 13^th Man” for some home games.  Basically, this lucky winner gets to suit up for the game and sit on the bench for a home game. For this particular game, “The 13^th Man” was Chase, who is the CEO of the Stallions.

With the Stallions up big in the last few minutes of this game, the unthinkable happened: Coach Kyle Macy put Chase in.

If you’ve ever been to a college game where the home team is rolling, there is nothing that delights the fans more than the scrubs getting some playing time. The crowd will go crazy, and beg them to shoot.

Contested jumper? SHOOT!

Off balance three-pointer? SHOOT!

Half-court heave? SHOOT!

This game was no different; every time Chase touched the ball, cheers rang throughout the gym, begging him to score.

When the final horn sounded, Chase was still scoreless, but he and the fans couldn’t complain too much because the win was their seventh in the last eight games.

Besides, Chase will turn 51 in July and has no professional basketball experience. Suddenly, this box score isn’t so ordinary.

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