Boys basketball: Regardless of outcome, fans agree Kingman is king

OTTAWA – The multitude of fans that descended on Ottawa High School’s Kingman Gymnasium on Monday night was not going to see eye to eye on much of anything.

But whether clad in red to root for the Metamora Redbirds or the other half in royal blue to cheer on the Marmion Academy Cadets, they did seem to agree on one thing: They were in the place where big games like this should be played.

Surely, Metamora left with a much better feeling, having held off the Cadets for a 60-48 victory and their second straight Class 3A supersectional title, the only two in that school’s history.

Marmion, a school that had not even won a regional in 46 years had to relish its late comeback and making a game of it into the fourth quarter before finishing with perhaps its best season ever.

The capacity crowd of 2,400 fans – tickets were sold out in less than two hours – did their best to decide the matter verbally, reaching a noise level over 120 decibels, similar to standing next to a diesel truck revving its engine.

And regardless of the outcome, they had nothing but praise for the venue, as well as the atmosphere and the energy the game and crowds provided there.

“I love the old-school feel of this place,” said Dave Zebig, a Plainfield resident who was cheering on the Cadets. “With the brick walls and the crowds getting loud at both ends of the floor, this is where games like this should be played, in venues like this. … All the cookie-cutter gymnasiums that the schools in the suburbs and around us have, there’s no character, so when I get to go to a place like this, I love it. I absolutely love the atmosphere, the way the stands are set up on top of each other, I love it.

“It’s great for basketball. If you’re playing in this game as a kid playing in this game here, it’s gotta be a great experience for you.”

Added his wife, Melissa, “Compared to the other gyms we’ve visited, it’s like night and day.

“It’s been such a long time since we’ve had a season like this, so to be here in a game like this, in a place like this, it’s unbelievable.”

From the top row of the south stands, Metamora resident and fan Jimbo Theiler stood watching and calming his wife, who seemed to live and die with each play on the court.

“Our middle son played here for Metamora, so we’ve been here maybe eight to 10 times and we like it,” Theiler said. “Its old school and some might say antiquated, but I like it, I really do. The atmosphere is what it should be for a game like this … and the popcorn is still good, too.”

Ottawa athletic director Mike Cooper received a text from an IHSA official saying what an awesome atmosphere it looked like through the broadcasts. It seems safe to say the big game could return to Kingman for a third, fourth and perhaps fifth straight year.

“We’ll take it one year at a time,” said Cooper, who said with the number of ticket requests there could have been 4,000 people there for the game. “There isn’t a place with any more electricity, more energy than Kingman Gym on a night like tonight. You go to some of these places that seat 10,000 people and you put 2,500 in them, there isn’t much of an atmosphere. You put 2,500 in here, it’s packed to the rim and really exciting.

“We’ve had a ton of compliments tonight. It’s good for us and good for the city of Ottawa, too, having so many people come into town, shopping downtown, eating in our restaurants. It’s just a win-win for everybody.”