By Stephen Smoot
One of the more famous and most relatable figures of Greek mythology comes in the figure of Sisyphus. This king dared to defy both the king of the gods and death itself because he feared no one either mortal or immortal.
When the forces he confronted finally corralled him into defeat, they sentenced him to a singular kind of eternal torment, described by the great ancient poet Homer.
“And I saw Sisyphus at his endless task raising his prodigious stone with both his hands. With hands and feet, he tried to roll it up to the top of the hill, but always, just before he could roll it to the other side, its weight would be too much for him, and the pitiless stone would come thundering down again onto the plain.
Then he would begin trying to push it uphill again.”
Wintertime finds the Wildcats in a role each winter that Sisyphus would recognize. They travel to the top of the Allegheny Front, challenge the task at hand, give mighty effort, and then fall short, watching the boulder roll all the way back down the mountain.
Such is the fate of most Class A teams who play Tucker County in basketball.
In the first quarter, Tucker County seized the opening tip. The Wildcats, however, took control for a time. With only 45 seconds gone, Josiah Kimble pushed a pass inside to Cashton Kisamore. Kisamore scored the layup from his post move and Pendleton County grabbed the lead.
The Mountain Lions used a press to try to slow and frustrate the Wildcats. Pendleton County responded by switching between man and zone defenses, but did not press.
Scoring came slow for most of the first quarter. A little over two minutes after the first basket, a long pass to Chase Owens led to a layup and a 4-0 lead.
Tucker County had opportunities, but the ball could not find the basket for them until the 3:42 mark, when they hit their first three-point shot. Kisamore followed with a layup that put the lead back to 6-3.
With 1:33 in the quarter, Kimble buried a three and gave his squad its biggest lead of the contest, a 9-5 advantage. Then the home team scored seven in quick succession and closed out the quarter with a 12-9 lead.
At about that point, Tucker County’s shooters found their range and fired barrages of three-point shots, most of them finding the mark. By the end of the first half, they took a 38-20 lead.
For much of the remainder of the game, Tucker County couldn’t miss and their defense clamped down on the Wildcats.
The third quarter saw Tucker County working to not just score a secure victory over the visiting team, but also pursuing the continual building of the lead as high as they could push it.
Tucker County continued to play aggressively into the fourth quarter, continuing to press and fire up quick long distance shots even up by 40. They gained nothing by it outside of giving Pendleton County players and coaches something to remember when their team has the advantage in experience.
The full story of Sisyphus lies in what remains untold. Greek rhetoric includes the concept of an enthymeme, which is a three-part statement of proof where one aspect is left unstated, but is understood.
The old tale tells of the former king repeatedly rolling the stone up the mountain and watching it return to the bottom. What the myth does not say, but seems implied, is that someday, the effort will succeed. At some point, he will push the boulder down the other side and declare victory over the mountain, the rock, and the gods themselves.
Patience, effort, and faith are what brings victory in the end over a difficult opponent. And Pendleton County will eventually taste the sweetness of that triumph.
