Record breaking performance

What do you say when you've seen your name knocked out of the record book?

Especially when it was a player from the other team who did it?

Demons coach Mike McConathy was full of praise for Nicholls junior guard Anatoly Bose after Saturday's classic double overtime game at Prather Coliseum.

Bose scored 46 points against the McConathy-coached Demons. As a player himself, McConathy, lining up in his college days for Louisiana Tech, scored 45 points against the Demons on Dec. 11, 1976.

An Austrailian, the 6-foot-6 Bose played all 50 minutes Saturday night. He connected on 11 of 21 shots from the field, including 5 of 10 free throws, and 19 of 24 free throws. He posted 11 points at halftime, 19 in the second half, and 16 more working overtime. Bose scored every one of Nicholls' 9 points in the second overtime.

McConathy took time to specially congratulate Bose after the game, posing for a photo (above) suggested by Demons' athletic director Greg Burke. Since Gary Hardamon never stays around after the game's end, Burke found a substitute photogapher in Kendra Broussard, wife of associate AD William Broussard. Sports information student worker Hunter Bower printed out a large "46" on a sheet of paper and ...joila! Photo time.

Meanwhile, McConathy was sharing his thoughts with Alexandria Town Talk sports editor Randy Benson and me about Bose's feat.

“This is something that I’d never considered when I think about how fortunate I am to be the coach here. I really feel graced to have watched Anatoly’s performance today,” McConathy said. “He’s not a flashy player, he’s a very solid player and a great competitor. He got his points in the flow of the game, for the good of the team. He plays hard and has a great work ethic. He plays the game the way I hope I did. If the record had to fall, I’m honored it was a young man who shows his respect for the game by the way he plays it.”

Coach Mike passed along the same sentiments when posing for the photo with Anatoly, a modest young man. He did tell Bose there weren't any 3-pointers back in the day, and remembered he went 15 of 25 from the floor and 15 of 16 on free throws in the 45-point performance.

Bose was very surprised about the lack of 3-point baskets. He's never seen the game played any differently. It was a neat slice of life moment after a tremendous battle between two fiercely competitive teams.

Doug Ireland, SID