B-Magic's Big Night
St. Louis, MO- There was plenty to cheer about during last night's varsity basketball game at Chaminade College Preparatory School. A reverse slam dunk, more than a handful of alley-oop attempts, and an off-the-backboard pass setting up a Jayson Tatum dunk were just a few of the many highlight moments. The sold-out crowd came into last night's game expecting things like that to happen. What they didn't expect was to see 17-year-old senior Brian Randa suit up and play for the Chaminade Red Devils. Randa, known by the team and his classmates as "B-Magic", is an exchange student who has been managing basketball for the last 5 years. Originally from Rwanda, Randa has experience playing basketball at his former school in Kenya as well as on the JV squad at Chaminade.
Outside of it being senior night for Chaminade, Randa was unaware that last night's game would be any different at all compared to any other game the Red Devils have played this season. That is, until right before game time.
"It was a surprise. Coach tossed me the jersey right before the senior night presentation" Randa told Varsity Views.
Although the majority of the minutes were played by Chaminade's starters, Coach Bennett made sure every senior who was physically capable to play had a chance to make it into the game. With 5 minutes left in the game, Bennett pointed in Randa's direction, letting him know that he too would be hitting the floor.
As the substitution buzzer sounded, Randa made his way onto the court. He went to shake hands with superstar Duke commit, Jayson Tatum. In what were the final minutes Tatum would be playing in his home gym, he embraced Randa with a hug and playful head rub.
What happened next speaks volumes about the character of the Red Devils team as a whole: Every player did what they could to get Randa the ball and create a scoring chance.
After a few passes, sophomore guard Jericole Hellems set a screen and Randa found himself in his "sweet spot" on the court. Heavily guarded, Randa made space for himself and took a step back.
"I was trying to get a good shot and Jericole did a great job to keep trying to pass me the ball and it happened to be my favorite spot on the court", explained Randa.
As the shot left his hands, silence took over the gym. The maximum capacity crowd waited for the ball to descend in almost slow motion. When it did, it was a moment that "B-Magic" will never forget.
"I was confident when I got the ball because that's my favorite spot. I shot higher than usual due to the fact that the defender did a good job contesting it. I did not expect the crowd and bench to go that wild though. It felt great. The shot was right in front of the wild Red Army and to hear them scream that loud and to see the reaction from the bench, it was a great moment."
The crowd, bench, and even opposing team's crowd all went nuts. There wasn't a single spectator in the gym who didn't realize what that shot meant. Randa normally spends games on the bench celebrating shots from his teammates but today they were celebrating for him.
"I was surprised to see the reaction from the bench, everyone was jumping. It was a good feeling. We now know where Jayson gets his step-back fade away from" joked Randa.
Out of all the spectacular plays from Division I commits last night, it seems that Randa's shot will be the one to be talked about for years to come. When asked about what it meant to him, Randa told us, "It means a lot to me and I would like to thank Coach [Bennett] for even thinking about it. Definitely the highlight of my Chaminade experience."
