Lions helped remind us to 'keep the faith'

Two weeks ago, they were down and out, holding on to a slim chance of making a trip to Allen, while most of us who watch on a regular basis, called it what it was – almost hopeless ... ALMOST.

But as the cliché goes, it's never over til it's over.

Needing a sweep of their final three games to sneak in, the Lions did just that, but it wasn't easy.

First, they rallied back from a 4-point deficit with under a minute to play and force overtime, where they would go on to a 5-point road win over Eastern New Mexico.

A few days later in Abilene, the Lions did it again, this time with a 12-0 run late in the game to topple ACU, 75-72, and set up a wild finale at home.

With what was easily the largest crowd of the year inside The Field House, the Lions made a miracle happen, roaring out to a huge lead before withstanding a furious rally by Angelo State to clinch the final LSC tournament berth with an 83-78 win.

Just like that, a team that had been left for dead was now fully alive.

But once the celebration died down, once the smoke cleared, reality hit home.  Did this team really belong? Would they be a red carpet to the semifinals for the top seed team from Midwestern State?

Well, not exactly.

They didn't look easy when they held Midwestern to a 0-for-9 start from the floor. They didn't look satisfied when they took a 7-point lead at halftime against the LSC's top team. It certainly didn't look like the Lions were out of place, trailing by just one point with 10 minutes left in the game.

Even when they fell behind by 10 points late in the second half, it looked bleek, but certainly not lost. What this team had accomplished over the past two weeks taught us all to reverse our way of thinking.

As the final minutes ticked away, along with what was left of the Lions' season, it reminded me of just how fragile sports fandom can be. One thing these Lions taught me (along with lots of other folks) was to simply keep the faith.

From the last two weeks of the season, until about the 3-minute mark of Wednesday's game (with the Lions trailing by 11), I kept the faith.

I believed this team could do the impossible, and took pride in the fact that they did.

– Cliff Gibson is the sports editor for The East Texan