The 2025 Faculty Basketball Game is in the books, and it didn’t disappoint.
In a matchup with no shortage of excitement, the Green Team prevailed 36-32 giving the Class of 2025 their first and only win of the series. After starting on a 20-5 run and almost shutting out the Underclassmen Team in the first quarter, it looked to be a stunningly easy victory for the Upperclassmen, but the second half was a different story. Coach Doherty, the reigning MVP, was one of the stars of the Gold Team. After a quiet first half, he finished with ten points and nine rebounds, falling short of the double-double and miraculous comeback.
Credit the Green Team’s hot start to 2025 MVP Mr. Estephan, who started 3/3 from downtown; he finished with nine points and six rebounds. After a 1/7 performance last year, Mr. Estephan finally got that bad taste out of his mouth.
“I am not going to downplay it; I took last year’s loss pretty hard,” Mr. Estephan said. “I made a resolution to not have that [type of performance] happen again, ever. I knew I needed to play more often throughout the year, and that’s what we did. Me and a few teachers have been playing pickup games Sunday nights at St. X. We have had some really good games that helped us prepare for this game.”
Going into the matchup with much more preparation and time in the gym than the previous year, Mr. Estephan came ready to play.
“Prior to tipoff, my shot was pretty flat,” Estephan said. “Coach Chance Dillingham told me, ‘You are thinking too hard about it, get it out of your head’, and that advice helped and allowed me to play how I have practiced.”
Mr. Estephan did indeed play how he practiced, and the MVP trophy will now reside (for the next year at least) in his mancave, standing next to his proudly owned Patrick Mahomes bobblehead and Chiefs Super Bowl memorabilia.
While the MVP paved the Green Team to victory, it was a team win that must also be attributed to playing complimentary basketball. Mr. Caudill’s performance may have gone under the radar this time around, but the impact from Mr. Buzzer Beater (IYKYK) was significant. He won’t give himself any credit for the W but acknowledges the power of the unit and the importance of playing as a team.
“Everyone on the roster was involved and engaged,” Mr. Caudill said. “To me, basketball is about teamwork. When all players feel included, their defensive intensity increases, their hustle goes up, and morale soars. The small things fall by the wayside if you have one person taking all of the shots or demanding too much attention from their teammates.”
While the Upperclassmen got the win, the Underclassmen crew had solid performances. Mr. Yarborough finished as the leading scorer with 15 points, going 5/9 from three. Similarly to Mr. Estephan, Yarborough also didn’t look his true self in his performance the previous year.
“Last year, I had some nagging injuries, including a very sore foot that really made it painful to try to practice and train leading up to the game,” Yarborough said. “The way the rosters were last year, I knew I didn’t need to be a primary scoring force, so I decided to concentrate on defense and rebounding. Our team won convincingly.”
Getting some consistent practice a month before the game, Mr. Yarborough felt healthy and ready for this competition. And as we know, the shooter’s touch certainly applies to the Music Man.
“I was able to find some space and my teammates got me the ball in some good positions to get off shots,” Yarborough said. “I had several shots almost go down in the first half, and everyone was encouraging me to keep shooting as they knew it was a matter of time before I got hot and the shots starting falling. That happened in the second half and we got on a roll.”
The Faculty Basketball Game is a new yet classic tradition at St. X for Catholic Schools Week, and it continues to be a staple of the school year. It is not every day that the faculty and staff are given the opportunity to perform in front of nearly 1200 students. Not only do the teachers look forward to this event, but they are thrilled to put on for the underclassmen and upperclassmen they represent. To the staff and administration, the Faculty Basketball Game is bigger than it was ever thought to be.
“The faculty game is special to me because it allows the students to see their teachers in a unique way,” Mr. Caudill said. “For many of us, we never played sports in front of crowds like that, and it is a special opportunity to show what you are made of. I did not initially expect the game to be so well loved, but ever since the first game had that iconic buzzer beating moment, the game offers a day where anything is possible, and you never know what will happen.”
