Basketball, Harlem Crowns style

It was your usual basketball game.

Two teams, two officials and practical joke after practical joke. The Harlem Crowns came to the Moses Lake High School to face a home team of teachers.

While the final score was 69-38, the 32 minutes played to reach that point left the crowd with laugh after laugh, especially when the Crowns ganged up on their favorite target, the referees.

The start was typical "Harlem Globetrotter" type basketball, with three Crowns weaving in and out of each other at the top the 3-point line then firing a shot into team manager Herbert Scaife, who was standing at the top of the key. From there, Scaife met one of his teammates cutting to the rim with a dazzling pass behind the back, between the legs and between his opponents legs.

Each pass wooed the crowd with sensational dunks.

Moses Lake's James Getzinger scored the first basket after four straight baskets by the Crowns.

But once the basket went in, the practical jokes started to fly.

Greg Kittrell, football coach for Moses Lake and post player, was put in the spotlight after the Crowns wanted to "show" Kittrell the proper way to shoot. After a few wiggles and dance moves, Kittrell reenacted the scene set before him and missed the shot.

The Crowns brought over a chair and told Kittrell to make the shot, but this time with a threat to pull the shorts down if he missed again.

"I was scared to death that he was going to pull my shorts down, so I didn't know what to do," Kittrell said after the game. "The worst part was, he kept telling me I can't miss it."

Dena Christensen became the victim of the next practical joke inflicted by Scaife himself. Christensen stole the ball, but got a loud demand to give it back to Scaife, confused, Christensen said she gave it back and was told to guard her own man.

Christensen turned around and Scaife stuffed the ball up the back of her shirt.

"Then I couldn't get the ball out so I walked and got called for traveling," Christensen added.

Moses Lake put up a battle, fighting for rebounds, driving to the basket and playing tough defense on the Crowns the entire 32 minutes of play. But, in the end, the Crowns got the win and the crowd got a good laugh.