"That's not why we lost." The time Bobby Hatchett gave the best post game answer ever.

Scott County Central and Sikeston. Two schools, located 8 miles apart. They share the same 63801 zip code, but in 2009 they hadn't played a game in 38 years. There were relatives on both rosters, blood kin - first cousins from multiple families.

SCC, the Class 1 school, has more state championship banners (18 in boys, 7 in girls) than any school in the state of Missouri. Fans from Sikeston, the Class 4 school, will be quick to say, "Yeah but that's Class 1. You guys wouldn't beat us if we played."

The two schools stopped playing some time back in the early 70's, right after SCC opened up their new school outside of Sikeston. SCC is a consolidated district of several little towns (Morley, Vanduser, Haywood City, Grant City), but the actual school building sits out on highway 61, less than three miles from the Sikeston city limits.

According to the stories handed down through the generations, SCC beat Sikeston in a basketball game at Sikeston one night. Before the players and cheerleaders could get back to the bus, there was a fight in the lobby. Or was it the bathroom? It depends on who is telling the story. Bricks got thrown through the bus windows. Or somebody got stabbed. Or both.

My guess is that about 90% of the story is embellished and pure exaggeration at this point.

To hear the old timers tell it, there had to be at least 20,000 people at the game, because everybody who ever tells you the story was there and that brick almost hit them right in the head.

The truth is probably a lot more simple. Sikeston didn't like getting beat by the little school. There was a ruckus after the game. The two schools stopped playing each other. End of story.

Then came 2009, when Sikeston had Michael Porter, a four time all state senior. Scott County Central had Otto Porter, Jr who is currently playing in the NBA. Sikeston had Janeil Hatchett. Scott County Central had Bobby Hatchett. Somewhere along the line - probably over a heated Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner argument about who had the better team - the idea of this game actually happening started to take shape.

Sometime after Christmas, rumor of the game started to pick up steam. Enough time had passed, and there were enough family bloodlines on both sides that it looked like the game might actually happen.

They eventually decided to play the game at the Show-Me Center, home of Southeast Missouri State University. The game would sell out the 7,000 seat arena. The game was broadcast live across the internet. These were two of the best teams in the state. It had a "Game of the Century" kind of feeling, and for most of the players involved, this game carried a lifetime of bragging rights.

The game lived up to the hype. It came down to the last minute, and then it came down to the very last shot. This is what unfolded (watch the video, and you'll see what I mean).

Bobby Hatchett, a standout junior guard from Scott County Central, drove the baseline and attempted the game winning shot. Bobby was related to (literally) half of the players in this game. It has enormous meaning to him personally. His grandfather, Larry Mosley, who I've written about before (I loved that man), coached (literally) almost every player in the game at some point during their career.

There was a lot riding on that shot for Bobby.

So imagine how disappointed he was when he missed that shot. Imagine how upset he was. How upset would you be? One SCC fan allegedly chased the referee's off the floor. They had missed the foul call. This was NOT fair!

How did Bobby handle it? When asked by the reporters after the game, he said, "I was fouled, but that ain't what lost us the game... It was everything. Just the little things - rebounding, and all the little things we didn't do that they did tonight."

He was 17 years old, had just lost a tough, hard fought game where he obviously got fouled and should have been shooting free throws for a chance at the win. He didn't offer up one excuse. He pointed to all of the things his team could have done better, things that would have made that final call irrelevant.

That's what winners do.

The next year, almost one year to the date, the two schools had a rematch. This time SCC won, and after the game Bobby said about his Sikeston buddies, "I've got to go back down there and see them, I can talk stuff now."

The point of the story is Bobby didn't win when SCC came back and won the rematch. He won when he didn't make an excuse after a loss. When we talk about "Just Win Today," it doesn't mean that we never have a bad day or lose a game or experience a defeat. Bobby examined what he could have done better instead of making an excuse. That is what made the next win possible.

We could all learn something from that example.

And just for the record, the following year the two schools tried to set up a tie breaker game. For some reason that game got cancelled. SCC, led by a senior named Otto Porter Jr, would finish the year 30-2 and win the Class 1 state championship, their only two losses coming to Dallas (TX) Lincoln High School and Chicago (IL) Simeon High School (who had Jabari Parker), both nationally ranked teams. Sikeston would finish that season 30-0 and win the Class 4 state championship, just obliterating every team in their path.

Who would have won that game? Who had the best team in the 63801 zip code that year? I guess we can keep arguing about that over Thanksgiving for the next 38 years.

Thanks for reading. Be like Bobby. Don't make excuses. They're an obstacle to getting better. #JWT