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An Indiana cheerleader saved the day after recovering a stuck basketball during a NCAA March Madness basketball thanks to her teammate effortlessly lifting her into the air and right up to the hoop.
The impressive display from Cassidy Cerny and her teammate Nathan Paris came during the the second half of Thursday’s first-round game between St Mary’s College, ranked at No.5, and Indiana, ranked at No. 12, in Portland, Oregon.
The ball was wedged on top of the backboard and in between the backboard and shot clock, making it too high for anyone to just simply jump up and get it.
A game official tried to get the ball down with a floor mop while standing on a chair, but his attempt was unsuccessful.
And when all of the tallest players on the court failed to recoup the ball, the crowd and March Madness game commentators on air, called the Hoosiers cheerleading squad into action.
That’s when Paris and Cerny stepped in. The pair combined so that Cerny could be lifted into the air while her two feet were in Paris’ hand palms and grab the ball.
Upon her descent, Cerny and Paris were thanked by the crowd with loud cheers.
‘What a play!’ TBS play-by-player Andrew Catalon added. ‘The cheerleader saves the day! And that is her one shining moment!
‘This place is on its feet!’
The basketball was stuck between the shot clock and the backboard during the second half of Indiana and St. Mary’s first-round NCAA Tournament game
A game official and two of the tallest players of both teams gathered around to try and retrieve the ball with a floor mop. Their attempts were unsuccesful
Cassidy Cerny, an Indiana cheerleader, was lifted up by Nathan Paris to retrieve the ball, much to the delight of the crowd and astonishment of those up close
After the game, March Madness 365 podcast creator Andy Katz interviewed the pair.
‘At what point did you realize you needed to do something?,’ he asked, referring to the pressure of the crowd trying to re-start the game.
‘Well at one point they were looking at us. We were look like maybe they should throw us up this time, maybe put us up in there,’ Cerny said. ‘But then it actually happened, I didn’t think it was going to happen though!
‘They had the chair out there but they couldn’t put the player on the chair,’ Paris added. ‘And I was like ‘we lift them up all the time so why not try that?”’
Although their team lost, the duo of Nathan Paris and Cassidy Cerny (pictured) saved the day
Saint Mary’s will play UCLA in the second round Saturday after coming out of the game victorious, winning 82-53.
‘We’re a gritty, not pretty team,’ Johnson told AP News after the game. ‘We all find ways to get it done. And we know once we get going defensively, and especially offensively, that’s when teams are in trouble and they really find out what they’re stepping into.’
On the other hand Indiana’s players had finally arrived in Portland earlier in the day after an all-nighter because of flight delays from Dayton following their 66-58 win against Wyoming in the First Four on Tuesday.
Source: dailymail
