Cinderella story comes to an end for Woods, East Lansing

By Jared Field

14 March 2008

greatlakeshoop.com

East Lansing--What a run.

The East Lansing Trojans and their star forward, senior Charlie Woods, bowed out of the state class A tournament gracefully this afternoon, with no regrets.

Easy come, easy go.

"It was great being the underdog all the time," said East Lansing's Charlie Woods after his team's 69-49 loss against no. 1-rated Saginaw. "It wasn't like we went out there not caring, but we knew that the other team was supposed to win so we just went all out.

"We gave it our all; it was fun."

The Trojans finished the regular season with eight losses including a few inexplicable setbacks to Jackson Lumen Christi, Lansing Eastern and Grand Ledge. And after their opening round win over St. Johns, the Trojans were favored to lose each subsequent game--and they won them all.

"There is a sense of accomplishment just being here," said Woods, who closed out his career with a double-double--16 points and 10 rebounds. "We played sick, through a lot of the season, with the flu and everything and I think we just played our best basketball coming out of the regular season and into the playoffs."

Woods, who recently committed to play his college ball at the University of Denver, learned some valuable life lessons in the midst of his team's magical run.

"You know, I learned just to never give up in every situation," he said. "We were down 15 a couple games ago and we came back. Never give up and always follow your dreams. That was our whole team's dream, to come to the states and play at the Breslin--and that's what we did."

I could sense in Woods a realization that there was nothing East Lansing could have done differently to beat Saginaw--they lost to a better team. His is a mindset lost on many players today, who often don't know when they are truly licked.

"We were disappointed," said Woods, who, despite the loss, considered today to be his fondest memory of the run. "But, we achieved what we set out to do."

His day with Day Day

Woods had a great view of a truly remarkable performance from Saginaw's Draymond Green on Friday. The Mr. Basketball runner-up poured in 32 points with 16 rebounds.

So what make Green so tough?

"His power," remarked Woods, who admitted that Green is the best player he has played against. "His 'bigness.' His shot really wasn't effective, but when he was in the post he was really effective."