It’s easy when you know how! Moment: An Indiana cheerleader saves a postponed basketball game by having a teammate easily lift her into the air to retrieve a stuck ball
- Two members of the Hoosiers cheerleading squad, Nathan Paris and Cassidy Czerny, teamed up to save the day in Indiana’s 82–53 crushing loss to the St. Marys.
- The ball got stuck on top of the backboard and between the backboard and the shot clock, preventing anyone from jumping high enough to reach it.
- The tallest players on the court and game officials tried to win back the basketball with a mop and ladder.
- But Cerny was lifted into the air by Paris, while her two legs were in his palms, and grabbed the ball.
- After her descent, Czerny and Paris thanked the crowd with loud applause.
- “What a play!” Added TBS player Andrew Catalon. “Cheerleader saves the day! And this is her only bright moment! This place is on your feet!
An Indiana cheerleader saved her life after finding a stuck basketball during the NCAA March Madness Basketball Tournament thanks to a teammate effortlessly lifting her into the air right up to the rim.
An impressive performance by Cassidy Czerny and teammate Nathan Paris came in the second half of Thursday’s first round game between 5th-ranked St. Mary’s College and 12th-ranked Indiana in Portland, Oregon.
The ball got stuck on top of the backboard and between the backboard and the shot clock, making it too high for anyone to just jump up and get it.
The game official tried to knock the ball out with a mop while standing on a chair, but his attempt was unsuccessful.
And when all the tallest players on the court failed to hit the ball, the crowd and commentators from the live March Madness game called the Hoosiers cheerleaders into action.
That’s when Paris and Czerny intervened. The pair teamed up so that Czerny could rise into the air while her legs were in Paris’s palms and grab the ball.
After her descent Czerny and Paris, the crowd thanked with loud applause.
“What a play!” Added TBS player Andrew Catalon. “Cheerleader saves the day! And this is her only bright moment!
“This place stands on its feet!”
A basketball was caught between the shot clock and the backboard during the second half of the first round game of the NCAA Tournament in Indiana and St. Mary’s.
The game official and the two tallest players from both teams gathered around to try and get the ball with a mop. Their attempts failed
Cassidy Czerny, an Indiana cheerleader, was picked up by Nathan Paris to return the ball, much to the delight of the crowd and the surprise of those around.
After the game, March Madness 365 podcast creator Andy Katz interviewed the pair.
“At what point did you realize that you needed to do something?” he asked, referring to the pressure of the crowd trying to restart the game.
“Well, at one point they were looking at us. We looked like we should be thrown out this time, maybe put there,” Czerny said. “But then it really happened, even though I didn’t think it would happen!
“They had a chair, but they couldn’t put the player on the chair,” Paris added. “And I thought, ‘We bring them up all the time, so why not give it a try?’
Although their team lost, the duo of Nathan Paris and Cassidy Czerny (pictured) saved the day.
St. Mary’s will play UCLA in the second round on Saturday after going out on a 82-53 win.
“We’re a tough team, not a beautiful team,” Johnson told AP News after the game. “We all find ways to do it. And we know that as soon as we start to act in defense and especially in attack, teams have problems and they really understand what they are getting into.
On the other hand, the Indiana players finally arrived in Portland earlier in the day after a sleepless night due to a flight delay from Dayton following their 66-58 top-four win over Wyoming on Tuesday.