Seven men wearing black uniforms came from society onto the San Quentin basketball court. Six had on basketball shorts and jerseys with Imago Dei written in blue letters, while the seventh had white Zebra stripes. He was Vic Stauffer, who refereed Imago’s 74-69 victory over the San Quentin Warriors.
“A former guard named Ernie Pulliam told me about the basketball program and I knew it was something I wanted to be part of,” said Stauffer, a 10-year high school basketball coach in Marin County.
Visiting teams come into an environment where the refs, fans and basketball players are all San Quentin residents. Having an outside ref help out regular refs Isaiah Caldwell and Robert Lee is the closest thing to a home game Imago Dei could get.
“It’s still not a home game,” said Jon Williams, an Imago shooting guard.
Home court didn’t matter. Although five Warriors scored in the double digits, Imago Dei players Williams and former semi pro Teohn Connor dropped 23 points apiece, leading their team to victory.
David Lee got the Warriors off to a good start. He aggressively drove to the rack, scoring 11 first-quarter points, including a trey at the buzzer, to give the Warriors the 23-19 lead.
Steve Diekman came alive in the second, dropping three straight three-pointers, helping Imago end the first half up, 42-31. He finished with 18 points, all from behind the arc.
Imago kept the lead but the Warriors made a push in the fourth quarter.
With 2:09 left, the Warriors were down 66-59 with Harry “ATL” Smith at the line. He made the first free, missed the second, but grabbed his own rebound and reversed slammed, bringing the score to 66-61.
With time running down, the Warriors fouled guard Mike Kerhig, who made one free throw.
On the other end, Warrior Anthony Ammons ended up at the free-throw line and he hit the first, but missed the second. Smith again grabbed the rebound and scored, making the score 67-64 with one minute left.
The Warriors kept fouling to stop the clock, but they weren’t able to convert while Williams made six out of eight free throws in the final minute.
Connor credits the win to “team ball. We had a balanced attack. If I went for 40, we’d probably lose. Also we got stops at the end and luckily we got calls and made free throws.”
Lee led the Warriors with 20 points, Tevin Fournette 15, Ammons 12, and Allan McIntosh and Smith added 11 each.
San Quentin ref Caldwell appreciates the addition of outside help and experience.
“He (Stauffer) solidifies our crew with his wisdom and knowledge of the game,” said Caldwell.