How to Write an AP Sports Recap Very Quickly (college basketball version)

Pithy phrase. Team X exhibited this pithy phrase throughout the game.

No. xx Team X defeated No. yy Team Y xx-xx yesterday at (some stadium/court/center) in front of (blank) spectators.

Coming into the game, Team X was doing something. After the game they were no longer doing this thing (or continued to do it!).

Player Z came up huge for Team X with (blank) points, including a generic play that happens at least 5 times a game, every game, but I still feel like describing here.

“That dudes a winner,” Coach of Team X said. “He wins, works hard, gives 110%, takes one game at a time and does whatever we ask him to do. He’d even mop the floor after the game if we wanted!”

Team Y couldn’t pull out the victory despite a mediocre performance by one of their players.

“That dude on Team X was just too much today,” said the visibly dejected Coach of Team Y. “Player Z is a hard worker. He does the little things. Little things like score points and win games which are important things, yet little.”

Team X outrebounded Team Y/caused more turnovers than Team Y/went to the free throw line more often than Team Y/outshot Team Y/held Team Y to low shooting percentage. Numbers-wise it was the nth worst game for Team Y this year in this statistic. Coach of Team X thinks his team is always prepared to bang on the boards/hustle on defense/attack the rim/shoot the lights out/challenge every shot.

“We didn’t do anything different in practice this week,” he said. “We will always work hard and try to improve and give effort and stuff.”

But the story was the pretty solid if not generic performance by Player Z. His good number of one of the main statistics (points, rebounds, steals, assists, occasionally blocks) was a key in the game.

“We’re not going to quit or back down from anybody,” said Player Z. “At the same time, we always respect our opponents. Team Y is a good team. They played [well] and they played hard, but we were able to pull it out because we always take it one game at a time and never back down by taking it one game at a time and practicing hard and thereby we are able to not back down.”

Team Y played a certain defense throughout the game until the end when the score forced a change in tactic.

One of the teams made a very small run to end the half leading to the halftime score of xx-xx.

A previously unmentioned player had a few points, and one other player also scored some points.