Another tip-in to win

Bishop Luers's DeShaun Thomas picked up his second buzzer-beating tip-in to win a basketball game in eight days. South Side held Thomas to just 20 points and 15 rebounds, but he buried the Archers when it counted to win the SportONE SAC Holiday Tournament championship. Read the game story by News-Sentinel Sports reporter Nick West on the Prep Sports Page at News-Sentinel.com.






Thomas, center, tips in a basket in the final minute of the Knights' SportONE SAC holiday Tournament championship victory.
Photo by Chad Ryan of The News-Sentinel.

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The girls championship game kicked off the night round of the tournament with a bang for the standing-room-only crowd at Wayne High School. Elmmhurst and South Side played a close game with Elmhurst pulling out a two-point win to claim its first SAC tournament championship. Once again Nick West did a great job of telling the story.

South Side's Normalyn Smith buries her face in her hands after a referee took away her chance to tie Elmhurst in Saturday's SportONE SAC Holiday Tournament championship game with less than 10 seconds remaining. Down by three point, Smith drove the lane, scored and drew a foul, but the referee ruled the foul happened on the floor. Elmhurst held on to beat the Archers 60-58.

Photo by Chad Ryan of The News-Sentinel

Darrell Reid lowers the Boom

If you missed the Indianapolis Colts game against the Tennessee Titans last night, you missed this monsterous hit by Indy's Darrell Reid on Tennessee's Chris Henry during a kickoff return. In fact, stop what you're doing, walk away from the computer and tune your TV to ESPN to catch the replay on SportsCenter. It was as big a hit as I've ever seen in football. It was down right nasty to watch from field level. The replay was shown five or six times during the commercial break, and the crowd reacted with the same amount of enthusiasm all five times it was replayed. It was that big.




Indianapolis Colts defensive tackle Darrell Reid, top, blows up Tennessee Titans running back Chris Henry on a kickoff return in the Colts' 16-10 loss in their season finale on Sunday, December 30, at the RCA Dome.

Photo by Chad Ryan of The News-Sentinel

Basketball, Basketball, and more Basketball

Bishop Luers' DeShaun Thomas, center, floats to the basket, laying in two of his game-high 35 points in the Knights' 67-60 win over Northrop in the SportONE SAC Holiday Tournament. Thomas, ranked the No. 1 prospect for his age group, averages more than 30 points a game for the Class 3A No. 1-ranked Knights. Thomas led the state in scoring last year as a freshman and is on track to break Bishop Luers' all-time scoring record in just his second season with the team.

Photo by Chad Ryan.


The annual SportONE Summit Athletic Conference Holiday Tournament is in full swing, and I have been shooting many of the games. The SAC tourney is down to the fiinal four in both girls and boys brackets, and the champions will be crowned Saturday night. I got to the venue early tonight to set up a remote camera. I originally intended to set up something I haven't done, but the logistics didn't work out with the venue's staff, so I went with a backboard remote, and I got a couple of decent photos. I think I'll try again for the finals.

*****Note - For the "right-clickers" amongst us: Before deciding to illegally download photos from this site, please consider that my work is strictly copyright protected. It is NOT part of the public domain, and absolutely NO UNAUTHORIZED USE is permitted under any circumstances. Contact me by email through this site for information on how to obtain licensing for the use of my images. We'll discuss your needs and how I can help you meet them.

Merry Christmas!

Although my family celebrates Christmas, I want to wish everyone a happy holiday (whichever it may be). I also want to send out a big thank you to everyone who comes here to check out my work. I certainly appreciate your time.



My six-month old son, Luke, was more interested in trying to eat the ball on my Santa hat than having pictures made of him. My wife and I got some knock out photos today until the Santa hat made an appearance. I know when the "awww" comes out as we look over photos of the baby that Cheryl likes what I've done.

For those that want to see more pictures from Sunday's Colts game against the Texans, I have a few galleries posted. Check them out here and here. Oh, and here for the Colts' cheerleaders in their blue Santa's helpers outfits.

A couple of pics

It's been a slightly busy weekend compounded by the fact that I had not started my Christmas shopping. After getting back from the Colts game around 9:30 last night, I was off to get as much of my shopping done as possible. I'll be finishing up today - Christmas Eve. I'm sure I won't be the only one.



12/23/2007 - Indianapolis, Ind. - Indianapolis Colts wide receiver Reggie Wayne, center, hauls in a reception an instant before Houston Texans safety C.C. Brown, left, blasted Wayne, knocking the ball out of his hands. Wayne later caught a touchdown reception in the Colts' 38-15 win over Houston on Sunday, December 23, at the RCA Dome.

Photo by Chad Ryan



12/23/2007 - Indianapolis, Ind. - Indianapolis Colts safety Bob Sanders, lfet, hits Houston Texans tight end Owen Daniels, knocking the ball out of Daniels' hands. The pass was ruled complete after Colts coach Tony Dungy challenged the on-field ruling that the ball was caught.

Photo by Chad Ryan



12/21/2007 - Fort Wayne, Ind. - Bishop Luers' Kelsey Wyss, left, reaches to take a pass in the Knights' 46-33 win at Bishop Dwenger on Friday.

Photo by Chad Ryan

Feeling Welcome

I just want to send out a quick thank you to Mitch Harper and all of the folks from Fort Wayne Observed who came over to check out my work. I've got a full tilt of high school basketball on tap for tonight, and I'll get a photo or two up as soon as I can (likely Saturday).

Thanks again, and a hat tip to Mr. Harper for adding me to the blog list on FWOb.

My pictures from tonight's games will be up sometime after midnight on The News-Sentinel's photo sharing site CU for those that want to see more pics from the games.

***Disclaimer - not intended to be a shameless plug for CU ... just an announcement that my pics can be seen there tonight.

December Art

Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning, center, throws a shovel pass to running back Luke Lawton in the fourth quarter of the Colts' 28-25 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday, December 2, at the RCA Dome.


Indianapolis Colts safety Bob Sanders, right, and cornerback Marlin Jackson celebrate after Sanders delivered a jarring hit on Jacksonville's Greg Jones near the Jaguars' goal line on Sunday, December 2, at the RCA Dome.


Bishop Dwenger's Justin Frain, center, sets the pace in the boys 1000-yard freestyle race at the Fort Wayne Classic.


Bishop Luers' DeShaun Thomas makes a move to the basket in the Knights' game at South Side on December 7. Thomas finished the game with 32 points and 18 rebounds.


South Side coach Ryan Bond, center, goes ballistic after the referees counted a tip-in at the halftime buzzer by Bishop Luers' DeShaun Thomas. Bond thought the tip happened after the buzzer.


New Haven's Trent Culbertson reacts after scoring a reversal in the last 20 seconds of his match to beat Yorktown's Brenten Hiestand during the New Haven Invitational on Saturday, December 15. Culbertson was one of four Bulldogs to go undefeated on the day.

November Art

Indianapolis Colts receiver Anthony Gonzalez, left, draws a pass interference call on New England Patriots safety Asante Samuel.


IPFW forward Jaraun Burrows, left, hustles after the basketball as it heads out of bounds. IPFW opened its home schedule on Thursday, November 15, losing to Valparaiso 74-64 at Memorial Coliseum.


Bellmont's Kylee Lehrman, left, and Cindi Miller are the 2007 PrepSports Volleyball Co-Players of the Year.


Fort Wayne Mad Ants guard Rod Wilmont reacts after hitting consecutive three-point buckets in the first half of the Ants' 94-86 season-opening loss to the Tulsa 66ers on Friday, November 23, at Memorial Coliseum.


Fort Wayne's Colin Chaulk, center, throws a punch at Kalamazoo's Mike Bickley in a first-period fight during a game on Saturday, November 24, at Memorial Coliseum. The Komets came back from a three-goal deficit to beat Kalamazoo 4-3 in a shootout.


Northrop basketball player Jessica Harrison.

Better a month-and-a-half later than never

Really, the only excuse I have for not putting up fresh, new content is ... Well, I guess I don't have a good excuse. What I can say is that things have definitely been looking up for me on the sports photo end. I've done some work that I am proud of, and it's starting to get noticed more. I'm working to establish more freelance clients, so I've been pushing myself to get more creative with my lighting. In my opinion, the effort is paying off.

I've got some big things coming up at work. It looks like I'll be travelling to some IU and Purdue basketball games in the very near future. That should be a good time. One on the schedule for sure is Indiana at Michigan State. I'm looking forward to that game. Also, it looks like I'll be covering the Indianapolis Colts through the playoffs once again. I'm rooting for them to go to the Super Bowl, because I have a good shot to go again if they do. (Yes, I'm a Steelers fan, but after they lost to New England the way they did, I have to be realistic.)

In addition to the pro and major college stuff, I have a pretty good plate full of high school sports that I am shooting and writing about. This winter I will be responsible for covering swimmers for our weekly features on The News-Sentinel's Thursday Prep Sports page. Last week I shot swim meet action of the Fort Wayne Classic at Homestead, but didn't get a chance to do any portraits for my story. Another writer had already been assigned to write the story for this week, since my editor wanted me to concentrate on action photos. I was able, however, to do a portrait tonight (Wednesday) of a swimmer for next week. I am happy with the shot, but I needed one more piece of equipment to pull it off the way I wanted it. I'll do a month in review photo post in the next couple of days. I hope you all enjoy the photos.

If you like what you see, don't hesitate to drop me a comment or email, especially if you want to hire me for your important editorial or commercial freelance photo assignments or your company's stock photography needs.

Happy Holidays!

CR