One-armed player for Northwestern St scores first points

NATCHITOCHES, La. (AP) — As quickly as Hansel Emmanuel started to weave in from the suitable wing, his Northwestern State teammates began to face up. When he dribbled between two defenders for a stylish layup, most everybody within the health club joined them.

The freshman with one arm was lastly on the board.

And a minute later Saturday night time, the 6-foot-6 guard supplied probably the most defining second of the sport — a thunderous dunk in a 91-73 win over Louisiana-Monroe.

“I had to keep going after the layup – that was my first bucket,” Emmanuel stated in a quote posted on the Southland Conference college’s web site. “I know my family was proud. I had to keep working. You can’t give up.”

The 19-year-old Emmanuel, who misplaced his left arm just under his shoulder in a childhood accident, wound up scoring 5 points. He was 2 of three from the sphere and 1 of 5 from the foul line, together with two rebounds in eight minutes.

Emmanuel had performed in 4 earlier video games for the Demons this season, taking pictures 0 for 2 with one rebound.

Born within the Dominican Republic, Emmanuel was 6 when a pile of cinderblocks fell on him. The injury was so extreme, medical doctors needed to amputate his arm.

Emmanuel later moved to Florida and have become a giant scorer in highschool. He drew curiosity from Memphis, amongst different faculties, and have become an web sensation final 12 months for his spotlight movies posted to social media.

The Demons (8-2) have been nicely on the way in which to their seventh straight win when Emmanuel began to drive towards his first points. He easily minimize to the ring for his layup with 2 1/2 minutes left.

With barely over a minute to go, Emmanuel was fouled and made the first free throw. He missed the second shot, however corralled a free ball simply past the foul line, took one dribble and threw down a high-flying dunk.

The slam made it 89-70 and introduced Emmanuel’s teammates and the gang of 1,627 to their toes once more for a good longer cheer.