Colorado State basketball player loses parents, niece, nephew to Maryland house fire
One day after a Colorado State basketball player lost both parents and his younger relatives to a house fire, he was given the game ball in Wednesday’s basketball game.
Emmanuel Omogbo, a 20-year-old junior, received the game ball after scoring one point in Wednesday’s game against the Air Force Falcons. The day before, his parents, Caroline and Samson Omogbo, as well as his niece and nephew, two-year-old twins, died after their Maryland home caught on fire.
But Omogbo was at the game on Wednesday at the Clune Arena, even arriving an hour early to practice.
For the first time this season, Omogbo wasn’t in the starting lineup, but he did play for fifteen minutes in the first half. During the second half, Omogbo spent his time sitting on the bench with his chin resting on his hands.
“He was never right in the ballgame, he just wasn’t right,” Coach Larry Eustachy said, reports ESPN. “He was holding everything in.”
After the game, the team met in the locker room and broke down.
“Most gallant effort I ever saw,” Eustachy said. ‘We really wanted to win that game so we could give him a winning ball.”
“We gave him the game ball and he broke down. Everybody broke down. That was one of those moments you can’t hold back,” said forward Tiel Daniels.
Omogbo was born in Nigeria and grew up in Hyattsville, Maryland. He played for South Plains College in Texas before joining CSU’s squad this year.
A GoFundMe page has been set up by the university’s athletic department to assist Omogbo’s family.
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