North Central Basketball Player Blaise Meredith Flies Face-First Into Backboard; 'I Got A Little Higher Than I Expected'
CHICAGO (CBS) -- North Central College guard Blaise Meredith got the block on a fast break, but it cost him, after he jumped just a bit too high.
Playing against Augustana College on Wednesday in Rock Island, Meredith sprinted to chase down Chrishawn Orange on a fast break, leaping high to make the block as Orange went for the layup.
While he did manage to swat the ball out of bounds, he ended up slamming face-first into the backboard.
OMG! I can't stop watching this.. ????. A block gone wrong...#SportsCenterNotTop10
— Skubie Mageza (@SkubieMageza) January 3, 2019
North Centrals Blaise Meredith tries to chase down a block and gets punished by the backboard. Don't worry he was ok and went back into the game moments later.
But SHEEESHHH! @espn @SportsCenter pic.twitter.com/ETxqRIuUwf
Meredith had jumped so high, as he was coming back down, his hip landed on Orange's shoulder, carrying his head into the backboard, and sending him sprawling onto the hardwood.
"I got a little higher than I expected, I guess," Meredith said. "I got the block, but next thing I know, I'm on the ground, and I was just a little confused, like 'what happened?' but I realized I'd hit my face, and I know I'd hit my face on the backboard, and I was just surprised I could get that high."
Amazingly, Meredith wasn't seriously hurt, and he returned to the game just moments later.
Video of Meredith's play went viral, and the Naperville native said he's loving all the attention.
"Everybody keeps asking me if I'm okay, because the video, it's kind of an odd thing to see someone hitting their head that hard. I'm actually fine. Besides that, it's just been kind of cool just to see yourself on all these platforms that you see all these other athletes on," he said.
Meredith said, other than his bruised hip, he feels fine. Unfortunately, although he made the block, North Central ended up losing to Augustana 76-59.