That quarter set the tone. This was a close game after one -- North Branford led 13-11 at the first turn -- but with the 8-0 quarter, we took control. The momentum carried into the second half. |
The fourth quarter came down to just playing basketball. The guys played together and we put the ball in the hands of the right people. |
The game wasn't as close as that score might make it seem. We had a seven, eight point lead most of the way. But Hale-Ray competes, they fight and they kept coming at us. I think that's the best four-win team in the state. |
The good news is we got 30 free throws. We hoped to do that by using our height advantage and we did. The bad news is we made only 14. |
They made more baskets than we did, but we made more free throws and that's what won the game. |
They out-rebounded us in the second half. That's how they got back in the game. But we made our free throws down the stretch and it was really Nick Comstock who won the game for us. |
They're the best team...the best five players overall in the Shoreline. I made the comment before...I don't think there are any spectacular talents on that team but as a team they do everything very well. They set screens, they execute their offense, they defend and they make open shots. |
This was a big win for us. When you look back at the schedule it will just look like our fifth win in a row, but it took us (until) the last week of the season last year to get that eighth win. It shows the strides we've made as a team. |
This was one of the more unselfish games we've played. The kids were looking for each other. Even the jayvees in the fourth quarter were looking to get the ball to those who hadn't scored. It was nice to see. |
We didn't feel like it was a safe lead, not against this team on the road. |
We had a little more focus in the second half. Our defense was excellent. We held them to two field goals in the second half and our offense fed off our defense. |
We had hoped to hold him under 20, but obviously we didn't do that. |
We had no answer for Gonzalez. We switched defenses on him all night and made him work, but he had 31 points and won the game. He's the most talented scorer we've seen this year. |
We had one of the poorest shooting nights of the season. We got down early and we were never able to bounce back. We made a little run at the end but there's only so much you can do. |
We were never able to get into any kind of rhythm either offensively or defensively. I thought we particularly struggled at the guard position tonight. |