Jay had a stellar night. He made five field goals inside, hit 2-of-2 at the line. He really did a good job. |
Michael always comes in and gives it 100 percent. He's another one of the quiet kids on the team. He's always thinking, 'What's going to happen here?' He's a player's player. He's ready for what's going to happen and he plays good defense and he came in and gave us a big spark because of his energy. And one of the things we talked about was that we had to play with intensity and Michael came in and took that to heart. He played with intensity and it was evident that it gave us a pickup. |
Spencer is our most improved player. He just turned up the dial this year. He got more confident in his ball handling ability. He got more confident in his shooting ability. He's a smart kid. He works hard. He's one of those kids that always asks how he can improve certain aspects of his game and then he's out there working on it. |
That fourth quarter was like a game within a game. Jackson was working hard, and knocking down shots, and I felt our kids were working hard too. I was really proud of the way we maintained our composure. We stayed on the attack, on both ends. That made the difference for us. Our guards did a good job of controlling the ball, and getting everyone involved in the game. We finished the night with just nine turnovers, that stat alone is significant in our success. I'd be happy with that just about any night. |
They hit enough. At that point you can't play trade-off. We've got to be outscoring them all the way through if we're going to be successful. If we could have cut that (lead) to single digits, that would have been the ideal because at that point they're going to start getting worried. And what you're always hoping a team will do (in that situation) is shift their mindset from playing to win to playing not to lose. |
Travis played a really good second half. He plays big in big situations. |
Turnovers hurt us and especially in the first half. We had our team average in the first half for turnovers. We can't afford to squander that many opportunities to score. We have to be smarter with the basketball. |
We didn't do a very good job of denying the ball to Conklin. He's a pretty skilled player. He's a scrappy player. He likes to get out and mix it up. |
We played a good game except for getting the ball in the basket. |
We played pretty well. There were some shots that we need to be able to convert that we didn't. |
We relaxed a little bit when we were 14 points up. They got back into it. |
We think this event has the ability to bring people from outside of the area. Thomas Hart Benton and the work he did is very popular right now, so we saw the momentum. |
We try to approach the end of the quarters on a high note, and that can be a great defensive stand or a good offensive opportunity. I think our kids are understanding the power of momentum more and more and we certainly want the momentum swinging our way, so we'll play good defense or work for the best shot or both. Maintaining our focus was a key to our success. |
You can't match him on heart - he gives everything. Bill was a leader on the floor too. He was the one before every game that got the guys together for the group cheer - 'Who's house? Our house.' He's the one that took the initiative to make the warm-up CD. He's just a great young man. I can't tell you how much I appreciate everything he did for our basketball team. |