14-4

Due to a snowed out game the last day of school before Christmas break, we had back to back nights of conference games and a chance to establish ourselves as the best team in our conference with 2 conf. games left.


Friday night was a game we have been looking forward to for several weeks now. At the end of all of our previous conference games the opposing coaches have all asked me if we had played St. John's yet, since they are the other "team to beat" this year.


Coming off of our poor showing at last weekend's tournament we had a so-so week of practice, but it looked like our guys were getting back into the swing of things and were ready to get back on track. We also had our brand new vegas gold jerseys to break out for this game (which, incidentally, was a good thing because our opponent played in black jerseys - the same color as our other set). We looked sharp walking out for the opening tip and for the first 2 minutes it looked like we might run away with the game as we jumped all over them with our 3/4 press and worked our way to an early 13-4 lead. Like any good team they utilized a time-out, settled down, made some adjustments and started to play better. Add to that our center picking up two early fouls in the quarter and having to sit out, they managed to pull closer as we lead 16-9 at the end of the 1Q.


In the second quarter our shooting guard picked up his second foul and we switched defensively to a 1-3-1 zone that we have been struggling with. They stepped up their defensive pressure and we made some crucial mistakes in the final minute of the quarter and ended up losing the quarter 10-7, but still lead 23-19 at the half.


At half time there was not much to say other than to continually point out that when our guys stick to the game plan and play our team's brand of basketball, with energy on every possession, we are capable of putting many teams away early. But, when we resort to playing within our bad habits and trying to do things we have not practiced and create things that are not there, we allow many teams to stick around.


Usually the 3Q is our quarter to get our act together, but not this time. For the first 4:30 of the quarter we were unable to even score but we managed to stop them as well. With just under 2 minutes to play in the quarter they got a steal and converted the break to take their first lead of the game. We managed to get a couple baskets off of defensive play in the final 90 seconds to take an unstable 27-25 lead into the final quarter.


The last quarter was a fairly exciting quarter as far as middle school basketball goes. The only major concern I had was the officials. This game's referees were easily in the top 5 most frustrating officials I have ever "worked" with. The home team getting less fouls (4 v. 13) and more free throws (11 v. 4) is a natural part of basketball but the calls going against us were - at times - preposterous. Just as frustrating as the calls going against us were the "imaginative" explanations I was getting from the officials as to why the calls were going against us. These moments prove to be some of the more comical of this season with two assistants on our bench. Both are life long basketball guys (as am I), one is a certified referee and the other is the son of a referee. At the very least it is comforting to have two people in close proximity to affirm my "view" of what was happening.


None-the-less, we found ourselves up 3 with under a minute to play and on defense. We had scrapped the 1-3-1 at half time and we playing man-to-man and got a rebound off their miss with 45ish seconds remaining. At this point they only had 2 team fouls and began a half-hearted attempt at pressuring us and fouling. They only got off two fouls as our guards spaced, moved, passed and dribbled 40 seconds off the clock before the defense knocked the ball out of bounds with 4 seconds left. We are up by 3, with the ball, 4 seconds left- a great position to be in. On the in bounds play - after a time out - our guys ran the play we wanted, but their guy defending the pass tipped it and they got possession, a dribble, a pass and a desperation 3 attempt that hit the top of the backboard and we won 33-30.


Not really a statement game, but a win none-the-less leaving our conference record perfect, for the time being. Somehow, we have to find a way to motivate our guys to channel their play from the first 2 minutes for the whole game. If we can do that, we are going to have plenty of opportunities still this season to play great ball and see rewards for our efforts.


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Our Saturday night game was against a team that we took 2 out of 3 from last year. Of all the Lutheran school gyms we play in (which are all great), theirs is the best. Besides the full length and width floor, they have spacious sidelines and a lower and upper level seating (not that a middle school games would ever necessitate the upper level, but it's nice to have).

We saw this opponent play at an earlier holiday tournament where they won the consolation championship (while we took 2nd). From seeing them there and during their warm-ups, we were fairly comfortable in thinking we should have won this game.

We came out a little slow and a little sloppy. The gym was loud and our opponent was ready to play. There were a lot of turnovers for both sides in the first quarter, but we did enough right to take an 8-4 into the second quarter.

At this point the pace of the game picked up significantly. In most cases this ends up being to our advantage, but since our opponents' frantic amped up pace caused us to play frantic our guys were making way too many mistakes to capitalize. The quarter was a 10-10 tie leaving us in the lead 18-14.

It appeared that we were stuck in whatever slump we fell in for most of Friday's game. At halftime we had nothing to say that we had not already said for the entire season at halftime breaks. When we play disciplined and within our plan, we are good enough to make plays and control the game. When we do not, games we should easily win become games where the outcome is in doubt until the very end.

There was no magic in the locker room, but something set in as we returned with a more typical third quarter and then some as we rolled 13-0 in the quarter on our way to a 31-14 lead heading into the final quarter. At that point we were able to get some of our less experienced guys some good minutes, shots and baskets as we coasted to a 44-26 victory.

The win put us at 5-0 in our conference with two games left to play, both against opponents in the bottom half of our conference's standings. (I actually got an email from a coach congratulating us on our conference championship, flattering but a tad bit early for me.) I felt way better after Saturday night than I did Friday, knowing that - at least for 12 minutes - we had played the basketball we were capable of playing and had definitively defeated someone.

With four weeks to go, and our 3 biggest tournaments, we are hoping that this is a sign of a team peaking at the right time.