Bob Semling Quotations

We had a very solid performance, especially as good as River Falls has been playing lately. A 14-point win on the road is nice to see.

I can't help but think even if we get a split with Platteville, we've got a share of the title. Unfortunately, we let Platteville stand in our way.

I thought at the start of the second half we made a statement. I loved our toughness, heart and passion we gave out on the court. In big games like this it's all about surviving, conquering and moving on.

I think they imposed their will on us. They made tough shots and big shots and executed. They knocked us on our heels and they got us to go out of character.

Our guys know they can beat them. We have to do the things we've done well against them. We have to take care of the ball, shoot well and get second shot opportunities. And we're going to need to get some big stops on defense.

Overall, I don't know if we hold any secret answers over Stout. I don't think they have any doubts or fears playing us.

Matt epitomized a team player. He gives everything and asks for nothing. Now he's helping this team try to win a championship. He made some clutch shots.

I was overall please with our effort. I told the guys I wanted championship level competitiveness and execution.

We got off to a real difficult start. I thought we played a little tentative and that fed into them. We knew we could come back. I didn't have to come up with any magical words. I just had to make sure the guys knew it wasn't just cheap talk.

We found a way to crack them with that big run before half. That gave us a good lift and we had great energy to come out in the second half. Pete has a real good feel for the game. He has a knack of where to be.

We'll learn from this. This will really help us. When we talk about this, and discipline and toughness and being who we are, they'll understand. We'll revert back to this game and they'll remember and this will help them down the stretch.

We'll see how their fans respond and how well that helps Stout. With the competition at such a fever pitch at this point in the season, I'm not certain if there is a certain advantage to being home or away.

We battled and competed all the way. The kids wanted this win badly, but we just didn't have quite enough. Crawford stepped up and made some big-time plays down the stretch.

We showed a lot of character after the loss Wednesday and I expected nothing less.

When you let a team play that well in your gym this can happen. We didn't think Platteville would come in and not give us their best shot. For whatever reason, we let them get started and let them believe.

We wanted to bring the ball to the basket in some way. We had 15 seconds and that is plenty of time. But we muffed a pass and then we were in kind of a scramble mode. We had to take a not in rhythm shot.

Brian Bauer got us believing back in September. We weren't going to wait until next year. He was on fire leading and challenging the team.

That's who we are, a very good shooting team. We have five (starters) on the floor who can all make a big shot. They have a lot of heart and a lot of character. They believe in themselves, and we believe in them.

There's a rhythm shot that we make. To their credit, they got rhythm jump shots that you know you're going to make and we were trying to make it happen and force it to happen.

It's disappointing to get off to that start on your home floor, and the other team plays with more passion and urgency. Certainly you want to start fast and get the crowd into it. You've got to have some grit when things don't go well and bounce back quickly. You can't wait until halftime.

Not many teams as young as we are against a team as good as Stout is going to get back in the game like we did. We were right there and then we had some bad breaks.

I love this team. There has been a lot of grit and fight in these guys all season. These guys made my first year so special. They had no quit and taught me so much about resiliency.

I love how these guys trust each other. We get into a good rhythm of finding the guy with the hot hand. It seems simple but a lot of teams don't do it.

I'm sure our guys are feeling like we had them down there (Feb. 15). We've talked about that and I'm certain our guys hoped they could play Platteville again. And I'm sure Platteville would want to play us again.

I'm proud of those young guys. They're learning so much. They're growing up right before our eyes.