Brock Blassingame Quotations

Give Greenville credit because they had no quit in them. They have guys who can score in a variety of ways. They did everything they could shooting the ball, most of the time with our defender guarding the closely. Luckily we had enough of a lead that we were able to pull it off in the end.

We may have been a little nervous. Playing the defending state champs may have had something to do with it, and we had never been here before. We got off to a slow, sluggish start and never could get going, but they had a lot to do with that.

I think we match up well with them and, likewise, they match up well with us. They like to press and play all 94 feet defensively. The key for us is to handle their pressure and take good shoots when we get them.

I think we're playing as well right now as we have all year. The reason is because we're playing together and playing very unselfish.

Pine Tree outplayed us and was the better team tonight. They were better prepared, and you have to give credit to their coach and kids. The bottom line was that they did a better job than we did.

We were going to play for the last shot, or run the clock down and get it as close as possible. We did that. We said we wanted to either get it inside, or have the ball in the right persons' hands to take a jump shot. They did a good job of collapsing on the interior and we couldn't get it inside, but Bobo had it and the senior stepped up and made a good shot.

We've been fortunate enough to have success this year at home due in large part to the fan support. Tonight we're going to need those fans more than ever. Regardless of how everything shakes out, there's going to be a good team from this district not in the playoffs.

We didn't expect a big lead, but it certainly worked to our advantage. Once we figured out that we didn't have to take the first shot every time down the floor, and that the clock was on our side, we we ended up being better off.

When you get to this point you always have to play your best game. The teams that have made it this far deserve to be here because they have beaten good teams to get this far.

Both teams started out real sluggish. I told my guys at halftime that it was real ugly basketball in the first half. We were ahead 17-14, so we had played well defensively and had the lead. In the second half, we finished well. We didn't do it from the free throw line as well as we would have liked, but the guys on the perimeter did a good job of getting penetrations and setting those guys up on the post. We made a lot of good passes inside against their zone defense.

We knew all along that we were capable of winning district. I think a lot of people sold us short at the beginning. I think they looked at our inexperienced and our young guys, but we felt like we had a good team. We accomplished three major goals tonight with this win. A 20-win season, going undefeated at home, and winning district. Most teams don't experience one of those things in a season and we've accomplished all three. That says a lot for this team and it's something they should be proud of.

We kind of started the game playing on our heels, playing not to lose. But we bounced back from that and started attacking again. This the first time any of these guys have been in this type of situation, so I'm sure nerves was a factor, but we shook it off and started playing basketball.

We tried to set the tempo early. We knew we would be flat, and our defense helped us pull through it. Defense is what we do best. Our goal is to hold our opponents to 45 points and under. Allowing only 30 points is a credit to the kids.

That's just good defense on our part. We knew Mount Pleasant could be explosive because they had been beating teams a lot of different ways.

This is one of the few games this year in which we had a size disadvantage, but we knew that going into the game. Not only are they bigger, but they are a lot faster.

They're solid because they have size, athleticism and quickness. They don't have any weaknesses. They're coming out of what's probably the best Class 4A district in the state.

That lead ended up being huge. If we had played two more minutes, who knows how this would have ended up.

It will be the shortest ride home from McKinney for those fans. Boy do we appreciate their support.

In the first half, we were sluggish and we weren't doing what we needed to do to be successful. They were doing a great job of controlling the tempo, and they were playing great defense. I think on the offensive end, we were getting a little anxious in the first half.

In the second half, we came out and did what we needed to do. I was pleased with our defense, our free throw shooting and very pleased that we could get the win.

This has got to be the biggest win. I mean we just beat a Class 4A team with a lot of tradition and one that's very well coached. They do what they do very well, but our kids stepped up and did it better tonight.

The good thing for us is there is no pressure on us. The key for us to relax and play our game.