Eric Long Quotations

When you put yourself in the position to have to come back like that it forces your hand. You have to make every play and you can't make a mistake. But the story of this game was told in the first four minutes.

We switched defenses and the change caused Galva some trouble. Our energy level picked up at that point in the game.

What you saw tonight was the results of trying to press for three straight days. Our shooting was terrible and we couldn't buy a bucket. That's one of the disadvantages of playing back-to-back-to-back. We got a little tired and we lost our legs.

It is getting to that point in the year where you have to start playing your best basketball. Not that we have been messing around, but it's time to get serious. We are nine days to the end of the regular season and it is time to put up or shut up and I am challenging these guys to put it up.

I thought we played great defense in the first half. But what we didn't do was capitalize on that on the offensive end. Because of that we didn't get the score up like we wanted to. The pace was definitely a pace that Orion wanted and it was a big factor in the game.

I was very proud of our effort today. Our seniors did a great job of leading us. The energy from the locker room to the court was better and the way it needs to be.

We're already working with the city, and we hope to begin moving dirt this fall.

We got some real good looks, even when we were down two or three. We executed some plays, but we just couldn't knock down those open looks. Give Orion credit, they have to be the best defensive team we have faced all year.

Brandon is as quick a guard as I have seen or played with. He is very tough to guard, not just because of his quickness, but his ability to handle the ball. Friday when he got comfortable going to the hoop, you could just see it and Stark County had a hard time containing him.

Down the stretch we could have folded. I like where we are at mentally right now. We are starting to get very, very tough. We have gone through a lot of ups and downs this season and it seems like every game is a regional championship atmosphere. That is going to make us a strong team down the stretch.

Sometimes you just have to change things up and do some different things to wake everyone up. Today we woke up and played a great game.

The way we came out and continued the intensity we had in the second quarter was a key factor in the game.

It was nothing but hard work. People don't understand the amount of hours these guys spent this summer shooting the basketball. All 15 of these kids were in the gym all day working hard. They gave up a lot of their personal opportunities to build their skills and help the team. That is why we went from six wins last year to 16 now.

I'm not happy with the way we are responding on the road right now. It happened at Streator and it cost us the game. It happened again tonight. Our slow start cost us this game.

I liked the fact that we came out with intensity, pressure and a lot of focus after a disappointing loss the night before. It just shows these kids have great character.

If you look at their field goal percentages from last year, and compare them to this year, you'll see a huge improvement. That is due to dedication and deciding that they are going to become better offensive players. Their ability to play better offensively combined with the other weapons we have, made us a tough team to stop.

Instead of taking a six-point lead in our run, it could of, and should have, been a 10- or 15-point lead. That's if we come out and play them even from the start. You just can't do that against good teams.

In the two games that we played them prior to tonight, our man-to-man defense was better than our trap. But it was just the opposite tonight. Our trap and our energy we had with it was just awesome and it changed the momentum of the game.

Chad is shooting 75 percent on the year and I told him before he shot the third one the odds of him missing was zero. He did, but we did a good job of getting rebounds off of those misses and I am glad we overcame those types of things. You are going to miss free throws from time to time, but we still found a way to win.

I can't be any prouder of our effort and I thought Princeville played great basketball. If they shoot one percentage lower then they don't win. We executed everything we wanted to, we played hard defense and I thought we rebounded pretty well considering their size advantage. I couldn't ask for a better effort.

I couldn't be prouder of four guys. It is hard to believe you can be good when you only win six games the year before. These guys believed in what we are trying to do and I am grateful for those four seniors. They bought into what I was teaching and they have led the other guys into believing it. It is because of that leadership we turned things around this year.

I couldn't be any prouder of these kids in this locker room right here. They played a great basketball game. Lets just say that there were forces outside of our control that cost us the game.

These four (along with seniors Tyler Russell and Cody Hagerman) have set a tone for our program, now and in the future, with how hard they worked. When I think of Brandon and Chad, I think of all the hours they put in the gym improving their skills.

The game wouldn't have been that close if we would have been able to make some free throws. We made them when we had to with Chad and Brandon at the end.