We made a great run at the end of the third. I feel that if we would've started the fourth quarter with a basket instead of a turnover, things would've been a lot different.
One of the things that will kind of go unnoticed is that in the last month of the season our seniors were the ones that led us. Todd and Matt played like all-conference players and that was desire and wanting it more.
One thing the kids have done for all eight of my years here is defend. That's how we do things. The kids know when they come up from junior high they're going to play defense.
I think the last five quarters is exactly what we needed. We have remembered that defense is what makes us a good team.
Our kids executed brilliantly. I think that threw Carlisle for a loop. The mistakes we made last week we didn't make again tonight, and that was huge.
Matt did a great job as well. He is a very good shooter, he just needs to shoot more.
That was the difference right there. You're not going to win too many ball games shooting like that from the line.
We joked that we needed name tags in practice with so many new kids coming in. But they listened and they did a lot of learning. Whenever that happens you're going to be up and down, but it was fun to watch when they started playing well.
We're a lot better than we were when we played them in December. We did more things right than we did wrong tonight. We found that if we got out and pressured them we could force them into some mistakes and I think we forced them into some bad shots.
We hadn't played zone in over a month, yet we came out on the fly and did a great job. You won't see better defense than what we played from the middle of the second quarter through the third period.
We played as hard as any team I have seen this year for six minutes. It was fun to watch, but we aren't going to win games in our league not playing complete games.
Tyson had a wonderful year and Austin got really good as the year progressed.
This was a great road win for us. I thought it was one of the better games we've played all year. Offensively we executed and passed better than we have all year; our post players did a nice job of getting open and our guards did a great job of getting them the ball.
Todd is finally playing to his potential. We have been waiting awhile to see it, but it seems he's stepped up and is playing more of a leadership role.
Todd had a big second half, both offensively and defensively.
This was a typical Nevada-Ballard game. Both teams played really hard.
We have 40 points and 21 rebounds a game coming back; that's a lot to fall back on. Hopefully we can set some really high goals for next year.
You have a team that goes 6-5 and 7 feet and we still got 24 points in the paint. Our post guys did a pretty good job.
We just could not get that one basket or one loose ball when we needed it. I thought we were really close a few times, but it just seemed to be out of our reach.
Austin played a great game. He did a nice job of hitting shots when we needed them. It was the best offensive game he's played.
They're awfully good. They've got it all and they're going to be a handful. We're going to have to change up some things defensively against them, but our intensity tonight was really good and if we can take that into Thursday night we'll be in great shape.
At halftime I said we've played three really good halves of basketball. We didn't get that fourth half.
Tate played a great game. Not only his scoring, but he had steals in big spots. He scored and he got into the passing lanes because he works hard and he just wants to play.
They hit a couple of baskets and we went into a shell. We didn't have a guy who demands the basketball and that's what hurt us.
It was great to get back on the winning side, especially on the road. We played tough late and we were able to get the win.
I'm sure not a lot of rivalries date back that far. The players and the fans really get into it. The kids have grown up with the rivalry, so it means a lot. It starts in junior high and goes through high school.
In the first 51 seconds (of the fourth quarter) we had those turnovers and (their lead) went from six to (14). That was the big difference. You can't give a team like Grinnell extra possessions, and we gave them too many tonight.
Honestly, I thought this was the best we've played all year. I feel pretty good about tomorrow night and Monday.
