Larry Eberst Quotations

We still think we can win out and have a chance to share the OCC title because the top four teams all have to play one another. Our goal is to take care of business, then sit around the locker room that last Friday night waiting to see where the chips may fall.

We know how close we are to getting over the hump. We've had a number of games like this one where we've had opportunities to win. But we're making just enough lapses to lose games.

I don't think we've ever beaten them. They're very athletic and will present a huge challenge.

For most of three quarters, we showed what we're capable of doing when we execute and play smart. We led one of the best teams in the district by 20 points. I doubt anyone has led them by 20 this season. But then we got away from the things we were doing, had calls go against us and things started to snowball. Then, just like that, the lights went out for our kids.

We played the best 29 minutes of basketball we played all season collectively, then we did everything wrong collectively in the last three minutes. We missed free throws, had quite a few turnovers. It was bad. But we were happy to respond so well against Pickerington North. The kids bounced back and showed some poise.

We were within two or three possessions of winning six to eight more games. One defensive stop here and a basket there, we could have been looking at 18-4 or better. That's how close we were. If only we had been a little more consistent.

We keep coming back in these games and we keep playing harder, harder and harder. But we need to play smarter and do the things that make a difference on the scoreboard. We had many opportunities to win this one.

We're not out of it by any means, but we don't have total control now like we would have if we had beaten Mount Vernon. For all practical purposes, if we lose another, it's over. We've got to take care of business and hope the chips fall in our favor now.

This time, we got off to a good start, which has been our Achilles heel this season. But we struggled with their press in the second quarter and got away from our game plan. It's been different things that have hurt us at different times. It's not just one phase of the game that is consistently hurting us.

We have seen much-improved inside play of late. That four-man rotation is giving us everything we need out of our post play. They're boxing out, rebounding, scoring and basically, just controlling the paint.

We've played some teams in the past couple weeks that really like to slow the tempo. While they've dictated tempo, what I've been pleased with is our ability to be patient. Our shot selection has been good, and that's important when you have fewer possessions. I tell the guys all the time that teams may dictate tempo, but defenses can't dictate shot selection.

Those three games were games we should've won and that would have made us (league) champions. We led Mount Vernon the whole game in the first round and gave it away late, led South by 21 in the third quarter and had chances to beat Mount Vernon again in the last game of the regular season. The South loss was especially devastating (to league-title hopes).

I've seen it on film and it was the right call. The rule says you can't go out of bounds to gain an advantage and that's what Drew did. He tried to avoid a cluster of players and, by natural instinct, went out of bounds without even looking down at the line.

It was the exact opposite of the way we finished against South. We stay poised and confident. If we had played that way in the fourth quarter against South and the last four minutes against Mount Vernon (58-54 loss Jan. 20), we'd be in first place. I think as low as we were after South, we needed a comeback win like this to prove to ourselves we could close out games.

They jumped on us, but there could be a number of reasons for that. He's familiar with us, our style of play and coaching philosophy. Plus, he probably thinks they should have beaten us earlier this season.