"They are bigger than us"
"Jayden is hurt"
"9 games in 14 days"
After losing to Lake Region State College 92-73, these are thoughts that could very easily be running through our TEAM. The only problem is, not one of these issues should affect our ability to compete, play physical, or execute our strategies. Our guys did an excellent job of bouncing back from an early deficit 25-12 to make it a 4-point game going into halftime 47-43. WE played confident, WE played hard, WE played together. LRSC took control of the second half immediately and never budged as they created second opportunities through offensive rebounding and made us pay by taking advantage of turnovers for lay-ups. WE are a TEAM with a small margin of error when we play teams like LRSC, NDSCS, BSC or Williston State. Our discipline can not take a play off or it costs us 2 to 3 points almost every time.
It is easy to point out what was wrong but we also had several positives surface once again. Our scoring was more balanced than it has been up to this point meaning we are doing a better job of sharing the ball. WE were 43% from the field and 39% from the arc which is a major improvement from our previous game, and hopefully our confidence is starting to return. When we played hard/disciplined basketball WE created stops through playing physical and ran for easy baskets. Right now WE are struggling to play well in the second half for about 5-7 minutes. If we can begin to limit mental/physical mistakes during this dry stretch the game is going to change for us, and we will start giving ourselves a chance at the end of the game.
NO EXCUSES. We have a few days off now with an opportunity to prepare for NDSCS who is now 19-4. Of course it will be another difficult road game, but until we get fed up with finding the easy way out good teams will continue to get away from us. I can not accept these excuses nor can our TEAM as the primary objective must stay in tact. Get better everyday and play our best basketball come the end of February.
Statistics:
Kristoff Walker - 16 points, 4 assists
Roybell Baez - 15 points, 6 rebounds
Colby Boyes - 12 points, 3-4 from 3FG
Marquis Thomas - 11 points, 5 rebounds
We had a great crowd on Wednesday night and I hope we can continue to support our Jacks through this tough run of games. Our next home game will be Wednesday, Feb. 6th against Turtle Mountain.
Let's Get JACKED UP,
Coach Fehringer
