The 12 East Team finished the weekend with a 1-2 record, but that does not describe how we played this weekend. This was a very successful weekend and how hard these kids played is something for every Edge Team to look at (especially my 14’s).
In our first game we played the Latham Press who was tall and a very athletic team. We came out with pretty good energy and even held a 17-16 lead at the half. Their team was very persistant and pounded us on the boards and took a slim lead mid-way in the second half. The difference in the game came from the freethrow line where they shot 15/20 and we shot 3/20 and the Latham Press would go on to win 46-34.
In our second game we played a City Rock Team that was smaller then we were. We came out and played great to start the game, using our full-court pressure to make them turn the ball over and jumped out to an early 10 point lead in the first half. They cut into our lead a bit and we lead 21-15 at the half. Their team never gave up and continued to fight till the end. Our poor freethrow shooting helped keep them in the game and we got a little sloppy with the ball. We made the plays down the stretch and came out with a victory, winning 38-34.
Going 1-1 in pool play set up a quaterfinal matchup with the other City Rock team on Sunday. Again, just like we did all weekend, we jumped out to an early lead against the City Rocks. We played very well on the defensive end holding them to only 11 points in the first half! We would go into the half leading 13-11. The second half was all about runs. We made the first run and built a 10 point lead with about 8 minutes to go. Just like every team we played they did not give up. They would take the lead with about 2 minutes to go. Dave Fadden stepped to the line and made one out of two to tie the game at 28 and the game would go into overtime. We just ran out of gas in the end. We were very tired and just didn’t have enough to pull out a win. We would fall 39-30 in OT.
This weekend we found out a lot about ourselves. We found out that we can compete with anyone and can just about beat anyone. This only happens when we play as a team and play good, solid, team defense. We played some good teams this weekend. Lets take what we learned from the weekend and make our Hershey trip even more successful. Great job guys!