After our win at Concordia the team was happy but everybody knew that our true test lied ahead of us for the weekend. Our next game was at St.Cloud in their gym on their Senior night with them fighting to stay a post season threat in the conference tournament. Right now they are a team struggling with a couple injuries and not playing to the best of their abilities but they are still a legitimate threat to anybody in the conference because of the players and pieces that tey have on their team. They have one of the best players/scorers in the league in Taylor Witt who drove them deep into the National Tournament last year and it was his last game in his gym and I knew he was not going to give up without a fight. Coach's pregame speech was also different this time around then it usually is. This time he had a specific topic that I think got everyones attention right away. He looked at the board and told us "it does not matter what they are going to do, it's all about us and how we are going to respond. Look around, look at your teammates, you all made it here together and you truly have something special here." It was one of the realization moments where you could not help but look around at all your teammates and appreciate everything they do for you. Over the past six months we have really become a family more than i ever thought we would. Like any family though we have our fights, and everybody has their faults but we have accomplished a lot of great things this year and we have done it all together and if that does not mean something I don't know what does.
There was a good crowd of a reported 2,500 at their game for senior night and that was no surprise to anybody. Their band with a group of snare drums I have to say was top notch but that was not where my focus was that night. Knowing my high school assistant coach was in the stands I figured I would just play my game and let him critique my skills after. The game of course started with St.Cloud and their hot shooting being in their own gym but we were somehow able to keep the game close. We were only down 5 at halftime after a half of sub par shooting. It turns out we had done the opposite of what coach said in his pre-game speech as we only had one assist in the first half. We regrouped, settled down, and refocused and came out in the second half guns blazing. Or "Moody" blazing I should say. Ant put on a show in the second half knocking down almost every shot he took. St.Cloud defending our ball screen oriented offense repeatedly went under the screens giving Ant the option to shoot the 3, and so as you may have guessed he knocked them down all during the second half. Ant ended up going for 42 on the game a career high for us as his brothers were in attendance cheering right behind our bench. After the win in the locker room there was so much excitement that no one could contain any of their joy of beating St.Cloud on their senior night and winning our 14th straight. It was a fantastic victory for the team, the school, and the city of Bismarck as we plan to go for 15 straight on our home floor this upcoming Saturday on our senior night. I do not think the seniors have any intent of losing or even making this a close game in the least. This next weekend will be an interesting one.
Monday, February 21, 2011
Taming The Golden Bears
This was a game that was full of emotion both good and bad and it was a great test for us as a team on the road as a whole. As a team we were looking forward to getting Concordia back for handing us our only loss on our home floor but there were many other things that tied into this game that we did not expect. We went to shoot around at Concordia's gym on Friday before the game at about noon and everything went according to plan. As soon as we were done however we were treated to a surprise. A handful of the Concordia players were clapping their hands outside the gym and hooting and hollering at us as some feeble attempt of intimidation. It was not until Coach Herbst went out and confronted them in his own way before they finally went on and about with their business. However a couple of my teammates and I didn't just see it as an intimidation factor but as disrespect. In my opinion all that did was add fuel to the fire for every single person on the team.
The game went back and forth for most of the first half but we ended up having a 2pt lead at halftime. Nobody on the team was shooting the ball particularly well but we still managed to have the lead. Before the coaches entered the locker room at half our team discussion took a little different turn then it usually does. Everybody felt like because we wanted to beat this team so bad that we were playing outside of ourselves and not playing together as a team so we decided we had to get back to what we do best. We ended up winning the game and that was the important thing because we learned more about our team as a whole.
This was not the only significant factor that I personally got from the game against Concordia however. I have lived almost my whole life in Mineapolis which is the neighboring city to St.Paul so I had a lot of people that were at the game who were supporting myself and the team. It was nice because when both of our teams came out of the locker room we got the louder ovation then they did on their home floor! I also had a group of my loudest friends sit right behind their bench and add commentary to their team the whole game. That was my little way of getting back at them for taunting us after shoot around before the game. Overall it was a great win for our team and it was good for me that I got to see a lot of old family and friends again.
The game went back and forth for most of the first half but we ended up having a 2pt lead at halftime. Nobody on the team was shooting the ball particularly well but we still managed to have the lead. Before the coaches entered the locker room at half our team discussion took a little different turn then it usually does. Everybody felt like because we wanted to beat this team so bad that we were playing outside of ourselves and not playing together as a team so we decided we had to get back to what we do best. We ended up winning the game and that was the important thing because we learned more about our team as a whole.
This was not the only significant factor that I personally got from the game against Concordia however. I have lived almost my whole life in Mineapolis which is the neighboring city to St.Paul so I had a lot of people that were at the game who were supporting myself and the team. It was nice because when both of our teams came out of the locker room we got the louder ovation then they did on their home floor! I also had a group of my loudest friends sit right behind their bench and add commentary to their team the whole game. That was my little way of getting back at them for taunting us after shoot around before the game. Overall it was a great win for our team and it was good for me that I got to see a lot of old family and friends again.
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