Warriors Battle to End

Coach Brady Moore here to give everyone an update on the game, unfortunately we lost the game 78-76. It was a very intense, fast played game that was very sloppy at times but both teams played hard and they ended up making a few less mistakes then we did in the end.

As for the game. We were happy with our start, we got out to an early lead and played with a lead most of the 1st half even though we struggled in two areas that we are strong in, shooting from the outside and keeping our turnover margin down. One reason for having so many turnovers was the fact this game had more offensive fouls called on both teams then I had ever seen tonight. I would guess without looking at the stats their were over 10 offensive fouls called in the game, give or take a couple, but the calls were consistent. Our shooting was off tonight, we had many good looks in the half but couldn't get them to fall. It is just something that comes with the territory. Things we were happy with at halftime was the rebounding of the basketball, getting good looks at the basket and our defense was solid as well. They have the big guy inside who cleans up a lot of boards, along with another guy who does a great job crashing yet we were right their in rebounds, especially the offensive ones. Getting the extra possession's are huge and we had many of those tonight due to our offensive rebounding.

The second half was a back and forth ball game with no team taking a commanding lead or having a large run. We banged home a couple more threes in the half but we still couldn't get going as we had many open look once again. That is one of the tough things with basketball, some nights the shots are just not going to fall and that was what happened with us tonight. As a staff we felt in the second half once again we had too many turnovers and rushed things a little bit. But we were very happy again with our effort on the defensive end. We did some really good things and we did a good job of rotating on defense to the open guys and closing out properly on them. Also offensively we did a good job of making the extra pass to get the open look. We played some great unselfish offense and got guys open looks.

As for the game overall if we could have just knocked down some open shots and made some more free throws we would have won the game. We feel we did a decent job on Alves defensively. Our post players did their best on him and we did not send any double or triple teams at him (even though that is stated in the BYU-Hawaii post game write up). We let our guys go one on one and he made some real tough shots. He is real long and a quick jumper down low, plus he is a load but he gets out of control a lot and our guys did everything they could to keep him from scoring. You have to also give him credit as he made a ton of free throws at a high percentage. Offensively like I said earlier we moved the ball well, found the open guy but just couldn't knock down the shots. We had a ton of great looks. Also we did a much better job rebounding tonight then we have all year. Our effort was great, we played some great team basketball and if a couple of things go our way we are leaving a team that has a huge home court advantage with a win. The most encouraging thing is we are getting better and that is all we can ask for from our players. The shots will fall with time.

Oh and for those of you who wanted to know what the last play of the game. We had Joel Armstrong set a high ball screen on the left side up top for Ben Fischer to go with his right hard at the basket. We wanted this because it meant their big guy having to chase Ben and it was something he struggles with and Ben had beat him but he lost the ball off his foot out of bounds. That is just something that is part of the game and it would have been interesting to see if he could have finished it off, I think he would have cause he finishes so well.

Other then basketball everything has been great and a little eye opening. We are going to Pearl Harbor in the morning which should be a great experience for all of us. I know I am looking forward to it. We have been to the beach a little bit and have been walking around a lot looking at little shops and all that fun stuff. One of the more interesting things out here is the price of milk. I knew it was going to be high but it is 10.69 a gallon!!!! We need to ship some cows out here now! Just kidding. But that was a little crazy to me.

Go Warriors!!!

Here is a link to the game story and box score: http://sports.byuh.edu/node/1105