Warriors Streak to 9

Hi everybody, Coach Moore with a report on last nights win over Minnesota State Mankato. It was another battle last night for us but our guys responded well once again as we were able to come out on top 100-85.

We started out the game slow as we were down 9-2 right away as we were not moving on the offensive end at all. But then Ben Fischer stepped up and hit two three's back to back to get us going and our offense took off from there. The 3's for Ben were huge as it forced Mankato to really get out on him, which allows him to get to basket much easier then if they would have been playing off of him by a step. This also helps out the rest of our guys as Ben is such a good passer and is capable of finding open guys to knock down the shot as he did again last night. After Ben got us going everyone else seemed to build off of it as we knocked down 7 threes in the half and we shot almost 50% from the floor. Defensively in the first half we struggled to stop them inside and out for most of the half. Their big guy, Nelson had 18 on us in the first half and Morrow had 14 so we were not doing a great job of stopping them as they shot 61% in the half but we were only down one at half and we actually lead most of the half so to be in the position we were in was good. A couple things we were not doing well were we allowed their big guys to get right to the block to get good position and once they were there they are tough to stop. On the outside we were over reacting too much and we were not getting a hand up on some of the shots, thus giving them easy looks. We wanted our big guys to meet their bigs at the elbow and make them work to get position down low, on the outside we just told our guys to contain, not go for fakes and keep a hand up on all shots.

In the second half I think you saw how well our guys did with making sure they were meeting their bigs at the elbow and we contested many of the outside shots they took. Our guys guarding Nelson did a great job of being physical with him and making him work for everything he got. He still had 7 point in the second half but they were all tough points to get as we did an excellent job of keeping him off the block. Then on the outside we did a better job containing for the most part and we contested many shots. On top of that we rebounded the basketball so well in the second half and actually the game. We out rebounded them by 4 which was a huge factor for this game as we didn't give them too many second chances. On offense our spacing was awesome as we had driving lanes to the basket and we knocked down our outside shots. We shot 62% in the second half as we either got an open 3 or a lay up on many possessions. The guys did a great job of being patient and attacking them at the right moment. Then to knock down the outside shots we did were huge as it start to build our lead up as the game went on. Finally we hit our free throws down the stretch as they put us to the line during the final 3 minutes of the game.

Overall this game as a great team win for us. Everyone on our team contributed to this win as everyone was into the game from the start. The guys coming in off the bench gave us solid minutes and the guys who played inside did an excellent job of being physical and not allowing them to get anything easy. This was another huge step forward for our guys but we know we have a long way to go. We have another road trip coming up next weekend so lets hope we can carry over this play with another solid weekend on the road.

On a final note, thanks for all those fans who made the trip over to Mankato for the game. We had a great crew behind us and as a team we cannot thank you enough for your support. It was fun to see so many of you there and we could here you nice and loud during the game. The Warrior fans are the best fans in all of Division II hoops. We thank you for your support!!!!

Go Warriors!!!!