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Wednesday Feb. 5th:
Going into this game against Anoka, we all knew that this would be one of the better games besides Centennial. Anoka is third in the conference and is hungry for a conference championship. The first time we played them at their place we beat them by almost forty points.
I don’t know if they were off or if we were really on but it wasn't a close game at all. I think the reason why we won that game was because we played our game and ran Anoka off the floor. This game against them it was a close loss for us. It was like the total opposite, we never had a chance to play our style of game and set the tempo. I would say that showed throughout the whole game.
Anoka is a bigger team than us and we allowed them to use their size and bully us the whole game. They played a zone the entire game which took us out of our game because we allowed them to set up instead of attacking them and getting them in foul trouble. We lived by the three and it killed us because we weren't making any of them. I probably went 2 for 6 from the three point line and couldn't make any when it mattered. We’re a good shooting team but it just didn't show that night.
In some ways I feel I've let my team down because I'm the leader of the team and I didn't lead my team that night. One of my goals is to get Park Center a conference championship and losing to Anoka makes that goal even harder...
Friday Feb. 7th:
I’d have to say Elk River is one of the most physical teams in the conference and they gave us a good run. The first game against them we came in with a mindset that looked down upon them and I'd have to say I had the same mindset. I didn't really come out to play that game and we kind of let up against them.
We played down to their level instead of playing "Park Center ball". We were a better team talent wise which gave us the lead but we didn't play hard which is why the game was close. I know this game we had to come out strong because they're a very physical team and that's how they would try and stay in the game.
Coming off of a devastating loss against Anoka, I was ready for this game. I knew it wouldn't be an easy win because they like to play very aggressive and play a little cheap. It's been that way against them since I can remeber back to traveling basketball. We started off the game really well 18-4 then we let Elk River slide their way back into the game. Then the game became a battle and my teammates and I were getting hammered.
Their physicalness kind of took us out of our game which allowed them to stay in the game. They stayed with us the rest of the game and towards the end they came within 3 points but we closed the game out. We got to the foul line and ended up winning the game 69-59.
