Reflections......

Usually after the season ends Coach Baker gives us some time to rest. Since we extended our year with a couple wins, I guess heThe decided to let us get a longer rest. Since we're not doing much right now, I guess I can give some of the key moments of the year. The times that stood out to me.

One of the most memorable times was the game at North Carolina State. We got to play in ACC country! The atmosphere was amazing! Fans filled the gym, the cheerleaders were there, media, family, it was chaos. We played good, we nearly had a chance to steal that game on the road. On a personal note, I played one of my best games of the year there. The games helped us gain confidence throughout the season.

Let's see...... ok the game against Lenoir Rhyne at Catawba was a good one. We played really well here. Our fans also came out and supported us. It was one of the largests turnouts of the year for us. It was also our first win in the conference, we went on a streak of 5-0 until we lost 4 in a row. The losing streak is one of our down moments of course.

The conference championship game against Tusculum was huge! It was an up and down battle, we won on two free throws in the last couple of seconds. With one minute to go we were up 2. They came down and passed it to the player of the year Kyle Moore, he swished in a three to put them up one point. We came down with about 30 seconds left and they foul us on a drive. We were in the penalty so we shot two free throws. Dominick Reid hit both of them so we went up by one. They had one more possession with about 17 seconds left, but they missed a shot with about 1 second left, we secure the rebound and won the game by one point.

The upset in the NCAA tournament was huge also. Our basketball program has not won a NCAA tournament game in about 10 years, so that win was really special. It seems like every year we make it and go into overtime in every game. Well at least it's been happening since I have been here. They're team was huge, they had alot of big guys. The advantage to us was we were able to push the tempo in the game. We were able to dictate the pace and we won the game executing plays.

After a long season it's good to be able to look back on he accomplishments we've earned. Hopefully next year we can improve on everything we've done. That would probably be a national championship...... ok maybe biting to much of the cake right now but why not aim high?

The End of the Road...... For now.

Our season ended at Augusta State in the NCAA tournament. (Crap!) We lost to USC Aiken in the second round of the tournament. We beat Armstrong Atlantic in the first round game by 7. It was an upset. They were the 3rd seed and we were the 6th. Both games were intense and USC Aiken just made more plays than us.

Throughout our season we have been on winning streaks and have had our share of loses. We manage to gain our 3rd straight 20 win season, 3rd consecutive tournament bid, and 2nd straight conference tournament championship. Hell of an accomplishment wouldn't you think?

With the conclusion of our season came shocking news to my teammates and I. USC Aiken's starting point guard was killed on Wednesday in a car accident. He was a senior, and he was on his way back home in Ohio........... the news almost buckled my knees when I heard about it. We just played those guys last week and now he's dead. For anyone out there reading the blog, please take a moment of silence for Javonte Clanton.

I guess I'll end this post with that. Just hearing about a young person die is pretty deflating. Stay tuned for the postseason news.

Madness!

Hey Everyone! Im giving you an update on SAC conference champions Catawba College! Yes, we won the conference tourney. It was so relieving. We played Lenior Rhyne in the semi-final and won by 10 points! We all think it could have been more if we didnt turn the ball over so much. We all played well in that game. We were so cohesive in that outing.

In the championship game we had Tusculum. They are always a tough team to play because they use a lot of screens throughout the game. If you're a basketball player you learn that getting hit with 6 to 10 screen every possession is not fun. They also had the player of the year, and leading scorer on their team. That was interesting. WE ended up beating them by one point! That game was so exciting.

Today, i'm giving you an update from Augusta, Georgia. We been here for a couple days now and its so nice down here. We're here for our third straight NCAA tournament bid. The regional tournament is being held this weekend and could go through Wednesday if we win the championship. All the teams are good here and we're gonna put our best foot forward to represent our school and familes well this weekend.

We play Armstrong Atlantic on Saturday. Those dudes are huge! Size doesnt matter but we're going to have to do what we do best. Run the fast break till we cant run it anymore. This should be fun HAHA! Stay tuned in for the results of the game!

Second Season

On March 5, 2009, the first week of March is starting. Its getting a little warmer and is also the beginning of what sports fans call MARCH MADNESS. We are in conference tournament time, kind of similar to the playoffs. All games mean win or go home. We won the last two games of the season at Carson Newman and here in Salisbury against Brevard.

We also won the first round game of the conference tournament against Lincoln Memorial. A team we had problems with earlier in the season. Tomorrow............ well tomorrow we play against Lenoir Rhyne. Yes, our rivals again. We split the match-up 1-1 this season. I want this game so bad. We lost the regular season title in their gym. It p'd me off that we let that opprotunity pass us.

The semifinals are on Saturday. I really couldnt tell you who's playing who on the other side of the bracket, me and alot of my teammates are just keyed in on this game. Everyone starts March Madness with a clean slate 0-0. This is why I called this part of the season the second season. An entirely different mindset is applied when playing these games. No one wants to lose and go home. EVENTHOUGH SPRING BREAK IS APPROACHING!!!

The fact that spring break is looming over our heads doesnt really effect most of us basketball players. Some get the break, some don't. The basketball players that dont get the break are usually winning games in March. Most of the players that have big plans for Spring Break are not having really good times in March.

Hopefully we show up for this next game. For a matter of fact we will show up. Its gonna suck seeing them celebrate tonight at the conference banquet. GAME TIME!!!!