Jake Palluzzi Quotations

We made a nice little run. We had a chance to cut it to nine, but we just couldn't get any closer. I played all my seniors in the fourth quarter and they played hard...they could have quit being down 20 points, but they didn't.

(Barnes) needs to understand how to get open and our guards have to get him the ball, too. It was two-fold.

For three quarters we did a great job on him. But he stepped it up when he needed to. He's not a scholarship player for nothing.

He (Healy) really stepped up his game. He took the team on his back, trying to take up the slack with Sam (Barnes) out with a sprained ankle.

Hopefully the two weeks will get us healthy...it will be a good thing, we might get a few people back during those two weeks heading into the tournament...if we can get healthy we might make some noise.

Our first half performances set the tone in both games. We played a great first half against Hamden, but we struggled against East Haven.

That was a huge win for us. It is nice to take some of the pressure of getting eight wins off our back. Now we just have to worry about playing well and getting healthy.

That was a great way for him to end his career. He was not the most talented player on our team, but he always gave 100-percent when he was on the floor. He did a great job tonight.

We executed very well offensively against one of the better man-to-man defenses in the state. We moved the ball and did a great job throughout the game, but especially in the first half.

We really struggled in the first half. We didn't make lay-ups and we didn't contest the shooter like we had worked on in practice. We played well in the second half, but we spent too much energy trying to catch up and didn't have enough to win.

We have had so many injuries and our schedule is very tough. Every time we go out on the court, we have to play well. It is not going to be easy, but we need to pick up a couple of more wins.

Trip is really coming into his own...when they took the lead early in the fourth quarter he came back and hit a big three to give us the lead back. He had a really good wee.

We didn't play too well mentally. We had some mental breakdowns, we missed some lay-ups and we missed free throws early.

We can't seem to catch a break this season. Every time we turn around, someone else is getting hurt. Hopefully we can get as healthy as possible in time for the first round of the state tournament.

There are absolutely no easy games on our schedule this year. We can't have letdowns. All of the teams that we play this year are very good. We have to come to play every single night.

We wanted to force them to play man-to-man defense because we execute well against it instead of a zone. The zone hurt us the first time around. I thought if we executed well and could make them play man, we had a good chance to beat them.

We got off to a bad start. We had some match up problems that really hurt us. I thought we would do a better job getting the ball inside, but we struggled. They are very experienced and won their division last year...they are a very good team.

We went through a lot of adversity this year. Every one of the top eight players on our team missed at least one game. We never had the same starting five on the floor...it was very tough.

That lapse at the end of the third period cost us the game. You can't have lapses against a quality team on the road; you can't make mental mistakes and win this kind of game.

They are number one for a reason. We didn't play to our capabilities, but a lot of that was because of their athleticism, speed, and defense. They are a very strong team and they don't lose anything when they bring players off the bench.

He came up huge for us against Hamden. We really needed a lift and he played very well.