A lot of teams have been zoning us for some reason lately. We practiced being patient, trying to get the ball inside first and settling for the perimeter shot second.
It's been pretty exciting lately. It's taken kind of a while for us to get to this point. It's nice to see our guys playing like we know they can.
We wanted to slow it down to help us cope with a height disadvantage. We were able to slow the tempo for a time, but they're just a gifted bunch with good quickness and size. That can be a tough combination to overcome.
We were obviously inconsistent. Downers Grove South was a big reason for that. They challenged every cut offensively and those two big guys just limit your shots. To make matters worse, we allowed our offensive troubles to spill over to the defensive end.
Earlier in the year we really lived and died with the 3. We've been seeing a lot of zone defenses lately and we couldn't totally rely on the 3 anymore, so we've been taking it inside quite a bit lately with a good amount of success. I think that has definitely helped us a lot.
Mau had a great first half. But he got worn down in the second half and their defense had a lot to do with it. They are very well coached and did a great job of taking him out of the game in the second half.
We got some early turnovers. We took advantage a little of them not starting their regular lineup. We controlled the tempo except for that one flurry.
They're tough to come back on once you get down because they are so disciplined and they shoot free throws very well.
Lorenz, Mike Signore and Joe Mau have all been doing good things for us off the bench. There really hasn't been much of a drop-off.
They really turned up the intensity in the second half, which seemed to help their transition game, and that hurt us a lot.
