Andre Payne Quotations

Since I've been here, there's always a comeback. Nobody has ever just blown each other out to where the other couldn't get back into it.

I feel like we've been so close every year. I feel that this is our year to do it.

We've got to go in there and turn that pressure up from the start.

We have to be aggressive from the start. You can't relax on Houston Baptist.

Our guys started playing hard and that was the big difference. We came out aggressive, then missed a few shots and got passive; and they got aggressive and got the lead on us. We fought our way back into it by hustling and getting on the floor. The key to it was our defense. We got some key stops and when we did that, it allowed us to score some easy buckets in the post.

Our point guard Czyz Bennett just took it up on himself and made great decisions. We needed that. As long as we win, somebody's going to lose and we'll get ahead of somebody.

It is different with it being a rivalry. We feel we have the better team. We have something not only to prove to ourselves but to the other teams that we're the better team in East Texas.

I'm so excited because every year we've gotten to a different stage. We've feel short with teams that were good enough. It's time for us to take it this year. We're going to leave it all on the floor.

We scored zero points off the bench. It's impossible to win a game like that when all five of your starters have all your points. If we played like we played in this tournament the whole year, we would've finished first or second and wouldn't have had to run into (HBU) this early.

They were in foul trouble and had to make a few substitutions. I felt their backups couldn't handle the pressure. That's when it went into our favor.

The most athletic team there is in this conference tournament. In order for Texas College to win, we have to take our smartness to another level, get the team to play hard, and we can't beat ourselves. I feel like nobody in this conference is capable of beating us except ourselves.

It's going to give us more respect on the national level. It's frustrating because I know we've been close. But it's a positive thing knowing that one of the top teams, who you competed with, won the whole thing.

Czyz is the best defensive player we've got and he made it hard for (Beaty) to get the basketball. My philosophy is if you work hard to get it, you're too tired to do anything with it.