Gary Ballestrini Quotations

NFA is a very quick team. Instead of trying to make short passes, we did too much dribbling and turned the ball over. I was very happy with our defense, though. We held a good NFA team to 40 points until we ran out of gas late. We're primarily playing six guys, and Browning is just coming back off the flu.

Matt hustles a lot and is just a great athlete. He doesn't have outstanding basketball skills, but he's a great baseball player and a winner. He knows how to get the job done and gets his share of steals and rebounds.

We just didn't get the job done. We couldn't get anyone to step up in the second half.

Tony got on a little roll shooting his threes. He hit three or four in a row. I was not pleased with our defense, though, because St. Bernard, to their credit, hit everything they threw up. We have to play better against Windham. They'll bang us around down low if we don't play solid defense.

The thing that really upset me is that Sheehan outworked us, especially on the boards. There are more aspects to basketball than scoring. Especially in the state tournament, the things that allow you to advance are playing tough defense and owning the backboards. I didn't see enough white shirts (Fitch) boxing Sheehan out. All the glory goes to the offense, but we have to make a commitment to rebounding and defense. It's hard work. That's why we lost by five instead of winning by 10.

It was a good year to win 14 games with this group, which was limited offensively. It would have been nice to get one more win and give it a shot in the second round, though.

At 14-7, we've had a nice turnaround from 4-5. The kids are enjoying the ride. At this point we can't overlook anybody. We might have overlooked St. Bernard and almost got bitten.

I haven't seen St. Bernard at all. We are looking forward to trying to win the ECC tournament.