Jim Roffler Quotations

We knew what they were going to do in the last set, so we switched and put Ryan Campbell on him so he couldn't get to the hole. Carlson made his move and spun back to find Campbell there. We had him locked up 15 feet from the basket and he could do nothing but kick the ball out for a forced three-pointer.

We held them down in the second half and it showed. They (the thunderbirds) played their three-quarter court press to slow us down, but there was only a couple of times when we did. We continued to attack well and hit the shots we needed.

Omar hurt his wrist in the Tacoma game. He didn't play his best game tonight, but he contributed in other ways and ran the break well early, which got us off to a good start. We know he'll be there for us down the stretch. When he gets back 100 percent physically, he'll have a lot more confidence.

Obviously this was the biggest game of the year for us because it allowed us to get back in first place and re-establish ourselves. We had a tough loss on the road at Tacoma that we shouldn't have lost, but we did. The guys have responded well from that, particularly in the second half.

Nick is getting better as he gets more games under his belt. We continue to see his improvement at both ends of the court in the transition game. He's becoming a bigger part of our team.

Nick is getting better and better with each game he plays. He's been out of basketball a couple of years and he's starting to get some of his old habits back. He played another great game for us and we expect great things from him in the future.

If we could've stopped a little earlier on the break, found our shooters and hit the shots, we could've been right in the game.

He had 14 (points), nine (rebounds) and eight (assists) against Highline, and 14, 10 and seven (blocks) against Centralia. He is coming into his own.

I think that's the fourth time this season we've held somebody under 60 points. Defensively, we did a good job holding them down. Offensively, we can score enough to win against anybody, but we have to shore up our rebounding.

That was a well-played first half by both teams. There was a lot of good offense and good execution. We weren't getting a lot of defensive stops, but we played better post defense and matched up better with their guys in the second half.

We realized what they were trying to do with the mismatches. Mickey worked hard to stay in front and forced them to throw lob passes. We did a better job of thinking, communicating and helping each other out.

We rebounded a lot better. Jermaine stepped it up and our guards got in there and got a few rebounds to get our break going, which is a big part of our scheme.

We played solid defense and we hit a nice (scoring) streak in the second half.

We didn't do a good job handling their defensive pressure, and that was witnessed by very suspect footwork and poor passing on our part. We blew a lot of good opportunities to get the ball inside.

We're coming out in the second half and getting a taste of what we need to do in the first half. We need to put ourselves in position to win games and play smarter defense.

We knew it was going to be a really tough game. It's always a tough game coming up here. Especially this year. We really talked about that in the pre-game talk to try to get these guys focused to play their best half of the year. I think we answered the bell.

We have to come out and focus on team defense. We need to play with a lot of emotion and intensity. We're a good offensive team with good balance, but we need to have our 'A' game defensively.

When we lost any focus at all, they made us pay. They were ready to exploit our breakdowns, whether it was inside by letting their guys get the ball where they wanted, or when we didn't get backside help and stay close off their screens.

We had some tough foul calls against us down the stretch that hurt. We didn't lose our composure, and some of the guys who have been noted for that showed a lot of maturity.

First games in tournaments are tough. If you watch the tournament championships in all of the NCAA leagues, you'll see ninth seeds knocking off top seeds. This is a tough time of the year, and everyone is either pretty good or has got a lot better.

We've put together some good second halves. Against Highline (on Saturday), we held them to 29 second-half points.

We did a poor job rebounding. They (the Titans) grabbed 14 offensive rebounds in the second half that enabled them to hang in there and get a late lead.

We could've gambled and played Germain more in the first half, but we were right in there until the closing minutes without him. He was fatigued, and I didn't want to have him get another foul and then play tentatively in the second half.

E.J. got us going with that three-ball. We played a lot better in the second half. And Campbell played well, too.

This is the earliest verbal commitment we've received. A lot of kids don't have the insight as to what they want to do, and they spend a lot of time waiting on things. Josh didn't want to mess around waiting for offers, and he decided to come into a program where he can have success on the court and in the classroom.

They shoot the ball really well and take a lot of 3-pointers. They've had some big wins, and they've had games where they were way ahead and let their opponents back in and lost. They also have a good inside presence.

This is a big time for us. I'm doing my best to get these guys ready, but we need to get focused when we get to Kennewick and have some good practices.

They (the Warriors) had a great respect for our inside people, so when the ball went in against either a man (to-man) or zone defense, we had a little rotation that moved E.J. into some spots or gaps where he was open. That's the same thing he did here last year and he also hit some big shots for us in those games. His game accentuated when we get into a two-man game where the ball goes in then back outside because he's a pure shooter.

They (the Titans) made 29 percent of their shots, and I don't recall ever losing a game when the other team shot that poorly. Ryan Campbell guarded Chase for a lot of the game, and if he wouldn't have made those shots we probably would've won.

They're 14-14 but they're pretty good. They shoot the ball well, and their big players are very versatile. They aren't overly athletic on the perimeter, but if you run your plays well you don't need to be. I don't take anything away from them because they played their butts off.

They're a very formidable foe and it took an effort to beat them. It's nice getting back home after our only loss of the season and have the fans behind us. This was a much-needed win in the tough Western Division.

At halftime, I gave the team a little wake up call like I haven't all season. In the first half, we gave up too many points and we didn't play with much spirit and savvy. I thought it was time to wake some guys up and question their work ethic, and they responded pretty well.

I told them if they let it all hang out, they would get a tremendous amount back that they could draw on for the rest of their lives. Very seldom did we play a solid 40 minutes during the season. Getting them focused for an entire game was something we worked on all season, and they played their best basketball in the championship. We finally realized our potential in that game.

It's hard to win when Omar had the game he did. I think he was pressing a little and trying too hard. He's a competitive guy and wanted to win another championship, but I think he got a little competitive early on.

Anytime you're that versatile when you're a big guy it's a tough go. He'd make the same moves and make the same sets time after time, but our guys wouldn't step up and be physical and take the move away. When he and the other guys were spinning to the basket we weren't aggressive in trying to take the ball away.