Mike Mastroianni Quotations

When we were down 11 at halftime, I wasn't happy; but I thought we still had a shot. We took them out of their rhythm in the second half and that was the difference.

We're going to celebrate now, but we will be ready for next Tuesday night. We put a lot of work in to get where we are at and next week will be a true test of where we really are.

Making the playoffs last year is a huge part of our success this season. We played very well the second half of the season and managed to get in as the fourth-place team. I think that was really the beginning.

I felt good only down three. We are definitely a second-half team and we gave up a few baskets in the first half that were really bad bounces. Our strength is our team speed. We are pretty athletic and we can wear teams down.

He may not be at 100 percent, but he'll be able to play. He's a very big part of our team. He does a lot of things at a very high level that don't always show up in the box score in the paper. He handles the ball and rebounds very well.

Our game plan was to try and get up and down the floor and make them run. I think we did that more in the second half. But the second half has been ours most of the season.

We have all the ingredients to compete at the playoff level. Taking care of the ball and playing defense will become even more important down the stretch.

We came up into the gym with about 10 seconds left before the start of the second half. Um, you can say we had a little conversation at halftime.

Yeah, but a lot of work went into this and this hasn't happened here in a while.

We had a tremendous season because our players understand that basketball isn't just about one player. We have five or six guys that average between eight and 12 points each night. I'm proud to say that we don't have a player that's in the top 70 for WPIAL scoring.

Those three guys are tremendous players. But everyone else they put on the floor can play and that's what really makes them good.

No one wants to play them. They will be very scary to play in the playoffs. Both teams are familiar with each other. That is the only good thing if we play them again.

Anybody that knows basketball knows our section is extremely good. I'm extremely proud of the way we have played. Our team speed has carried us.

This is the personality of our team. We seemed to find an extra gear at the end.

It was real important what happened early and we fell behind.

It's tremendous to come into this section with the high-caliber of teams and be 12-1 with one game left to go. Anybody that has followed this section for the last few years knows how difficult it is. I couldn't be prouder of my team.

It's been a process here. The key to everything was just getting into the playoffs last year. We made it as the fourth-place team, but we got in. We were young, but we got a taste of things and I think that really helped this year.

It's sitting out there. That's a neat atmosphere. To have an opportunity to play at Petersen Events Center is great for WPIAL basketball.

They beat us around the basket and we talked about that at halftime. Those are things you need to do in a close game.

They looked a little tired and we knew we could have them if we just hung in there. We did what we needed to do when it counted and our defense really kicked in.

He's not the reason why we lost the game. He's one of the top players in the section, but we had opportunities to win the game.

You can't worry about where you are or who you are going to play. When the playoffs come you just have to take it one game at a time. We are going to refocus and realize that everybody is at the same point we are.