Rick Dowdle Quotations

Playing like they did here gives them added confidence. The same thing goes with Marshall.

Nacogdoches stepped it up. I think Nacogdoches came out very strong (in the second half), and you've got to meet that challenge.

Whitehouse sets the standard. You've got to win games on your home floor. It was a big test for us opening up (district). The kids fought and stepped up defensively through a lot of foul trouble.

The players never like hearing it, but I told them before the game and at the half, the reason we're where we are is because we have played defense and done an incredible job on the boards. I told them at the half that I didn't understand why we don't have 10 to 12 charges. They were going to the goal out of control, ducking their heads. And I said 'somebody step up,' and they did.

You have to (win at home) at this point. Losing Friday night brought Kilgore and Marshall back in.

We're going to try to finish out (the first district cycle) with a victory against Hallsville. I expect them to play lights out, because when we play them they become unconscious, more times than not. There's nothing we can do about it.

They're so much better this year than they were last year, it's not even close. Coach (Joe) Crawford always had a positive outlook. They are much improved.

They're not real big, but they're real athletic and they press from the time they got off the bus. They shoot quick shots and play up tempo. They get up and down the floor and try to out-athlete you.

It was disappointing (to blow the lead). We were up 14, and at that point you want to see us close it out and extend the lead.

I told them before we went out that it was extremely important to set the tone early. We were lucky enough to do that. I thought the kids took good shots.

It's not going to be easy. We're going to have to play our best ball.

They'll be fired up coming over here to play us. We hope we can win to get on a little bit of a roll (going into the playoffs).

They like to get you in a frenzied pace. As long as we keep our poise about us and limit their possessions, we should be okay.

Size-wise we match up okay. Quickness is sometimes a problem for us, but I don't think they're any quicker than the teams we've played this year. Throughout our district, we've got some pretty quick kids.

I don't think anybody thought that's where we'd be, so I feel like we've accomplished something. But we've got an awful long way to go. We have four road games during the second half (of district).