Tommy Tonelli Quotations

When I didn't hear from him Saturday night I knew there was a strong likelihood we were going to be playing each other. I anticipated they would win their district. I know he was hoping we would beat Brandon.

I give them all the credit in the world. They stepped up, kept them in the game and carried them. They did more than carry them. They had the lead.

He's been tremendous for us all year. He's good at drawing contact and still being able to get a shot off. He's just a heck of a player.

I was happy with the free-throw shooting tonight (17-of-21). I was especially pleased with the play of our sophomores, Derek Holmes and Anthony Manuel.

Early on, it was just turnovers. Turnovers were killing us.

They're two tremendous guards. I can't think of any backcourt tandems as good as those two throughout the state.

They didn't have Ashley Thomas and we didn't have three kids who just came from football. We're both much different teams than we were at that point.

I told him when he missed the free throws that if he didn't play that way in overtime we wouldn't be here right now. I told him he had to focus on the next four minutes and we would depend on him to come through.

It speaks to the level of district play. Whoever is standing when it's over will feel like they survived a 15-round heavyweight fight. For our tournament, it will be who is standing after 12 quarters.

I really can't find fault with our shot selection in the second quarter. But for the most part they were good looks. They just wouldn't drop.

The game was a lot closer than the score indicates. We had a couple of key stops and played very smart on defense. We have a tough group of kids who are really resilient.