EDGE ATHLETICS

The 14u East team went 1-2 in their 1st tournament, losing by 5 in a comeback effort, and showing that they can turn up the pressure. With the 1st tournament the one thing that I look for as a coach is what did we do good and where can we get better. For the tournament we were very good as a team and even had everyone contribute in the scoring column in the 1st contest. Things that we need to improve on is our rebounding and defensive effort. Many times we were caught standing straight up on defense, allowing the offensive player to make a cut to wherever they liked. We allowed too many 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th shots and we did not aggressively grap the ball and go after it. We will be addressing those in practice, so that by the time our next tournament comes around we will try not to make the same mistakes.

With our 1st game we played an Academic Basketball team that came out with a mission to start the game and really caught our players by suprise. We knew going into the game that our defense had to be good or we would lose. They jumped out to a huge lead early and it seemed like we were going to lose by 20. We decided to wake up towards the end of the half and cut their lead to single digits, trailing 25-18 at the half. It was a little bit back and forth for majority of the 2nd half and their lead ballooned back up to double digits. These kids never gave up though. That double digit lead seemed to disappear and we cut it to as low as 3! In the end we just ran out of gas and they hit a couple free throws and we fell short 51-46. Peter Gregory led our team in scoring with 14 and Chelston Hylton and DJ Folkes added in 6 points a piece.

The 2nd game of the day was a little bit different. A similar start, but our defense was the what gave us an 18-14 halftime coushine. We were very sloppy with the ball, turning it over many times. About mid-way through the 2nd half we finally clicked and went on a quick 10-0 run and never looked back. Holding them to only 10 points in the 2nd half was the key for us. We were able to get out in transition and finish. We went on to win 51-24. Peter Gregory, Chelston Hylton, and JJ Mulvey led our team in scoring with 8 points a piece.

The last game was a game that could have got us a spot in the semi-final game. We played the BC Eagles and came out very sloppy and turning the ball over cost us a lot of possessions. We did not shoot the ball well from anywhere, but over defense held us in the game in the 1st half. We trialed 20-15 at the half. The 2nd half was all Eagles. They built a big lead and never relinquished it. We never seemed to get anything going offensively and eventually fell 54-29. Peter Gregory led us in scoring with 8 and Mike Donnelly added 6. 

This was a big step for us in this 1st tournament. I told the kids that we need to play defense if we were going to be competitive and in our win we did, but in our losses we did not. Offensively we will be working more and more on our sets, and will soon be able to run them with no problems. We must continue to give 110%, which we didn’t seem to do the last game. I see a team with endless potential. When we start to get a feel for playing with each other, our offense and defense will be much better. What is special about this team is their is no superstars. We already play together as a team, now we need to turn everything up another notch. See you guys at practice this week and continue to make yourselves better!