Warriors Find Their Rhythm
Westcliff Warriors on Day 2 of their 3 game series in Arizona faced off against Benedictine Mesa. The opening half of the game was close with both sides getting shots up. The Warriors went into halftime with a lead of 37-33.
By: SID Chase Dodge
What Happened? Westcliff Warriors on Day 2 of their 3 game series in Arizona faced off against Benedictine Mesa. The opening half of the game was close with both sides getting shots up. The Warriors went into halftime with a lead of 37-33. In the 2nd half is where the Warriors seperated themselves with high power shooting from range with 5 Warriors hitting 3 point attempts. As a team the Warriors shot 49% from the arc a season best. The Warriors held on and got the win with a final score of 70-57. The Warriors are now 5-4 in Cal Pac.
There was a lot of great signs from this Warrior team. The most obvious one was that this Warrior squad only had 2 turnovers the entire game a season best. Also, as a team they limited the amount of personal fouls committed to only 12 a season low. This team is getting more and more disciplined along with producing high quality shots down the stretch. The Warriors honoring their namesake go into each game competing and fighting for 40 minutes every night.
Coach's Quotes (Associate Head Coach Andre Wallace): "There wasn't a distinct difference from the first to the second half and that's a compliment to our guys. Coach Cook centered on not allowing Mesa to control the paint and use their size against us. We limited them to three offensive rebounds and only three second-chance points for the game, which was huge for us. Coach's next point of emphasis was points in the paint. Mesa had outscored teams by almost 20 points on average for the season, which also opens up kick outs for uncontested shots for their shooters.
"We valued and protected the ball tonight which allowed us to get paint touches and create 2-3 driving lanes with great ball and player movement. We identified that Mesa has a very hard time defending above the three point line and wanted their bigs and guards to have to defend a lot more area.
"We're in the process of forming our identity on both sides of the ball and tonight was a reflection of Coach Cook stressing the importance of moving the ball side to side and getting to the second layer of our offense. We had almost four players in double figures and got great production of our bench. We found out a little bit more about oursleves.
"Our defense was phenomenal tonight. We were disciplined in our principles and technique. From rotating, communicating coverages, closing out, finishing possessions with a rebound, we contested almost every shot and didn't allow Mesa very many easy attempts. Coach Cook tells our guys that if we hang our hats on the defensive end, teams will be forced to do something different outside of their identity.
"We didn't beat ourselves, we let the scout be our friend, and not our enemy. We've challenged our guys all season to do the unheralded work and you'll discover key indicators about your opponents within the detials. Mesa, a very good three-point shooting team, was held to 3-of-16 from behind the arc.
"We only turned the ball over two times, and that was huge for us."
Top Performers
Joshua Harrison - 21 Points, 5 Assists and 5 Rebounds
Abdul Abdullah - 14 Points and 9 Rebounds
Joshua Jones - 8 Points
Greg Walter Jr. - 7 Points
Cedric Sobers, Jordan Reed and Marius Ntwari - 6 Points