How did we beat the Jr. 'Bows this morning? A lot of heart. Tons of heart. Like the lion in the 'Wizard of Oz,' we were all heart, leading from beginning to end, though our lineup was young and (for some guys) out of shape. Heart triumphed against a team that was older, taller and, according to people who talked to me in the gym before our game, way too good for us.
I normally don't mention that kind of stuff here or at practice or to anyone else. I don't care about doubters, haters or whatever you want to call them. What I care about, what Coach Larry and Coach Bo care about, is our level of play. Our level of focus. Intensity. Passion.
We won in overtime, our debut game in the Pa‘a League, despite making a lot of mental errors, not running plays right, missing an egg carton (dozen) of layups. Some guys are rusty, but everyone played with fire and heart. When Coach Larry said we'd press from the start with both Power 10 and 41, I was surprised. We had a few 17U guys, and a lot of 13U players. But as usual, Larry was right. Our press caused a lot of turnovers.
Isaiah played out of his mind at times, totally unstoppable by most other defenders on the perimeter. They tried to press us, but we handled it with precision. Even our newest player, Sierra (13) had a big basket in the first half after Coach Larry brought in our reserves. Tanielu and Chris were key factors underneath off the bench.
Bryson was rusty, but he made plays from the perimeter to help take some load off Isaiah. Alleck gave us a spark, but he's rusty, too. Brent was valuable as a defender and passer. Cody hit a 3 and gave us (mostly) solid defense. It's tough in this league with Mike out (playing for Kalani), Kaelen out (until end of August) and John still on the mainland. All five defenders have to fight for position, box out and battle with big guys under the glass.
The beauty of it is that when we box out and rebound, we run the floor faster than most teams, even with our young ballers.
So we won with a lineup of this: Isaiah, Alleck, Bryson, Cody, Brent, Tanielu, Chris, Sierra and Micah. That's two 11-year-olds, a 12-year-old and a 13-year-old. In a 17U league.
I'm so proud of you guys!
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