OBL 15U Division, Koko Head gym
Our first 10 minutes were flat-out horrible. Not much urgency, not much intensity. Defensively, we were flat-footed and didn't close out on their 3-point shooters consistently. Sharks shot well in the first half.
But we got it together before halftime and rallied from a 10- or 12-point deficit. In the second overtime (sudden death), Kyle worked the post, drew a defender and hit Kali‘a with a perfect bounce pass for the winning points.
Overall, it was a really good team win despite the lack of fundamentals (nobody felt like boxing out, we threw the ball away with chest passes instead of proper entry passes - bounce or lob - to the post).
The Sharks had their 13U team in this game because they misread the schedule. But this is not much different from their 15U team. Basically the same key players, minus a couple of rebounders. And our 15U is basically 13s and guys who just turned 14 in the past month or so. That's a good Sharks team, taller than us inside, and hopefully, we're a good Thunder team that has lots of room to get better.
Of our 8 players tonight, a few are really new and not familiar with our plays and defenses, so it's a blessing that we overcame that with lots of hustle and heart. That's what it takes to finish strong when shots aren't always falling and sloppiness is too common. Fundamentals lead to consistency and consistency leads to great offense and defense. We'll get there.
Kanehe was strong off the bench with great hustle and defense. And he's still recovering from the flu.
Tonight's lineup: Kanehe Nishimura, Gabriel Porras, Colin Ramos, Sierra Murobayashi, Kapaa Nishimura, Kyle Moraga,Keanu Pratt, Kali'a Mielke.
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