Blogging the Journey: "Another Step Up the Ladder"

At 1-4 we desperately needed something positive to happen before the semester break. To this point we have lost a few games that we really should have won, not playing to our potential. However, we were making progress and you just knew that it was only a matter of time until we started to pull it all together. We had a great week of preparation and practice leading up to Pitt-Greensburg, Mackey, our best player, was getting healthier and starting to show glimpses of reaching his full potential. Our defense was improving with each game, as was our rebounding. Unfortunately, there was a 6-7, 250 lb. "linebacker" in our way! Pitt-Greensburg's best player was averaging 28 points and 14 rebounds per game! This should be suiting up for the Pittsburgh Steelers, not Pitt-Greensburg! Obviously, the key was to keep them off the boards. Despite Daniel Wajjid's impressive 34 points and 19 rebounds, we were able to come up with a key road victory at Pitt-Greensburg, 79-78. It was one of the best games I have ever been apart of. It came down to rebounding, execution and the law of averages! We executed better than they did down the stretch, if you want to call Joe Balog's 3 pointer from beyond NBA range with less than a minute to play...execution? None the less, it was a big time play from a big time player! And, not to mention defined the saying "shooters keep shooting!" Joe was "0 for" up until that point, but maintained that shooters mentality and came through when needed. As for the law of averages...you would never imagine a 46% FT shooter going 6 for 6, but it happened when Wajjid stepped to the line and made all six of his Free Throws. Fortunately for us, the law of averages caught up with them and their 83% FT shooter went 1-2 with only 2 seconds to play to give us a well deserved and hard fought victory. To Pitt-Bradford's credit, they also played a great game. They were the most physical team that we have played so far.