Bath: MVBB Week in Review (week two)
January 11, 2011 by Stefan Jensen
Men's Varsity Basketball, Week in Review (Week Two)
Week two saw a pair of contests for the Men's Varsity Basketball team, both on the road. The first was at A.R. Gould, the second at Valley. Continuing to experience some growing pains, the team dropped both contests. Despite the scoreboard, the team did show flashes of what they could be once some of the kinks get worked out.
Game Recap:
Hyde: 26
A.R. Gould: 43
In a low scoring affair, the Phoenix battled the Bears from A.R. Gould. Playing a low-tempo style, Hyde kept the game very closing, utilizing great patience on offense and a tight lock down defense. With the spread at 8 points in the favor of A.R. Gould at the half, Hyde continued to slow down the pace of play. The slow pace frustrated not only the other team, but Hyde struggled to find some offense rhythm as well and they were unable to mount a comeback in the second half. Wilson MacMillan '14, had a stellar second half, leading his team in scoring and aggressive play. The game saw some solid minutes from Nabil Eshraghian '12 and Wylie Fresne '12 both players contributing on both sides of the ball. Battling jet-lag and a loud crowd, Jack Xu '14 also played well. Despite the loss, this was a positive experience for the team. They learned that they were able to slow the game down, and looked forward to using this skill in combination with playing at a higher pace to lead them to victory.
Valley: 61
After a long bus ride and watching most of the girl's game, the men's team prepared to take the court in front of a packed gymnasium. The energy was high in the building and the home team fed off their crowd, jumping out to a quick 11-5 lead in the first quarter. Hyde slowed down the Cavaliers in the second behind the strong defense of Peter Lin '13 and Robert Davis-White '12. At the half, down by ten and with the offense struggling to score, the Phoenix headed into the locker room with thoughts of orchestrating a comeback. It would not be had. The hometown team rallied in the third quarter behind the crowd. Taking advantage of Hyde's sloppy play with the basketball, Valley ran out to a large lead by the close of the quarter. Andrew Blazo '13, Terry Luo '13 and Brian Liu '12 came off the bench in the fourth to help Hyde find some rhythm and control. Despite some great individual efforts throughout the game, the lack of a "team" centered mentality led to the loss.
Athlete of the Week:
This week, the mention goes to junior Wylie Fresne '12. Wylie knew that he was not the best player on the team. To him, this meant he needed to be harder working then his more skilled teammates. He has done just that; raising the level of competition at practices and working himself into some playing time over the last two games.
It was a rough and somewhat frustrating week for the young Phoenix. In order to turn their negative outcomes into positive learning moments, the basketball team will continue to work on their team chemistry by playing together. The team's goal is to become more productive working together, rather than rely on the individual play that is pulling them apart. Also with that, another goal they have is to become learners of the sport, starting at the very top with the coach. By learning from our mistakes, we will to improve, and hopefully start producing some W's.
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