It really wasn't a matter of our kids wanting to win or not. We jumped out of the locker room and built a four point lead, which was our biggest lead of the night, and we still managed to get beat soundly.

In many ways this game reminds me of our sectional loss last year to North Central. It wasn't like there was a complete lack of effort. I was just not sharp, focused, and competitive. It's not what we expect and not the way we practice.

We just simply got beat. We got beat on the boards and we got beat on the foul line. They played better defensively than we did. They shot the ball very well tonight and we didn't.

Pat's wrestled a lot of close matches against some of the top kids. I knew it was just a matter of time.

It's a good feeling after the year it's been. Our kids, as you can see, they do like the spotlight. The coaches don't want it, but the kids seem to thrive on that.

These kids keep coming back. They keep working week after week.