We lost a lot of confidence after the East Burke loss (Jan. 6). But I think we've got it back now. Our kids are really hard on themselves because they want to win so badly. But they're a great group. They are super young men.

I told the guys, this was an ugly win, but I've never seen a pretty loss, so we'll take it. We can play much better, but when you play poorly and still win, you've got to be pleased.

Our defense was phenomenal, especially in the first half. We played man and only gave up 12 points, and six of those they scored diving on loose balls on the floor that bounced their way. Alexander made a real solid run in the third, but I like the way we held our composure and then counter-punched them.

It's taken us a while to learn what our roles are. But we really understand our roles as individuals and as a team. We fully understand what we need to do. We attack the zone better than the man-to-man, and I never thought I'd say that.

Chris Twitty hit some huge free throws for us, obviously. I thought our defense stepped up in the fourth quarter and did some good things.

I can only remember two times in the first half where we executed the offense the way we do in practice. We collectively panicked. You can dig yourself a hole, but if you're disciplined, you can dig your way out. But we got rattled and just broke down. The thing I'm most disappointed in is we didn't give ourselves a chance to win. So much of it was us stopping ourselves.