RI 91 ACS Barker 19

Before the second game of the season, we wanted to focus throughout the full 40 minutes during the match and concentrate on defense. As the game started, we forced a lot of turnovers and got many steals, leading to many fastbreak points by Jordaan and Justin. The opponents found it very difficult to break our press and didn't get any easy shots. We prevented any underbaskets and forced them to take contested outside shots. The first quarter ended 24-1, with ACS scoring from only one free throw. In the second quarter we did the exact same thing as we did in the first, forcing them to dribble along the sidelines and throw the ball away. Kudos to Sim who had 10 straight points in the quarter.
In the third, we continued pressing them. Jordaan scored 18 points the the quarter alone. Justin pressured the point guard and managed to trap the wing players a couple of times. Our press in the 3rd quarter worked well. The fourth quarter was not well played at all. Some players were being too safe in the zone press and fell back on defense instead of pressuring the ballhandler. Number 11 and 7 of ACS were on fire, scoring all 14 points for their team in the final quarter. Our zone was not as effective anymore as players started to get tired lazy. On offense, we lost focus and had many silly turnovers. Our half court offense was not running and we shot many contested threes and forced shots. The pace of the game was slowing down and we weren't getting any fastbreak points. The post players also had a couple of turnovers. The score in the 4th was 15-14.
We learnt from this game that we must fully focus throughout all 40 minutes of the game especially when we play against tougher opponents. The fourth quarter of this game proved that we still can't concentrate for the full game. Our underbaskets must improve as well as we missed a couple of easy ones in the paint. The half court offense also has to improve. Many players were confused as to which play to execute, leading to forced shots. Most importantly however, we CANNOT SLACK on defense. Every player on the court is important to the team defense. As our legs get tired we must not get sloppy on defense and offense.
It was a good game overall but we cannot be complacent as there will be tougher opponents to come.