In basketball, many consider the last two minutes of a contest to be the most important part of the game. However, that is not always the case.
In basketball, many consider the last two minutes of a contest to be the most important part of the game. However, that is not always the case.
Basketball coaches, like leaders in all team sports, often consider every offensive possession important whether it is at the beginning, middle, or end of the game. Thus, coaches are always trying to get players to play confidently, stay in the present, and to focus on the process rather than worrying about outcome or results.
For the West Geauga Wolverines Boys Basketball Team, an excellent, confident start to their game against the Orange Lions on Jan. 9 at the Wolverana proved to loom large.
Commencing with a fast and furious start, the West Geauga Wolverines Boys Basketball team quickly took a 10-0 advantage to begin the game.
After that point, midway through the first quarter, both teams scored 27 points each as the Wolverines took a 37-27 lead into the final quarter.
Although the Lions cut the lead down to seven points early in the 4th quarter, the Wolverines responded by stretching the lead back out to 13 points as they claimed a 51-38 victory.
Clearly, a key to the victory over the Lions was the Wolverines’ excellent start.
When asked about their energy coming into the contest, senior Mason Pesho said that the team was highly motivated to play the Lions, a CVC conference rival. He expressed that the team was excited for the game since they believed they did not perform as well as they could have in their first matchup with the Lions.
“The players brought all the energy, they knew this was a big game,” Pesho said. “We wanted to get this win really badly and we just brought the energy.”
Pesho said that the game plan, which was to play hard, corresponded with the momentum to start the contest.
“That losing streak, we didn’t play our best basketball, we didn’t play hard enough, so we knew we had to come out and play (with energy),” Pesho said.
Sophomore Luke Ottman also noted the importance of the Wolverines’ excellent intensity to begin the game.
Ottman, who led the Wolverines with 15 points, said the Wolverena atmosphere with an energetic student section and a recent losing streak were some of the motivating factors in his team’s strong performance against the Lions.
“We just came out (hard), the student section showed out,” Ottman said. “We had to play hard, we were (4-6), we just have to keep battling, and we got to keep stacking wins together in order to still have a shot at a conference championship.”
Coach Young was also happy with how his Wolverines squad began the game.
“I thought our guys did a good job of setting the tone early, getting to that 10-0 lead, and playing hard from there,” Coach Young said. “We didn’t play perfectly, we are never going to, but we played hard and that’s what I wanted to see.”
Coach Young continued, “(The plan was) if we could come out and dominate those first four minutes, which we did, we were going to set ourselves up for the rest of the game. And that’s exactly what happened.”
Helping the Wolverines start well in the first quarter was sophomore Luke Ottman.
“This was really his first game where he kind of broke out, he played very confidently, (and) hit some good shots,” Coach Young said.
To help Ottman come into the game confident, Coach Young used a positive approach.
“We are always trying to make our guys confident,” Coach Young said. “Even when they (have trouble shooting the ball), always move on to the next play, always just play, play, play. I told Luke before the game, just go out there play confident, you’re a very good player.”
And Ottman responded by leading the Wolverines to victory.
Not only did Ottman start the game strong with 8 first half points, he also hit a clutch three point shot in the fourth quarter to break the Lions momentum.
After the Wolverines took a 26-11 lead into halftime, the Lions outscored the home team 16-11 in the third quarter.
With the Lions trying to make a strong comeback, Coach Young told his team between the third and fourth quarter to slow the pace down and stay confident.
“Orange kind of had the momentum going into the fourth,” Young said. “They outscored us 16-11 in the third quarter. They had the momentum, they were getting up and down. (I told them), ‘We need to slow down and play with confidence’.”
The Lions started the fourth quarter by quickly cutting the lead down to seven points with 6:54 left in the game.
However, after an early fourth quarter timeout, Ottman heeded Coach Young’s words of advice to play with confidence. He then responded by knocking down a three pointer to push the Wolverines lead back out to ten.
“I caught it, I was wide open, I knew I had to shoot it,” Ottman said.
As Ottman caught the ball with a feeling of high self-efficacy, he knew he was a good shooter.
“I’m a good shooter, the season has been kind of up and down shooting,” Ottman said. “But shooters shoot and it just felt great to knock it down. It was a huge momentum shift. It started the run that we then went on.”
For the game the Wolverines were led offensively by Ottman (15 points), Vince Vecchio (10), Cooper Paskowski (8), Tyler Fink (8), Mason Pesho (5), Finn Keenan (3) and Ryan Mobley (2).
