Jeff Ackermann
Jeff Ackermann
best ease fine game guys knew press wear
We knew they were big and they had a lot of girth to them, so we wanted to try to wear them out the best we could. Our guys knew we were going to press the whole game, we weren't going to ease up and, if they scored on it, we were fine with that because we wanted to get an up-tempo game as much as we could.
effort game goals guys played ready season ups
This game was our season in a nutshell. Ups and downs, ups and downs. It's another down for us, but my guys played hard. The effort was there. If you set your goals high, you have to be ready for disappointment.
chance guys history
I told our guys that they have a chance to make their own history and not live off our old history. This is their chance to be a part of it themselves.
advantage bench furthest game gold guys medals
You look at them (Laurel Highlands) and I think this may be the furthest they've gone. I look up and down my bench and see a lot of guys who have had gold medals around their necks. That's a big advantage in a game like this.
confident defense definitely drive expected experience game guys kids might mind paid situation team took
I expected them to drive to the hoop. I think it might have been one of those instances where they were young kids and they have not been here before and they tensed up a little and took those 3-pointers. But, you look at that team and they are so well coached. My guys didn't mind being on defense at the end and I think they were confident and comfortable because they had been in that situation before. The experience of being in the championship game before definitely paid off for us.
beat entire fall few knew missed press shots
We knew they were big, but we wanted to press them the entire game. Even if we got beat a few times, we were going to press. We missed a few shots early, but then they started to fall for us.
bench help impose
We use our bench to help impose our will.
section win
We didn't win the section this year, and, after that, we set this as our goal.
battle fight game hampton happy kids knew needed tough whatever
I was happy to be up 12 points. But, you know and I know that Hampton wasn't going to go away. Everyone knew they were going to battle back and be there at the end. They have tough kids and you knew they were going to fight back and do whatever they needed to do to be in that game at the end.
fact inside kindness missing settled sure surprised
I was kind of surprised they settled for those 3-point shots. But I'm sure that had something to do with the fact they were missing some inside players.
early jumping lead
Jumping out to the early lead was probably just more of us being experienced in this game.
exhausted
I'm happy, but I'm tired, exhausted and emotionally drained.
scoring shooting team
I think we're a better scoring team than we showed tonight. I know we're a better shooting team than we showed tonight.
bus driver
I think we had the slowest bus driver in Pennsylvania.