The Raiders dropped two more games this weekend. In both games the Raiders came across pretty good teams, with height and athleticism. In both games the Raiders were able to keep that height and atleticism in check, but lost big in the second half.
On Friday, the Raiders took on the Northiview Titans whose best player is Ralph Samson III, who stands 6'11". Our Tallest player is 6'4" tall and he is a sophomore. Also in attendance I found out after was Tubby Smith from the University of Minnesota, where Samson has committed to play next year. We held Samson to 22 points which I thought was pretty good, but one of their guards scored 18. All night long the Raiders were worried about having their shots blocked and threw up shots quickly and inaccurately. Thus we did not score a whole lot of points and lost by a wide margin. The final score was Raiders 44 and the Titans 79.
On Saturday night, I was a little more optimistic, because we were not facing such incredible height. The Sprayberry Yellowjackets came to the Raiders Cove(it is not really the name but it sounds good). The Yellowjackets were coming off a big win the night before and I was hoping the Raiders tenacity on defense could give us an advantage. The Raiders surprised the Yellowjackets out of the box and sprinted out to a 20 to 17 lead with 2 minutes left in the first half. In the last two minutes, the Raiders allowed the Jackets to go on a 7-0 run and take the lead into the half tme.
Coming out of the locker room the Raiders were ready to play. But once again, I think we woke the beast up and could not keep up with the Jackets. The Raiders wound up losing 79-57. We did better offensively, but could not keep up the defensive intensity. The Raiders are now off until we play in my home state of Florida on the 26th of December. The Raiders will be participating in the KSA Holiday Classic at the Disney Wide World of Sports. I hope everyone has a safe and Merry Christmas(none of this happy holidays for me). I will keep each and everyone of you in my prayers. I will try to blog from Disney, but I do not have any promises. If I do not see or talk with you, MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Monday, December 17, 2007
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Raiders lose to Chattahoochee
The Raiders took on around the corner rival Chattahoochee Cougars on Tuesday night. Chattahoochee High School is where a lot of the Raider players would have gone had Alpharertta not opened, so there is a natural rivaly there. The Raiders were very excited and ready to play this game.
They started off well, the defense did a good job on the point guard for Chattahoochee who is extremely quick. The shots were not falling but we were getting what we wanted out of the offense. The Cougars tried to press us but we got the ball in quickly and made them pay for trying to press with lay ups. The Raiders led after the first quarter by 4 points. The second quarter was much of the same. We controlled the game. We just did not score as much as I thought we should have. We went into half time leading 23 -17. The second half has been our problem lately, and I tried to get the guys focused and ready to play, and in the third quarter we continued to work the offense and play pretty good defense. We came out of the third quarter with a five point lead, 35 -30. In the fourth quarter, we started to fall apart. We allowed the Cougars to catch up with an 11- 5 run. We then got a little out of sorts. I called time out to get them focused again. Out of the time out, we took the lead again, but would give it back up. The final score was 47-44. I think we allowed a team that is not as good as us to take a game away from us. It has been a tough loss to swallow. We play a very good team on Friday. The Northview Titans have a player who stands 6'11" tall and has signed with Minnesota. Our tallest player is 6'4" tall and is only a sophomore. We are in for a battle.
They started off well, the defense did a good job on the point guard for Chattahoochee who is extremely quick. The shots were not falling but we were getting what we wanted out of the offense. The Cougars tried to press us but we got the ball in quickly and made them pay for trying to press with lay ups. The Raiders led after the first quarter by 4 points. The second quarter was much of the same. We controlled the game. We just did not score as much as I thought we should have. We went into half time leading 23 -17. The second half has been our problem lately, and I tried to get the guys focused and ready to play, and in the third quarter we continued to work the offense and play pretty good defense. We came out of the third quarter with a five point lead, 35 -30. In the fourth quarter, we started to fall apart. We allowed the Cougars to catch up with an 11- 5 run. We then got a little out of sorts. I called time out to get them focused again. Out of the time out, we took the lead again, but would give it back up. The final score was 47-44. I think we allowed a team that is not as good as us to take a game away from us. It has been a tough loss to swallow. We play a very good team on Friday. The Northview Titans have a player who stands 6'11" tall and has signed with Minnesota. Our tallest player is 6'4" tall and is only a sophomore. We are in for a battle.
Monday, December 10, 2007
Raiders Drop two over the Weekend
The Radiers played two games over the weekend. Both involved long bus trips and two very different teams.
On Friday, the Raiders traveled to Forest Park in Clayton County, south of Atlanta. With traffic it took the Raiders 2 hours to get there. Once there, the Raiders played hard but could not over come the athleticism of the Forest Park team. Though the Panthers were not big, the were quick. They played a pressure zone defense that the Raiders had a tough time figuring out. In the half court, the Raiders did a good job of getting open shots, but we could not get them to fall. As the game went on the Raiders applied some full court pressure, but it was more to our detriment then our advantage. We gave up some easy baskets which eventually lead to the loss of 73 - 68. The Raiders had a good game offensively turned in by Zain H. and Bo S. who had 17 and 16 points respectively.
On Saturday, the Raiders traveled to Heritage High School to take on the Partiots. Once again an hour and a half bus ride brought us to the game. The Raiders were taking on one of the top ten teams in 4-A. The Raiders hung with the Patriots for a half, only being down by 6 going into half time. In the second half the Patriots size and talent took over. The Patriots 6'8" tall center started to get offensive rebounds and easy dishes from team mates when we would help on defense. By the end of the third quarter, the Raiders were down by 30 points. The final score was 84-61. It was a tough weekend for the Raiders, but at least we don't have to travel that far anymore. We will also see Forest Park again on Jan. 5th. The Raiders go back to region play this week taking on Chattahoochee High School on Tuesday. Chattahoochee is only about 3 miles away and is a natural rival. The Raiders could get back on the winning track with this game. On Friday, we take on the Northview Titans who ahve a player whose father played in the pros. He will be a huge challenge for the undersized Raiders to play against. the last game before the Christmas break is on Saturday against Sprayberry High School. The Raiders beleive they can play with anyone in the region, and this week should be a good test to that belief. The Raiders are now 2-5 on the year, but we are still remaining positive about the season.
On Friday, the Raiders traveled to Forest Park in Clayton County, south of Atlanta. With traffic it took the Raiders 2 hours to get there. Once there, the Raiders played hard but could not over come the athleticism of the Forest Park team. Though the Panthers were not big, the were quick. They played a pressure zone defense that the Raiders had a tough time figuring out. In the half court, the Raiders did a good job of getting open shots, but we could not get them to fall. As the game went on the Raiders applied some full court pressure, but it was more to our detriment then our advantage. We gave up some easy baskets which eventually lead to the loss of 73 - 68. The Raiders had a good game offensively turned in by Zain H. and Bo S. who had 17 and 16 points respectively.
On Saturday, the Raiders traveled to Heritage High School to take on the Partiots. Once again an hour and a half bus ride brought us to the game. The Raiders were taking on one of the top ten teams in 4-A. The Raiders hung with the Patriots for a half, only being down by 6 going into half time. In the second half the Patriots size and talent took over. The Patriots 6'8" tall center started to get offensive rebounds and easy dishes from team mates when we would help on defense. By the end of the third quarter, the Raiders were down by 30 points. The final score was 84-61. It was a tough weekend for the Raiders, but at least we don't have to travel that far anymore. We will also see Forest Park again on Jan. 5th. The Raiders go back to region play this week taking on Chattahoochee High School on Tuesday. Chattahoochee is only about 3 miles away and is a natural rival. The Raiders could get back on the winning track with this game. On Friday, we take on the Northview Titans who ahve a player whose father played in the pros. He will be a huge challenge for the undersized Raiders to play against. the last game before the Christmas break is on Saturday against Sprayberry High School. The Raiders beleive they can play with anyone in the region, and this week should be a good test to that belief. The Raiders are now 2-5 on the year, but we are still remaining positive about the season.
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Raiders go down big to Wheeler
The Wheeler Wildcats are one of the best teams in the state with 3 players already signing letters of intent to play at D-1 colleges. Wheeler came to the Raiders home court on Tuesday. The Raiders were hyped up for the game and ready to play. We started out the game pretty hot. We were playing our game and negating some of the talent Wheeler has. The Raiders got out to a 4-2 lead, but that was the last lead the Raiders held. The Wildcats started to shoot the ball and got over our initial emotion and slowly started to pull away. The Raiders did a great job defensively against some very talented players, making them work for baskets. We also did a very good job of controlling the defensive boards, not giving up too many offensive rebounds to a team that was taller and more athletic. On Offense the Raiders were very patient against the Wildcats full court trap. And once over half court, the Raiders remained patient and looking for good shots. Unfortunately, some of our outside shots were put up quick, because when you have a 6 foot 7 inch player flying at you, it does make shoot a little quicker, and thus we missed some outside shots. The Raiders were down 6 at the end of the first quarter, and only down 10 with 30 seconds left in the first half. The last 30 seconds were a look at what was to come.
The Wildcats came out with a vengence in the third quarter, and the Raiders got caught up in the up and down game, leaving our patients in the locker room. In the third quarter, the Raiders were outscored 33-12. The Wildcats scored more points in the third then in the entire first half. The fourth quarter was only 6 minutes long instead of 8, because of the mercy rule. When everything was said and done, the Raiders went down to the Wildcats 76 - 35. As bad as it looks there were some very good things about the game that we can take away from it. First we did not get intimidated and allow this talented team to cause us not to play our game. Second, their full court pressure did not cause us many problems. And last we played some very good defense most of the game against some of the best talent in the state if not the country. I was very proud of our team in that they did not give and they did not back down. It was a good lesson for us going into the rest of our schedule. We will not have to see the Wildcats again, unless we are playing for a State Playoff spot, hopefully.
Next up for the Raiders are two out of Region games against Forest Park and Heritage High Schools. I am hoping to come out of the weekend with two wins.
The Wildcats came out with a vengence in the third quarter, and the Raiders got caught up in the up and down game, leaving our patients in the locker room. In the third quarter, the Raiders were outscored 33-12. The Wildcats scored more points in the third then in the entire first half. The fourth quarter was only 6 minutes long instead of 8, because of the mercy rule. When everything was said and done, the Raiders went down to the Wildcats 76 - 35. As bad as it looks there were some very good things about the game that we can take away from it. First we did not get intimidated and allow this talented team to cause us not to play our game. Second, their full court pressure did not cause us many problems. And last we played some very good defense most of the game against some of the best talent in the state if not the country. I was very proud of our team in that they did not give and they did not back down. It was a good lesson for us going into the rest of our schedule. We will not have to see the Wildcats again, unless we are playing for a State Playoff spot, hopefully.
Next up for the Raiders are two out of Region games against Forest Park and Heritage High Schools. I am hoping to come out of the weekend with two wins.
Monday, December 3, 2007
The Raiders come back to win their second.
The Raiders took on the Kell Longhorns on Friday at Kell. The Raiders started off quick getting out to a 6 point lead, but the longhorns hung in there. The Raiders ran out to a 15 to 13 lead at the end of the first quarter. The Raiders were lead by Senior Rodney F. who had 9 points in the quarter. In the second quarter, the Longhorns zone defense slowed the Raiders down. The Raiders could only come up with 8 points in the second while allowing 16 to the Longhorns. The Raiders went into halftime down by 6, 29-23. The third quarter was almost dead even, with the Raiders outscoring the Longhorns by 1 point, 10-9. The Raiders went into the fourth with a 5 point deficeit to overcome. The Raiders came out with full court pressure. The Longhorns did not handle the pressure too well and took some quick shots. The Raiders, who had been solid on the defensive boards, continued not giving up offensive rebounds to the Longhorns, and turned quick shots into points. The pressure also forced some turnovers that once again the Raiders turned into points. When the time ran out, the Raiders had outscored the Longhorns 27 to 17 in the fourth to beat the Longhorns 60 to 55.
The Raiders were lead by Rodney F. and Ryan B. who both scored 16 points and made 11 of 12 Free Throws down he stretch to keep the Raiders in front. The Raiders also did an excellent job playing defense against the Longhorns not allowing anything easy against a wheel offense. Even though the Raiders shot poorly from the outside, 3 of 18 from beyond the three point line, the Radiers did very well from inside the three point line, 19 for 38. And even better from inside of ten feet, 15 for 28. This is an area we had been having problems. It was a good win, and the first in the region for us. We play Wheeler on Tuesday. Wheeler is one of the best teams in the state, and will be a tough game for the Raiders. I will post again on Wednesday.
The Raiders were lead by Rodney F. and Ryan B. who both scored 16 points and made 11 of 12 Free Throws down he stretch to keep the Raiders in front. The Raiders also did an excellent job playing defense against the Longhorns not allowing anything easy against a wheel offense. Even though the Raiders shot poorly from the outside, 3 of 18 from beyond the three point line, the Radiers did very well from inside the three point line, 19 for 38. And even better from inside of ten feet, 15 for 28. This is an area we had been having problems. It was a good win, and the first in the region for us. We play Wheeler on Tuesday. Wheeler is one of the best teams in the state, and will be a tough game for the Raiders. I will post again on Wednesday.
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