“We understand that to do anything of significance on the court is to play great team defense and to give ourselves scoring opportunities on the offensive end,” said Head Coach Ryan Garvin of Hillcrest.  “Friday’s practice was all about that and I thought that the things that roiled us about ourselves on Thursday against West Central, transition defense and ball security, were bet on Saturday against Avail.”

Garvin continued, “We had some decent offensive possessions early that came from our energy on defense.  Then I think we got impatient and believed it would come easy.  Anytime we had a nice series in the first half, we struggled to string together any stops and make a run.  Avail did a nice job staying composed and staying in it, knocking down shots at crucial times.  Our defensive resolve through a full possession is definitely a work in progress.  We need to play lockdown defense for 35 seconds, not 25.”

Lincoln Nash (4 rebounds, 2 assists) came off the bench and contributed during some important defensive series for the Comets, especially in the full court.

“I thought Ethan Swedberg did a great job for us around the basket,” added Coach Garvin.  “He’s still getting settled in for us as we played without him for most of the summer, but his work around the rim is going to make us a better team and take some pressure off of Luke as the season progresses in both rebounding and scoring.”

Hillcrest is off until Tuesday, December 12 when they will travel to Hancock.