This past weekend the Pioneers hosted Ripon and Beloit College in a rematch of our opening MWC weekend. Both teams are positioned to be in the conference tournament, so we knew each contest would be hard fought.
Ripon is the most physical team in the conference, they bump, they defend, they rebound. We were overpowered by their aggressiveness and it showed in our turnover numbers, which have been improving over the course of the season. We lost our focus on making solid passes and taking care of the ball. We failed to rebound and gave up many second-shot opportunities.
Despite the hard loss Friday night we rebounded Saturday against Beloit and came out on FIRE. We led half way through the 1st half 17-6. It was a fantastic start with solid passing and easy lay-ups. Simple, effective basketball. However, like any good team, Beloit came back and closed the lead before the half was over. We tied Beloit in the second half but were unable to make up the deficit from the end of the 1st stanza.
As a young team we need to learn how to maintain a lead and build. I strongly believe that our defensive intensity is the key to issue. With our best defense comes our best offense. Our ability to play 20 minutes of defense is the key to overcoming our slumps late in the half. This will be our focus against Knox and our remaining games.
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