After a four-game winning streak, Wildcats fell on the court to the Farmington Falcons 54-51 in a highly contested game on Jan. 17, bringing their overall record to 4-6.
‘We had 20 turnovers and only lost by two points, but after the game we had a serious film session, just looking at it with our guys we really didn’t play the style we want to play,? said Head Coach Stephan Henning. It’s scary to think how good we could be if we played a sound basketball he whole game.?
Farmington started off on a 7-0 run but the battle tested Wildcats wouldn’t give up as they fought back to go down 28-24 at halftime.
Fast forward to the fourth quarter it was a back and forth affair as the Falcons scored with 13 seconds left in the game, the Wildcats almost forced overtime with a tough shot from freshman guard Jamal Thomas.
Thomas led all scorers with 22 points. Playing extremely well for the Wildcats along with Thomas was Senior forward Jordan Anderson.
‘Jamal had 22 points as a freshmen and to everyone else that would be an amazing game for a freshmen, but after watching film, he wasn’t really their defensively,? Henning said. Hedidn’t really guard the ball well or off the ball well, so that hurt us just as much as his points (helped us).?
‘I’m not taking away from Farmington,? he added. ‘They were a heck of team and also got a lot of great players, but we also gave them an extra 20 possessions to seal the game.?
The boys will travel on the road Thursday, Jan. 23 to face Stoney Creek High School, but will return for homecourt action on Tuesday, Jan. 28 against Hazel Park. Both games begin at 7 p.m.
While Stoney Creek is number two in the league after Farmington, Henning said their focus is not on the other teams, as it is on themselves.
We know that Stoney Creek has players, we know their personnel and the type of defense they run, but this whole season I’ve been honed into what we need to do to get better,? Henning said. I want us to get back into a defensive stance, communicating and playing our brand of basketball. Thinking about Stoney Creek is just thinking about us. Do we want to be a good team or do we want to be a great team? If we decide to be a great team than the sky is the limit.?