The Way You Want To finish

Last night ended the regular season of high school basketball. To say the least this has been a trying season for the boys basketball team.

What Mike Gainey has become accustomed to is not having his full team through most of December. Two of the last four years the football team has played December playoff games. This year five football players joined the basketball team when football ended.

That's tough already five or six games into the season and one third of your team is just starting practice. By the time everyone is getting into basketball shape the Christmas Holiday break occurs.

Just when the football players are getting use to the round ball your best player is injured and sits out two games. After Christmas two weeks worth of basketball is interrupted by a week of exams and then academic causalities.

Through the first round of conference play Coach Gainey played 10 and 12 players looking for the right combination. As the second time through the conference play started all the academics and injuries out of the way he was able to settle on the first eight players. No team played better through the second round of games.

Tashawn Mabry is the leading scorer. Philip Wilkins the leading rebounder. His last three games he has pulled down 12,13 and 15 rebounds. The bug a boo for this team is turn overs. They make them in bunches. If over the next couple of weeks they could cut their turnovers in half they might be able to make a run in the playoffs.

The conference tournamnet starts Monday at Southwest Edgecombe. The Gryphons will have to win three games next week to be conference tournament champions. I would not put it past them.

Two years in a row now the Lady Gryphons have gone undefeated. They carry an 18-4 record into their Thursday night semi final game in the tournament.

If there is one thing that this area produces is speed. Whether it's football or basketball Rocky Mount athletes are fast. That includes the girls. One thing this area doesn't produce for girls is height.

Pam Gainey is a full court defensive coach that loves defense. This years team has struggled at the offensive end to get points in the hole. I think without a doubt 40% of this team scoring is defensive related. They score when their defense is suffocating.

If you look back at Pam Gainey's career at Rocky Mount she has struggled in the playoffs because the teams that win the state championships have a 6'2" girl in the middle which Gainey has always lacked.

Our conference doesn't have any big girls in the middle this year and Pam Gainey's style has flourished having to play a small lineup.

I have watched Gryphon basketball for ten years now and this years girls team is no where near the best during that time.

And yet, Pam Gainey has them at 18-4 and they will get at least one home game during the playoffs.