Season Finale

Tuesday night the regular season for the 2009-2010 season came to an end with a loss to La Havre. It was not something we were expecting to happen, a loss on our home floor and a loss against a lower tier team. We didn't exactly have our best performance and we didn't exactly have anything to play for. On the other hand, La Havre played very well and they were hungry for this game. A win for them kept their team from dropping down to the Pro B level. In this league, the two last teams in the league standings in Pro A drop down to Pro B for the next season and the top two teams from Pro B move up. La Havre had a little extra motivation but that is still no excuse for us to lose. We started the game flat footed. We were missing easy open baskets and leaving their shooters wide open for shots. Le Havre took advantage of our mistakes and closed out the first quarter leading 20-13. More of the same continued to happen in the second quarter. They were taking care of the little things during the game, hustling harder than us, scrapping hard on the glass, and just picking our defense apart. Despite being out hustled we kept the game close but just couldn't get over that hump and make a run against them. The first half ended with us being down seven, 32-39.

The half time talk wasn't so good. Coach was pretty frustrated with our first half performance. After the pep talk, we got a little fire under our belt and came out the second half ready to play. We picked up our defense with a full court trap to speed the game up for us. We got them out of their rhythm on offense and started to convert on the opposite end. We got the lead down to two and then they came up with a big basket and went on a small run themselves and push the lead back to seven. They took the momentum from us but we were able to get it back and get the lead back down to two again. The game became more intense as we started to body up more on defense and to our advantage created some turnovers. But we also got some fouls called against us that got the fans riled up. After that the gym became loud and the fans along with coach were on the officials for every whistle they blew. There were some big calls missed by the officials that went against us, but that is the nature of sports. We fought through it and kept making a run at them but La Havre would respond with a run on their own. The momentum would switch back and forth through the rest of the game. We finished the third quarter down six and we finished the game losing by six, 76-82. It was definitely hard to close out the regular season losing on our home court. We finished the year 13-17 and tenth in the league out of 16 teams. The expectation was met by the front office in term of staying in Pro A but I was particularly disappointed in how our season turned out for the team and for myself. I have high expectations in everything I do regardless of the situation. Although this wasn't the ideal situation for me, I should be proud of the fact I didn't let it break me. I finished the season coming off the bench averaging 23mpg, 10.1ppg, and 2spg. I finished second in the league in steals, something I'm very proud of! I am looking forward to this off season for some rest from basketball and seeing families and friends. But the unsatisfying feeling I have will provide extra motivation for me. This was a great league for me to play in and I look forward to continue playing in this league. I am very happy and blessed there is already offers on the table from a couple of different Pro A teams as well as from Vichy. But there is more to come so I will have to wait and see what is out there and then I'll weigh my options and find the best situation for Jen and I and for my career.

Thanks for tuning in as you all been a great audience. I will be updating the blog when I've made my decision about the upcoming season and will post a few times over the summer. The best part about that is I will be blogging from the states!!!! Jen is leaving me tomorrow to fly back while I have to wait till Monday. Till next time… love, peace, and happiness. God Bless!