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SG Basketball: The Question

2/19/2024

By Erik Van Dyke

The halftime buzzer goes. The players trudge to the bench, heads down, shoulders slumped. Demoralized. I can’t exactly remember the score, but it was ugly. 36-11 or something like that. It felt like more. Laruche’s full-court press was debilitating, no let-up at all, never letting us get comfortable on offence, and their fast break was killing us. Even if we got a couple bodies back in transition, they would stay in fifth gear, attack downhill and finish anyway, contested or not. Even when we forced them to play in the half court, they dropped threes like it was nothing. They were fast, athletic, deep, they were shooting well, and they were on their home floor. Laruche was rolling. Stanstead was not going to win this game.

Which brings us to the only question that matters: what kind of athlete are you?

Are you going to fold, go fetal, give up when the chips are down? Or are you going to play your hardest no matter what the scoreboard says?

What kind of athlete are you?

This coach can proudly report that The Question has been answered, i.e. your Spartans picked themselves up off the mat, ignored the score and played hard the rest of the game. It wasn’t easy – strike that, if was really, really hard – but the Red & White did themselves proud.

Anyone can answer the bell when things are going great. But it takes real character to square your shoulders and dig deep when things are going awful.

One final question: They say you learn more from losses than you do from wins. I’m a bit of a math guy, so does that mean the bigger the loss, the more you learn? Is that how the math works…?

We see Laruche again this Wednesday. Let’s find out.

- Coach Van Dyke

The year so far…

Overall Record: 15 wins 11 losses

RSEQ League Play: 5 wins 4 losses

Points for per game: 31.7 Points allowed per game: 26.2

CAIS Semifinalists

BCS Tournament FINALISTS

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