We played them tough in the first half. It was good that our guys stepped up and played hard, but we never really made a commitment to getting on the boards.

Call up any coach in the league right now, and they'll tell you about how hard our guys played. The guys gave me all they had.

It's like when we played Clackamas. We competed better. In this game instead of just letting the chips fall, the guys wouldn't go away.

Right now, the players understand that we have to defend and rebound to stay in the game. It's not like we have to go through a major overhaul. We just have to pay a little more attention to detail and take pride in hitting the boards.

It was a little scary at the end. The score doesn't indicate how close it was.

We watched a couple of (Highlands Ranch's) games and confidence was what they built on. In practice all week, coach (Rudy Carey) told us we had to come out and make a statement.