One day after what was arguably their best performance of the season, HCA looked lost at times against Dickson County.
A 61-36 loss and before we go any further let’s acknowledge the uncontrollable things in this game.
First, the officiating was not liked or agreed with a large majority of the time. I have never been one to blame officials, it is the hardest job in sports, and I won’t now but to not mention the way fans, players, and coaches reacted to it would be to ignore a part of the game that was present.
Second, the Cougars had more players and more depth. Not talking about talent or anything else, strictly stating the school has over two thousand students and the team bolstered a roster large enough to require a second row on the bench. Also, most all of those kids play. Again, not talking they are all more or equally as talented, but they play and they are fresh legs.
Now, neither of those is an excuse for the way the Warriors played at times because neither is something you can control or that you should allow to control you. Especially in a twenty-five point loss. A five point loss, absolutely in that case we can talk officiating or depth or physicality, but twenty-five is a product of turnovers and bad shots and admittedly some hard luck.
With all that being said, still plenty to walk away from this game feeling good about.
In the midst of it all Carlos Robles and Jason Leek combined for twenty-five points. Also, it was 35-12 at the half and 61-36 final. That means in the second half HCA played to a near tie, 26-24. In the half where depth and conditioning and fouls should have been issues the Warriors played infinitely better, made adjustments, and made a game of it.
Do not let the fact that Dickson County played a lot of “bench” players or “subs” fool you either. The Cougars, and I say this from experience, are a deep but not totally top heavy team. They had one players score double figures last night and it was only ten. They do not really have a JV and Varsity team. They, outside of maybe three or four guys, are the same team whether its JV or Varsity.
Again, you cannot allow a team to dictate the pace or physicality of a game. HCA got sped up a lot at times. Forced passes and shots as well as found themselves chasing at times defensively instead of anticipating. Those things have to get cleaned up.
However, the second half showed they can and will clean it up. It also showed that this team does not know the words quit or lazy. They fought and they fought hard and that is something not only to be proud of but to remember as the season continues.
The Warriors will face a similar test on Tuesday when they host Madisonville-North Hopkins and thanks to this game against the Cougars, I think they will only be more ready and hungry to fight.