But now that the Trojans are a No. 2 seed after falling twice to district winner San Isidro, coach Ray Garza feels like his team is capable of regrouping and mounting a playoff run.
“I tell the guys to leave it out on the floor. If we win, we celebrate and if we lose we’ll talk about it. Once that day is over we’ll move on, learn from it and move on to the next one,” Garza said during practice last week in preparation for tonight’s playoff game. “Morale has picked up and we don’t have that district title like last year, but we’re up for the challenge.”
One thing the Trojans have in their corner is experience through their seniors and Garza will be calling on that to help will his team on to the next round.
After some seniors were hurt and lost for the season, the remaining vets helped the underclassmen step up.
“I believe that was our strong point coming into the season. We had six seniors, a couple got hurt but the ones who remained have been around the program enough and have been successful. So they know what needs to get done and I feel like that will really carry us one or two rounds,” Garza said.
“The seniors took the underclassmen under their wings and they taught them the rights, the wrongs and how to play ball. The freshmen who have some of this skill have come a long way because of it.”
Despite having experience under their belt, the seniors feel an added need to execute and perform during their final postseason, especially since they could not overcome San Isidro in league play.
“It’s a different tempo. It’ll be more serious and more intense. We’ll have to execute, but we’re pretty pumped,” senior post player Michael Johnson said. “It’s emotional and it means a lot to us. We’re a lot more focused and practicing harder; it’s like a feeling you can’t explain but you feel it when this time comes around.”
Even with the regular season gone, the Trojans feel like they have not played as well as they could have, especially in losing efforts.
Now, their game against London will be their first shot at righting the district season’s wrongs and forgetting their shortcomings.
“We’re definitely hoping for a better playoff run than in district. We feel like we didn’t play to our fullest potential,” senior point guard Marce Rodriguez said “San Isidro is a great ballclub, but if we played to our best, we knew we could’ve had that win.
“However, we want to forget about the past. We have a great group of guys that are willing to do what ever they need to get the ‘W’ at the end of the day.”
San Perlita and London are scheduled to tip off at 7 tonight in San Perlita.