Falling into place
Anyone who has ever tackled a jigsaw puzzle knows the feeling.
You look down at all these unattached pieces, then glance at the picture on the box top. All the pieces are there to construct the big picture. It’s just a matter of finding where they all fit together.
Same with a basketball team.
Valley Christian coach Rich White has the pieces. In the final season of his high school coaching career, he knows what the big picture looks like.
“I hear that from a lot of people,” he said. “They see us play, and they tell me that we have all the pieces – all of the elements and all of the chemistry. I think, yeah, we just have to keep working on the little things.”
The Panthers can score, they play tough defense and have strong team chemistry.
“That’s something we’ve worked on all year,” point guard Justin McNamara said. “Just all being part of the same team makes us a group, but we’re also good friends on top of it.
“Last year, when I was the team’s junior point guard, our seniors went out of their way to make sure that I was part of everything on the team. As a point guard, you’re expected to be a captain and a leader on the floor and, coming in, I was concerned how that was going to be with those seniors.
“I want to do the same for these guys.”
Valley Christian has a pair of wins in its first five Bi-County League games and a 3-5 record overall.
“We’ve had a lot of close games and a lot of games that we should have won,” White said. “Out of those five losses, in four of them we had a 10- or 12-point lead.
“We have to learn how to win,” McNamara said. “We’re going to win one of those games, and we’re going to learn from it and keep going.”
The Panthers thus far have ridden the broad shoulders of senior post Vitaliy Kozubenko, who has scored 30 or more points in five games. In the three games in which he hasn’t scored 30 points, he’s amassed just 31 points.
“We haven’t figured out yet how to score when Vitaliy is having an off night or when I’m not scoring,” McNamara said. “We haven’t had a game yet when everyone is on.”
In the team’s final game before the holiday break, the Panthers shot a season-low 14 percent from the field in a 52-21 loss to Northwest Christian at Colbert. McNamara and Kozubenko each were limited to just four points.
“The frustrating thing about that game was that we played a really good defensive game against them,” McNamara said. “We held them well below their season average. And on offense, we got the open looks, but nothing – absolutely nothing – was falling the whole game.”
“Vitaliy must have missed three layups in that game,” White added. “No one could score. We were down 5-2 after one period and we didn’t score at all in the second. We missed shots like you wouldn’t believe.
“That’s basketball for you. Sometimes the ball just doesn’t want to go in.”
The defending State B champions led 16-2 at halftime and scored 18 points in each of the final two quarters.
“There were a lot of good things that came out of that game, I felt,” White said. “We just have to keep working on the little things. The kids are all looking forward to playing them again at our facility.”
The team heads into a tough month of January. The Bi-County League regular season finale is Jan. 30. That means a tough grind of three league games per week: Tuesday, Friday and Saturday.
“The tough part is the Friday-Saturday turnaround,” McNamara said. “You play a tough game Friday night and turn right around and play again. You have to be mentally tough and ready to play every single game.”
White gave his team plenty of time off this week to heal nagging injuries and take a mental break before heading into the meat of the team’s Bi-County League season. The Panthers returned to the practice floor Wednesday to prepare for a nonleague game with cross-town rival St. George’s on Friday.
McNamara said this next month will be where all the hard work pays off.
“We work hard to be in the best physical shape in the league,” he said “That’s a big mental advantage when you can go out there and outrun your opponent.”