By Jeremy McDonald

jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com

SALEM, Ore.–  A day after their one-point heart wrenching loss to Dallas, Thursday’s practice at McKay High School had the Boy’s Basketball team going through the ringer of intense hard work following a film session.

“We looked over what our mistakes we made,” said Noah Tavera.  “See what little things we could fix.  We did good and went over that helped us in practice and helped us focus about it.”

Fast forward through practice, the environment was like a game-like situation.  Royal Scots Head Coach Dean Sanderson was yelling left and right, Matt Espinzoa walking through corrections with Sanderson on a healthy clip.

But it was all the plan said Sanderson, not to be sad and to get over Wednesday night’s loss.

“To not be soft and get through feeling sorry for yourself.” Said Sanderson.  “We can’t mope about losing by one point and to get a little bit better.

“We got better in the half-court today, which was important and we’ll see how it translates tomorrow.”

Practicing taking charges, Sanderson’s powerful voice echoed around the gym.

“Hey cheer for them when they take a charge! Cheer for them when they take a charge!”

The McKay Boy’s basketball team starts cheering.

When a mistake was made during a drill, Sanderson stopped practice as everyone did five push-ups.

“The intensity was high, we got to the next thing quick,” said Tristen Wilson.  “There was no time for breathing.

“Just like in a game, there’s no time for water, there’s no time for breathing, we just have to get up and go.”

Tavera adds that it’ll help the team out in the future especially with Aloha coming in Friday night.

“We thought we could’ve finish it last night so we have to push ourselves in order to be more successful for the future,” said the Junior guard.

The Warriors of Aloha High School lost 75-66 Tuesday Night against Forest Grove and are also looking to break into the win column against the Scots.

In their opening game of the year, Aloha had a 23-16 lead after the first.  But that lead was squandered as the Vikings went on a 25-10 second quarter run to take a 41-33 lead at halftime.

Similar to Forest Grove, McKay had found themselves down a in several points against Dallas and battled back with a strong offense and defensive presence.

“We battled back from 11 points, that’s how much effort we have within ourselves and that shows how much hope we have with one another and battle back,” said Wilson.  “Last year, if we were down by 11, we weren’t coming back.

“That’s what our mentality was last year but this is year is a different mentality, this offense will help us battle back.”

With the focus on fixing their mistakes, and peeling themselves off the hardwood after a water break, they had one last burst to the finish line; they didn’t forget what the emotions were there when they walked into the locker room against Dallas.

“These guys felt how it felt to lose by one.  It kind of hurt us a lot, so we’ll come tomorrow,” said Wilson.  “We’re going to transfer the high intensity here (today) to the game against Aloha.”

Tip off is slated for 7pm in the Main Gym.

PHOTO GALLERY (PICTURE BY JEREMY MCDONALD)

Jeremy McDonald is a professional sports journalist in the Salem/Portland area and is a member of the Society of Professional Journalist in Oregon with B.S. degrees from Southern Oregon University in Journalism (2011) and Health/PE (2013).  Got a story idea? Email him at jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com or on Twitter at @J_McDonald81!

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