By DAVID WOOD, for The Democrat
Brown County and Eastern Greene mirrored each other point-for-point up until the end of the second period Friday night.
To the dismay of the crowd, Eastern Greene would put up a 10-point run before the end of the half, widening the score to 18-27 and eventually taking it to double digits.
The Eagles managed a final push in the fourth period to narrow the deficit to seven, but were a step too late.
The Thunderbirds secured the match with a final few baskets to end the game 44-54, making the Eagles 0-4 after their fourth game of the season.
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]“I’m never going to be mad at them in general when they play with the effort and heart that they played with tonight,” Head Coach John Berning said.
“Now, if that ever takes a step backwards, then we have a problem to be addressed, but right now I’m happy with how they’re working in practice and how hard they’re playing in games.”
Berning said the squad showed signs of putting it all together during infrequent pockets of play, but faltered during long stretches where both the offense and defense struggled.
“There are moments were we execute what we’ve worked on in practice. There are moments where we execute our game plan really well,” he said.
“Unfortunately, there are a lot of stretches, not just moments, where either on offense or defense, we’re just not doing what we should.”
Berning believes the overall record of the team has nothing to do with this year’s goals. This is a growing year that they can use to build on for the future, but that’s not to say they’re giving up.
“We’re going to have some hard times. I just keep pushing to the guys that you have to fight through them. Fight through, keep doing what we’re doing, and we’ll turn it around.” he said.
“We’re not just throwing the towel in this year. … We’re going to fight like mad every night and hopefully find a way to get it done. Who knows where we could be by February or March.”
