It's going to be a battle every night, just like it was this year. There won't be any easy games.

At halftime, we talked about getting shots off in rhythm and, at least late in the game, the kids started doing that.

They made some big plays in the second half to keep us at bay. They executed in their half-court (offense) very well. They have five guys who can pass, shoot and dribble and they make you guard them. Five players with skill are tough to guard.

They made some key plays to keep us at bay in the second half. They were just the better team tonight.

This group has taken our program to another level.

Defensively, I feel confident that we can do some things to create some problems for them. The key thing for us is that we take shots when we're in a rhythm, because when we pass the ball to the open man and stay in a rhythm, we've got a lot of guys who can make shots from both the inside and outside.

Sometimes we go a million miles per hour and don't let things develop properly. These past couple of games, we've been patient and have taken open shots. That's what we'll need to do against Mount Vernon, because that's a team that will guard you.

We did a very good job in the second half of taking what was there. We scored from the inside, and that set up some good looks from the outside. We took some bad shots in the first half, but we were able to settle down and play in a rhythm.

We've got several kids who can score in a number of different ways. Once the tournament begins, we've got to stay sharp mentally and come ready to play good defense and rebound every night. We've got seven seniors on this team and we want them to go out on a positive note.

We need to push it ourselves and make them guard us. We have a lot of different guys stepping up and contributing, and we need that to continue.