Re: Coach Tovarich 2.0 CH2K8 Career Legacy
vs. 
MEAC Tournament Championship
Royal Bank of Canada Center
Raleigh, NC
Tovarich: Wow. Incredible game. They got up 8 at one point I think but I think in the last 10 minutes, no one ever lead by more than one basket. They went up 1 with 23 seconds to go and I was planning on holding for a shot at the buzzer, probably a 2 and see if we could get another foul called in case we didn't score, but Walcott was over relatively open as they were playing off him, apparently unconcerned about him, so I decided, what the hell, let's give it a try and give ourselves another chance to foul if we have to and he sunk it. Nothing that went on before that should've made me confident he'd make it, but for whatever reason, I felt like he'd make it. That gave them 7 seconds to tie or win it with a 3. They made a nice pass, and I thought they had a wide open 3 if they wanted it and I had the nightmare doomsday scenario all ready for it to go in and he took a couple steps forward and so Lathum came toward him and just tipped it barely enough to keep it from even hitting the rim and Montrimas was there to grab it. Not sure why he passed up the 3, but I'm glad he did and it worked out for us. If he sunk it, I'd probably have gone and stolen the team bus and gone to the nearest bar.
Reporter: Your big guys were a combined 17/26. I know it was mostly on layups but they often don't execute like that. Talk about how crucial they were.
Tovarich: Yeah, that wasn't really the gameplan, but they pressed us up until the last 90 seconds maybe. Lathum's the go-to guy against the press, hopefully to drive it in while the 2 C's are engaged with eachother. Since we got their C 2 fouls in 2 minutes, I thought ok, that's a good place to exploit. Then we got the backup C 2 fouls with lots of time left in the first half and they both went and sat, so it became the new gameplan to get it down to them even in the half court. The 3's weren't really going down with even a slight consistency, so I felt better about the big guys against their bench. Got their C a 3rd foul real quick in the second. He was clumsy and slow and out of position a lot and so he only ended up playing 8 minutes, so with a PF in the game for most of it, I thought we had the clear advantage and we used it. They were foul-happy. Glad the refs were rewarding our aggression. Despite the large gap in FT's, fouls were only 12-9 for the game, so the refs were even.
Reporter: You had Krleski on his way to the scorer's table and then when Walcott hit a 3, you sent him back. Were you planning on making that change like in the quarterfinal?
Tovarich: Absolutely. He had an open 3 and if he missed it, that was it for him because he was 2-9 and I don't have time for that right now. I'll let it go in the regular season, because frankly, it's not a big deal. The season's about these 3 games. He nailed it and so I left him in. Didn't end up taking another shot until the end, but that's what kept him on the court.
Reporter: Joe Lunardi has you as a 14 seed. Do you think that would be fair?
Tovarich: Sure, I guess. I don't know. I know our RPI is just inside the top 150. Let's face it, our schedule was full of cupcakes, so even with 24 wins, I know it's going to be an elite team in the 1st round.
vs. MEAC Tournament Championship
Royal Bank of Canada Center
Raleigh, NC
| Maryland-Eastern Shore Hawks at Hampton Pirates | |||
| Mar 14, 2009 | 1ST | 2ND | SCORE |
| Maryland-Eastern Shore (24-9) | 32 | 42 | 74 |
| Hampton (17-16) | 37 | 35 | 72 |
| Maryland-Eastern Shore Hawks | ||||||||||
| STARTERS | MIN | FGM-A | 3PM-A | FTM-A | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PTS |
| Davis | 21 | 2-2 | 1-1 | 0-0 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| Wiley | 21 | 3-8 | 2-6 | 2-4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| Walcott | 21 | 4-11 | 2-6 | 2-2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 12 |
| Lathum | 21 | 7-8 | 0-0 | 5-5 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 19 |
| Montrimas | 21 | 5-10 | 0-0 | 6-7 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 16 |
| BENCH | MIN | FGM-A | 3PM-A | FTM-A | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PTS |
| McFadden | 7 | 3-4 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| Tyson | 7 | 0-2 | 0-2 | 1-2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Bright | 7 | 0-1 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Krleski | 7 | 0-2 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Popovic | 7 | 2-4 | 0-0 | 1-2 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
| TEAM TOTALS | 26-52 | 5-17 | 17-22 | 21 | 9 | 10 | 3 | 5 | 74 | |
| Hampton Pirates | |||||||||||
| STARTERS | MIN | FGM-A | 3PM-A | FTM-A | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PTS | |
| Tunnell | 25 | 5-11 | 4-6 | 1-3 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 15 | |
| Simpson | 26 | 5-12 | 4-7 | 0-0 | 0 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 14 | |
| Lathum | 22 | 6-11 | 1-4 | 0-0 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 13 | |
| Freeman | 25 | 7-12 | 0-0 | 3-3 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 17 | |
| Lola-Chares | 8 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| BENCH | MIN | FGM-A | 3PM-A | FTM-A | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PTS | |
| Brooks | 3 | 1-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
| Ntoko | 6 | 1-2 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
| Smalling | 9 | 2-2 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | |
| Oseni | 8 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 1-2 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| Schneider | 3 | 1-2 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
| Wofford | 4 | 1-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
| Pilgrim | -- DID NOT PLAY -- | ||||||||||
| TEAM TOTALS | 29-55 | 9-17 | 5-8 | 28 | 20 | 5 | 4 | 11 | 72 | ||
Tovarich: Wow. Incredible game. They got up 8 at one point I think but I think in the last 10 minutes, no one ever lead by more than one basket. They went up 1 with 23 seconds to go and I was planning on holding for a shot at the buzzer, probably a 2 and see if we could get another foul called in case we didn't score, but Walcott was over relatively open as they were playing off him, apparently unconcerned about him, so I decided, what the hell, let's give it a try and give ourselves another chance to foul if we have to and he sunk it. Nothing that went on before that should've made me confident he'd make it, but for whatever reason, I felt like he'd make it. That gave them 7 seconds to tie or win it with a 3. They made a nice pass, and I thought they had a wide open 3 if they wanted it and I had the nightmare doomsday scenario all ready for it to go in and he took a couple steps forward and so Lathum came toward him and just tipped it barely enough to keep it from even hitting the rim and Montrimas was there to grab it. Not sure why he passed up the 3, but I'm glad he did and it worked out for us. If he sunk it, I'd probably have gone and stolen the team bus and gone to the nearest bar.
Reporter: Your big guys were a combined 17/26. I know it was mostly on layups but they often don't execute like that. Talk about how crucial they were.
Tovarich: Yeah, that wasn't really the gameplan, but they pressed us up until the last 90 seconds maybe. Lathum's the go-to guy against the press, hopefully to drive it in while the 2 C's are engaged with eachother. Since we got their C 2 fouls in 2 minutes, I thought ok, that's a good place to exploit. Then we got the backup C 2 fouls with lots of time left in the first half and they both went and sat, so it became the new gameplan to get it down to them even in the half court. The 3's weren't really going down with even a slight consistency, so I felt better about the big guys against their bench. Got their C a 3rd foul real quick in the second. He was clumsy and slow and out of position a lot and so he only ended up playing 8 minutes, so with a PF in the game for most of it, I thought we had the clear advantage and we used it. They were foul-happy. Glad the refs were rewarding our aggression. Despite the large gap in FT's, fouls were only 12-9 for the game, so the refs were even.
Reporter: You had Krleski on his way to the scorer's table and then when Walcott hit a 3, you sent him back. Were you planning on making that change like in the quarterfinal?
Tovarich: Absolutely. He had an open 3 and if he missed it, that was it for him because he was 2-9 and I don't have time for that right now. I'll let it go in the regular season, because frankly, it's not a big deal. The season's about these 3 games. He nailed it and so I left him in. Didn't end up taking another shot until the end, but that's what kept him on the court.
Reporter: Joe Lunardi has you as a 14 seed. Do you think that would be fair?
Tovarich: Sure, I guess. I don't know. I know our RPI is just inside the top 150. Let's face it, our schedule was full of cupcakes, so even with 24 wins, I know it's going to be an elite team in the 1st round.
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