The Sports Guy

The Bobcats are back on top again and the road ahead leads straight to the number one seed in the Peach Belt Conference basketball tournament. The Bobcats came away with an impressive victory on Monday against Armstrong Atlantic State University to place them in a first place tie with Clayton State. Not only did the Bobcats snap a two game skid but they also battled their way through the brunt of their conference schedule.

In the weeks ahead, GC&SU will face some threats, but only one big task remains- to go to Savannah and beat conference rival Armstrong Atlantic on Feb. 20.

One thing the Bobcats must do to remain atop the PBC is shoot at least 50 percent from the floor and 50 percent from behind the arc. In the Bobcats win against AASU, they shot 51 percent in the game, hitting 17 out of their 30 shots and were smoking from long range shooting, making 13 of their 20 shots taken, 65 percent. When you are shooting this hot is hard to lose.

This leads me into my next thought. To win out the season and take the top seed in the PBC the Bobcats must remain consistent. On Monday, the Bobcats made their first five shots to take an early 14-5 lead, but then fizzled out, letting AASU go into halftime down only four points. The second half, although exciting for the crowd, was a little intense. For 13 minutes it was a constant battle for the lead, the Bobcats finally broke loose with seven minutes left to go on a 9-2 run and win the game. The Bobcats need to control the game and not let other teams back into the game. A shift in momentum can lead a team to panic and lose control in the game.

My last point is that the Bobcats need to manage their bench and fouls well. On Monday, forward Jeremy Mayweather had to sit out until four minutes were left in the game because he had four fouls. He is a large source of rebounds and energy on the team. Fouls are unavoidable but you can compensate for them. A source that can determine if a team wins or loses is the bench. Against AASU, Andre Smith came off the bench to fill Mayweather’s gap. He scored 15 points and was four of five from behind the arc.

If the Bobcats continue to do these things and students fill the Centennial Center for the last remaining home games, then there is good chance we will be the number one seed in the PBC.

If you have any thoughts about this column please send a response to colonnadeletters@gcsu.edu.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Feb 10 2006. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry