Philomath Takes the Falcons to School

"I want to see if they have a fire in their bellies," said boys basketball head coach Nick Garman, shortly before tip off of their game with Philomath.  He was hoping that the Falcons would rebound from the lackluster loss in the opener to Sisters.  Instead, he watched his Elmira squad come out timidly, fall behind 40-23 by the end of the third quarter, before starting to assert themselves far too late, as the Warriors waxed Elmira 55-38 at Philomath High School, Tuesday December 11.

"I would like to see us take the fight to our opponents sooner rather than later," lamented Garman in an email.  "I would like to see our practice attitude change if we want to see a different result on the floor."  Garman suggested that the two subsequent practices since the Philomath game were improved.

Falcons' sophomore center Jacob Marr attacks the rim and is fouled by a Philomath defender in Elmira's 55-38 loss to the Warriors, Tuesday December 11.  Photo by Kimberly Lillie.

Already with a disadvantage because of Philomath's length and size, the Falcons complicated things by offering their opponents 21 turnovers and frigid 12 for 44, 27% shooting.  By the time, Elmira was starting to see some progress in the final stanza, the lead was too great to overcome.

Elmira's Keaton Warner challenges a Philomath shooter in the Falcons 55-38 loss to the Warriors, Tuesday December 11.
Photo by Kimberly Lillie

Still, Garman found silver linings in the loss.  The Falcons out-rebounded the bigger, taller Philomath squad 31-26 and hit 13 of 17 free throws once they started to be more aggressive in taking the ball to the rack.  Keegan Cook led Elmira in scoring with 10 points.

Elmira's Keegan Cook drives to the basket in the fourth quarter of the Falcons 55-38 loss to Philomath, Tuesday,
 December 11.  Keegan led the Falcons in scoring with 10 points.  Photo by Kimberly Lillie.

"They battled until the end," Garman commented.  "which is nice to see the character we have.  I do think we can play much better than we did, for sure."

The Falcons welcome the Newport Cubs this Friday night at 7 PM.