The Gaston Greyhounds had a tough week.
Gaston’s boys basketball team dropped two of its three games last week and now must win at least two of its last four in order to make the Northwest League playoffs – four games against the top four teams in the league.
And due to league tiebreaker rules, how much the Hounds lose by is almost as important as whether or not they lose in the first place.
In other words, it’s not going to get any easier.
So far this season, every step forward seems to have been met with an equal step back. Every steal is accompanied by a lapse in defensive coverage. Every winning streak is followed by a three-game skid. Gaston’s young team is still learning how to win together.
“Youth is a great explanation for our team’s play,” Gaston coach Lono Waiwaiole said. “We are inexperienced on both offense and defense.”
Last week’s step forward was a 52-49 win over Riverdale on Monday, but the step backward came with consecutive losses to Faith Bible on Wednesday and Nestucca on Saturday.
Photo by // Chase Allgood
“Saturday’s game was the same as the game on Wednesday. We didn’t get it kicked into gear until the end of the game,” Waiwaiole said. “We need more [late game] experience and more maturity. The guys need to understand every minute is as important as the last minute.”
“[Lately], we’re a few possessions too late.”
Gaston (8-12, 3-7) scored in bunches as the fourth quarter expired in each of its last two games, scoring 10 points in the final minutes against Nestucca (only to lose by four) and six against Faith Bible (eventually losing by seven).
The coaching staff is befuddled. Waiwaiole said the team doesn’t practice soft and the staff doesn’t coach the team to lack intensity.
“None of us are like that,” Waiwaiole said. “The thing is, they think they are playing hard and with a sense of urgency, and they don’t know the difference until the end. And they find out they have more and they use it then.”
Many fans think Gaston is only a step or two away from being a playoff team. Waiwaiole said that sophomores Dusty Brown and David Carr are the start to a solid foundation, and the third-year coach has taken every opportunity to show the two players when and where they can improve.
“Brown still needs to [learn] how it all fits together,” Waiwaiole said. “Dusty is a talented player but he is still very young. There are a lot of things he is still struggling with to become a complete player. He is a very good scorer but he likes to go off on his own. It takes experience to know when to push the ball and when to move the ball around.”
The Gaston staff looks at the season as a continuum – every play, every game and every player is moving toward the same goal. It doesn’t matter where the team is in the season, the goal is the same: advance to the playoffs and, eventually, the state tournament.
But it starts with each individual play. Waiwaiole said that playing hard early is what will define these last few games.
“If we would play [better] in the beginning, it wouldn’t have to be close,” he said. “I think that’s where the frustration comes in. I think the frustration is in the first, second and third quarter.
“We need to bring that kind of fire at the beginning of the game and we’ll be fine.”
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