Elba had plenty of chances to beat C.J. Finney in the Section V Class D consolidation game. They had second and third and fourth chances -- the kind of chances you get by snagging offensive rebounds and putting them back for baskets.
But in the third and fourth quarters, those balls weren't rolling in.
"We stressed crashing the offensive rebounds," said Head Coach Ciaci Zambito. "We felt we would have an advantage on the glass tonight. The first half, we capitalized on some those and in the second half, we didn't. That's just how the game is. The ball didn't roll our way and that's the unfortunate part of the story of the night."
Putting in more of those shots would have helped the Lancers overcome the sharpshooting of Finney's guards, who netted 13 three-point shots helping Finney advance to the Far West Regional Championship with a 52-48 win.
Max Harris hit six three-pointers for Finney and Dylan Occur hit four, all in the first quarter.
All those swishes put Elba in a mood to try a little outside shooting to start the second half and that got them in a little trouble.
"We haven't been a great shooting team all year," Zambito said. "Our thing is we need to attack the basket. Sometimes when other teams do things well you try to match them. They shot the ball well tonight and we tried to match them doing that and we came up short."
Finney's guards can also handle the ball well, so the Lancer's attempt to trap and press wasn't as effective as Zambito would have liked, so Elba dropped back into a half-court offense.
"They're just such good shooters," Zambito said. "There isn't much you could do about that."
Zambito praised his seniors, who came up in a program that a few years ago only got five or six wins, but starting last year, when Zambito became coach, they bought into the new scheme of things and worked hard to come together as a team and help Elba get its first Section V title in boys basketball since 2005.
"To end their career with a sectional championship just goes to show you how hard they've worked," Zambito said. "It's incredible."
For Elba, Tucker Bezon scored 20 points. He hit three threes. Shane O'Hallaran scored 10. Jon Boyce scored nine.
