Although it seemed like there was going to be a horrible impact as the Gadsden Panthers boys basketball team came falling off of there perfect 4-0 perch; the Panthers have pulled out of their three consecutive loss dive to guarantee a berth in the state tournament.

In doing so, Coach Michael Harper pulled one out of the scripts of a Hollywood movie. As we wrote last week "Tumble from the Top" it looked like the coaches in District 3-5A were not about to try and play Harper's fast paced game the second time around. So what did they do? They threw up a 3-2 zone, which to the shorter more atletic Panthers looked like playing in a forest.

It was tough to watch. Just like troops being dropped off under heavy fire; the Panthers were being chewed up and losing large. But, then someting changed.

After three loses the Panthers played Alamogordo again for their final district regular season game. But, the Tigers didn't use the zone. Gadsden forward Daniel Rico pointed out, "In Friday's victory.... Yeah, that time they pushed it up... they man-to-maned us and I guess we are quicker than they are." And that was just what Harper wanted. Gadsden was indeed quicker... and don't forget... hungrier. After all they had three loses of bad taste in their mouth. Gadsden won 51-40 and swept the series with Alamogordo 2-0.

Alamogordo earned a rematch with Gadsden by virtue of their 64-60 playoff elimination game against Las Cruces. Now the question would be, what would Alamo do this time? Would they try to go man-to-man or would they try a zone against the Panthers?

They game was played at Gadsden and the full house was ready for a trip to play Mayfield for the district crown. But, they would have to beat the Tigers one more time... They would have to win three in a row... Hat Trick?

It wasn't pretty. Let's be honest, to some of the fans it was down right ugly. Alamo went to the zone rather than run with the Panthers but the result wan't any better for the Tigers. Gadsden won 16-10 with Alamo's last scoring in the early minutes of the second quarter with the score 11-10 in favor of the Panthers.

What happened? Well, Coach Harper made us eat our words. We had written in the last article that "Perhaps Harper was being out coached" because he kept attacking the zones and if your team is not shooting great from outside you've got to go at the zone. Those are the only two options and they were't working. Well, Thurdsday night Harper proved that he had a few tricks up his sleeve.

The Panthers played the Stall when the Tigers went to the Zone. Coach Saul Perez, Harper's Assistant said "Once we got the lead in the first quarter... it was late in the first quarter and we finally got our lead... 11-10... Coach decided to pull them away from that zone and for some reason [Alamo] didn’t want to come out. We held it. We held it." Held it they did. Ryan Holguin just stood their with the ball. No one took another shot until six seconds left in the half. Half time score Panthers up 11-10.

When asked what was the problem during the three game slide Victor Ray Martinez, forward for Gadsden said "It’s the small plays that count. We lost our focus at practice... but tonight we came ready to play". Daniel Rico added "We had our ups and downs... We had that in our off season too so we just played through it. It didn’t bother us that much because we knew we could turn it around.

Perez provided some insight into the slide as well "This is high school basketball. You see professional basketball players loose their focus. That is what competitive atletics is all about. It is very emotional and on any given night someone is going to perform better than someone else. Especially, if your not ready mentally." "But what we key on, and what we tell the kids, is that we forget about the past. We stay positive and we keep believing in what were doing. And sooner or later your going to get that bounce again. And we’ve done that the last two games." “Harper stuck to his game plan and the kids believe in it and that’s why we pulled it out there at the end."

If a team doesn't adjust well and score against the zone it can get ugly real fast. But when you go to the Stall how will your team react? Perez said "The possesions that we did play, the kids played perfect. We give that to our kids because that is a difficult task... that’s a lot of pressure to put on them but they handled it well. And the important part tonight was getting the win." Asked how he kept his focus during this slowdown game, Ryan Holguin said "It was an awesome win. It wasn’t boring. It was the best game of the season because we knew what we were waiting for."

What the team was waiting for was a chance to make Alamo get out of the zone if they went to it. If you use the Stall you have to be ahead... or hope that you have a few tricks up your sleeve at the end of each quarter. Rico said "Everyone was throwing a zone at us so we tried switching it around and throw [the Stall] at them. So we held the ball to see what they would do. We came out and held the ball to make them come out of that zone. And then we would attack. But, obviously they didn’t want to play that game so we just held the ball.

So as it turned out, it was a chess match between Coach Harper and Coach John Madden of Alamogordo. But, it was more like "Check Mate" said Vanessa Perez, Coach Perez's wife. She was right. After the Panthers went to the Stall... Alamo didn't score again.

Perez laughed and added "A comment that was made inside the locker room was that Coach Harper can’t afford to play in the World Series of Poker and so he play’s it out here. It is a great tribute to him and his system and everyone believing in what we do to get these pressure wins like this one."

When the Tigers did get their hands on the ball late in the fourth quarter after abandoning thier Zone; the Panthers were ready to pounce on them. Rico stole the ball and almost made a huge layup. Alamo got the ball and came down and shot a brick.

Perez empathized with the disarray exhibited by the Tiges... "Well, you have to understand that during the course of the game... I think Alamo had three or four possesions from the second quarter until near the end. It’s hard to get into your rhythm and keep your offensive momentum with so few touches. And you notice that with the turnovers. They would get possessions and there would be quick steal or a quick shot and we would recover. We give our kids a lot of credit for believing in our system and doing what it takes to get a win here tonight."

Rico said "I think that Mayfield will throw a zone at us because that has been working for them... but, we’re going to attack it... we’re working on that plan... attacking the gaps... and we’re working on getting a man wide and make sure he gets a nice open shot to break the zone... so we have to penetrate well."

  (Photos: Brax - Valley Publishing Company)

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