After not playing with the energy required of Bauxite Coach Andy Brakebill but still beating Mountain Pine 55-48 on Thursday in the semifinals of the Bill Gibbs Memorial Tournament in Haskell, the Miners brought that energy and more Saturday in the tourney championship. Bauxite blasted the Nevada Blue Jays 59-33 at Daniel Henley Fieldhouse, jumping to a 25-6 lead after one quarter.
“We played with a lot more energy than we did Thursday night against Mountain Pine,” Brakebill said. “We came out and our pressure really hurt them. We mixed up a couple of different pressures we do and they had a hard time with it in the first half. The key to the game was our energy and effort was a whole lot better than it was Thursday night.”
The Miners didn’t let up in the second quarter, though allowing more points to the Blue Jays, but still taking a 43-18 halftime lead and upping it to 57-25 after three quarters.
“Our effort was really good and we did a lot of good things,” Brakebill said. “We didn’t play well on Thursday night and it was good to get back on track. We have to play with a lot of heart, a lot of intensity, because we’re not a very deep team and that’s how we’re going to have to play.”
The Miners improved to 7-2 on the season, with their only two losses coming by a combined two points.