An emotional district championship win coupled with the breakout of Brandon Davie has the Cougars peaking at the right time
Judging by only the seed number, the Highland Cougars weren't the team that was expected to win the district title. But one number doesn't tell their whole story. Yet, ironically enough, its been power in numbers that's gotten them this far.
"Everybody stepped up, everybody had a good game, and we just pulled it out at the end,"
"We all play together, and we play as a team and it all came out right,"
"We've just got a lot of heart. We've fought back and had a lot of rough times this season, but we just kept battling back, a lot of emotion and a lot of heart,"
Emotion and heart - that's how you come back from a 13-point second-half deficit. Adding to the Highland cause has been the emergence of Brandon Davie as versatile point man in the offensive attack. And if you ask him, the approach is simple.
"You've just got to find the person that's hot and will get you the shots you need. You've got to cut the middle, make someone sag off and just find the person that's hitting,"
But ask those around him and you learn how pivotal a role Davie's decision-making has taken on.
"We get him out there, and he does his thing with distributing and scoring and its helping the bigs out in the middle. Someone has to step and stop him, and when he kicks, its automatic buckets,"
"He's given us a big spark, because its not just him out there looking to shoot 3's, its looking to get the ball inside to our big people and have them score also,"
"We'll get a lot of easy buckets when we're passing the ball and working it, and that's what we did and we came out on top,"
No matter who draws the Cougars in the next round needs to be aware - the team is feeding off of the emotional energy that comes with ending a district title drought. As of Saturday night, the feeling may not have sunk in, but when it does, Highland could be poised for a breakout.
"To be a part of that is just amazing and its really an honor,"
"Its great, we were all pumped. I'm shaking right now; I'm extremely happy, its just a great feeling,"
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