Quotes by Andy Gast

“Hes had a rough time with the injuries, but hes a tough kid. If I told him to run through a wall, hed do it. Hes a tough kid who plays hard every minute hes in the game.”

“He gives us a good solid rotation with our big guys. He gives us more depth at the low post position.”

“Falling behind by 20 points really hurts. When you try to come all the way back, youre going to be exhausted at the end. But the good news is, we had guys come off the bench and help us and we didnt quit. We couldve folded and lost by 30 or 40 points, but we kept battling, we kept fighting.”

“I just think our guys are good at executing under pressure. We have good senior leadership and a solid junior class, and I think that really helps.”

“Hes played well all season. Hes a tough kid and a great athlete. He shoots the ball well, plays good defense and is a great leader. ... The other kids respect him because he works so hard.”

“I wanted that for the kids. Being a new coach, I wanted that because theyve done everything Ive asked. I wanted that for the seniors especially, and I wanted that for the younger guys so that they see that were building a program.”

“It was one of those games where we werent ready to play and Watkins was. Basically, we didnt play four quarters of basketball. ... It was a disappointing loss to the end of the regular season.”

“Weve got to move on, weve got to get ready to play Jerome. The kids responded in practice (last Friday) with a hard, physical practice. ... It wasnt a practice for the weak of heart, but no one complained. That says a lot about the kids.”

“Thats how theyve been all year. The guys are as tough as nails. I knew they werent going to quit. Thats the kind of kids we have at our school. ... Im always telling them, We win with class and we lose with class. We left it all on the floor. Im proud of our kids.”

“It was a heck of a game. Unfortunately, they came out on top. ... We had a great defensive effort in the first half, but I think we went to another level in the second half.”