After losing to Grimsley on January 25th, the Pirates Men’s Basketball team has dropped three consecutive games. Recently, the Pirates have lost to Ragsdale(1/29), Northwest Guilford(2/5), and High Point Central this past Friday. These losses bring the Pirates’ overall record to 9-12 overall and last in conference with a Metro 4A record of 1-5.
Although their record indicates losses, the Pirates troubles can be fixed by playing smart late in the game. This can be exemplified with their most recent loss to High Point Central(a team they beat last month), where they held a four-point lead with two minutes left in the fourth quarter. Coach Matthew Harder comments, “I didn’t think we closed out quarters very well. We had some costly live-ball turnovers that hurt us.” Without the turnovers and with the lead, it’s completely plausible the Pirates could have pulled out the win by eliminating errors such as turnovers which lead to fast break scores for other teams. However, despite the losses Coach Harder still remains positive about his team’s improvement, stating, “We have gotten better as the season has gone on. All of our (conference) games have been tight.”
Despite their recent losses, the Pirates still have two games left to turn things around. This includes tomorrow’s rivalry game against Grimsley at home in the Mac Morris gym, tipping off at 7:30PM; and Friday’s away game against Ragsdale(Also tipping at 7:30PM). Saving their energy for tomorrow’s senior night against Grimsley, senior forward Nate Duggins asserts, “We have to beat them, we dropped the last game at their place, but this time it will be a different story. We just need to play hard, play smart, and stay positive.” Good luck to the seniors as they face off against Grimsley for the last time and look to get this win!