Player of the Game

I know a very good case could be made for TJ or Stohl - when you look at the entire game - but I
would have to give it to Luke Sikma.

In the spirit of "it's the little things that make the difference between winning and losing crucial
conference game", Sikma made several ultra-critical, game-saving plays in the most tense and pivotal
moments tonight. To name a few... 1) taking the charge in textbook fashion when the game was there
for the Gaels to win in regulation, 2) Diving for a loose ball and coming up with it with less than a
minute to go in OT, giving the Pilots a crucial change of possession 3) perfect execution of the pick
and roll with TJ to get the subsequent go ahead bucket after #2.

He does indeed have a "feel for the game", and is so fundamentally sound in areas that do not always
jump out at you in the box score.

But why did I know this was going to come down to the end when we were up by 13? This would have
been a very disheartening loss after basically leading most of the game. But the kids got it done
in the clutch. I'd just like to see them have a killer instinct in that situation, but then again, SMC is
such a quality team, I think most of us knew they would make a run at the end.

One more thing... Is Hannibal's improvent a testament to Rev's coaching or what?

HUGE, HUGE win. The Pilots have now put themselves in an excellent position to run the table the
rest fof the way in the regular season to finish 11-3, and perhaps a double-bye in Vegas.

I think Jack needs to come watch his son play more often... I mean Yao is out for the year, he has nothing better to do...

Yeah GH,

Stohl,and Sikma's improvement is testament to next years team. Jasonn's continued improvement bodes well to the big men teachings of Rev and Coach Joel Sobotoka. All those years of having to be Robins, Lukes, and Kramers opposition in practice is starting to make him semi-reliable. Hannibals still got a long way to be to earn a nickname like "THE CANIBAL". He may lose some of his playing time to Ryan Nikolas from gonzaga prep next year according to one guy on the site who says Ryans already putting the current big men on the Pilots to shame during scrimages when he visited. But, you can never have enough big men when your facing Sacre,the kid from USD , and St Mary's big men, Edgar Garibay (who I think is possible all WCC 1ST OR 2nd team next year) from LMU etc......so its nice to see a great kid like Jasonn come this far .

It looked for a while like Luke was pressing it to hard because Jack was in attendance at the Chiles Center. However, once he "settled down" and let the game come to him it was just like a shorter version of Jack who we all would luv to see every game. Stohl really took the pressure off of TJ so he didn't have to carry the team on his back with Nik still out with a bum wheel. We just beat St. Marys without our best all-around player on the floor. How many times would that happen before Coach Rev and staff came to town.....Zero times beating 5 out of 6 WCC opponents without most dominant player EVER in the game for the Pilots.


Mesa is overjoyed!!!!!!!

Luke Luke Luke Luke

Hannibal. He had the size to get Omar to foul out.

Jasonn's play was great, at both ends of the court. For sure his best outing as a Pilot. And it followed a game where I thought he did not play very well defensively. Meanwhile, I thought Robin really struggled defensively guarding Omar. Several times he couldn't stop the entry pass and he wasn't in position to keep Omar from rolling to the basket. Fortunately, he offset that with some clutch offensive possessions.

If I only had one game ball I'd give it to Luke for the way he filled up the stat sheet. If I had three more I'd give them to Jasonn, Kramer, and Robin. Tonight was always going to require a unified effort from all the big guys and they all contributed.