HUDSON, NC (By Colt Jensen of CCC&TI – February 14, 2018)…After starting off the calendar year 5-0 overall and 3-0 in conference adversity struck the Caldwell Tech Cobras. Caldwell dropped their next three conference games in a row, and each one of those losses came in an agonizing fashion.
None of the three consecutive conference losses was by more than five points, and Caldwell Tech held a halftime lead in two of those games. After starting off the year on an offensive hot streak, the Cobras went ice cold from the field shooting less than 35% in their final two losses.
After falling to 3-3 in conference play, Caldwell Tech had to do some serious soul searching, and look to improve in several key areas.
“We just didn’t play well enough to beat good teams on the road” head coach Matt Anderson said. “They got way too many offensive rebounds, we took a lot of bad shots, and didn’t get enough ball movement. This is a young team so hopefully we will learn from it and get better.”
The Cobras did get better, and they got better quickly. In back to back road games on February 10th and 11th Caldwell claimed two victories. To move to 17-7 on the season and 5-3 in Region X conference play.
In their first weekend game, Caldwell Tech beat Cape Fear 80-79. The Caldwell Cobras withstood an impressive second half rally by Cape Fear to finally snap their three-game losing streak.
After finally winning a close game, Caldwell Tech made sure their next game was never close. The Cobras sprinted out to a 54-27 halftime lead over the Brunswick Dolphins. After an impressive first half Caldwell kept up the offensive intensity and finished the game with 102-75 victory.
Guard Trevor Willis attributed the weekend turnaround to improve teamwork and sustained effort.
“Despite the fact that we had a little bit of a rough start against Cape Fear, we pulled through as a team by working together and playing smart to come out with a win.” sophomore guard Trevor Willis said. “Against Brunswick we played as a team the entire game and pulled out the win. We play better when we play together the entire game, and that’s why the game was never really close.”
The two big wins were also made possible by a renewed focus on the fundamentals.
“I’m very proud of our guys, we definitely took a step in the right direction this weekend” coach Anderson said. “We made improvements in every aspect of the game. We didn’t make any major changes. More than anything just tried to clean some fundamental things up and focus on what we take pride in.”
Caldwell look to build on their two-game weekend win streak this Thursday as they play their final non-conference game against Davidson County at 7 pm on the Caldwell tech campus.