Tarleton State quotes

Lonn Reisman
We knew it was going to be a very tough ballgame. We knew it would be an emotional game, and I knew they would come out really up for the game. Chris Hagan was really on fire to start the game, and I told them to just weather the storm and I told them to cut it down a little at a

time. The guys really followed the game plan well, and we didn’t panic. I thought our experience and leadership was able to weather the storm and get us back into the game.

I thought our defense, which has carried us all year, played really well. Our offense really clicked tonight in the second half. MSU is a tremendous team, and they are so explosive. I thought we really did a tremendous job of tweaking a couple of things at halftime. I thought the things we did adjust to at halftime really made a difference. We talked about the positives and tried not to talk about the negatives other than to make adjustments.

UCO has a tremendous team and has had a tremendous year. If you look at the final four teams in this tournament, probably all four are going to the NCAA tournament next week, and it is just keeps getting tougher. We have only seen them once this year, and we lost in Edmond, Okla.

Corin Henry
I just tried to put my team in a situation to win the game. When times are bad, my team looks at me as a leader. I just wanted to help my team win.

Fabian Washington
The coaches always tell us to keep the ball moving, and it worked to get us the ball out for the threes.

It is always tough to guard [MSU] down low. It is very physical.

Midwestern State quotes

“Felt like we really did what we wanted to do, obviously, in the first half.  They made a nice run down the stretch of the first half to get it close, then Chris [Hagan] made a big three and I thought we kind of figured it back out and gained some momentum at the half.  Then had a nightmare in the second half.  Didn’t play well.  Missed however many consecutive free throws to start the half and I think it just started us on a tumble.  Then once the momentum shifted we started trying to make up too much ground too fast.  Shot it a little quicker than we wanted to, panicked. We took ourselves out of position trying to go for some steals.  Make some all-star plays instead of being solid.  That’s my fault as a coach.  I didn’t do a good job in the second half of keeping our team doing what it took to get us to that point and that lead at halftime.  We’ll learn from this and we’ve got some more games to play so we’re looking forward to the future.”

On how he feels after the game
“I just rolled my ankle.  I shot a shot and came down on his foot.  It hurts, but I’ll just rehab it.  It’s just a sprain and I’ll rehab it and be ready to go next weekend.”

“At times.  When he pitches it off like he did in the second half, then we have to be there to back him up, cause he’s out there working hard for 40 minutes.  I wouldn’t say we rely on him too much cause that’s what teams do, they rely on everybody.  He’s doing his part; we’ve just got to do our part.”