Looking lost for stretches at a time, the basketball team was never able to make up an early deficit, as it was defeated by Imperial Valley, 77-68, last Wednesday in the playoff opener.

When point guard Joe Knox was taken out of the game to rest, the offense looked sloppy and stagnant and turnovers led to easy baskets by the Arabs.

“I just told them (teammates) to keep playing and to keep shooting because eventually the shots would fall,” Knox said.

However, EC never found its range from outside, and was hesitant to penetrate to the basket and draw fouls because of its poor free throw shooting, a problem that has plagued the team all season.

“We settled for a lot of (outside) shots; we didn’t drive the ball because we were afraid to shoot our free throws,” coach Mike Fenison said.

The lead for Imperial Valley would swell to as large as 12 points with the help of a monstrous rebounding game from center Milton Watts and scoring from both guard Dessalines Gant and forward Brandon Dowdy who scored 22 points and 14 points respectively.

“Our biggest weakness was rebounding,” Fenison said. “They did a good job staying in the zone, and we didn’t do a good job of attacking the zone and we didn’t make plays.”

The defensive pressure of the Arabs bothered the Warriors all night, forcing them to take difficult shots.

“I just tip my hat off to them (Imperial Valley),” Knox said. ” A lot of the shots they (EC) took, they (Imperial Valley) had hands in their (EC) faces.”

Even with the help of a couple of late rallies to cut the Arabs’ lead to single digits, the Warriors could not find a way to keep momentum because of missed shots and free throws.

“We didn’t make our (foul) shots, and making free throws is part of (the game), and we just couldn’t,” forward Kris Lawrie said.

The Warriors were led with 20 points by guard Marcellus Cullors and 16 points from forward Chuck Gray, but despite their efforts, the team could not overcome a terrible shooting performance.

“If you can’t put shots in, you just can’t win,” Lawrie said. “The team just wasn’t in the zone.”

Despite Lawrie’s efforts on the defensive end of the ball in which he collected seven blocks, the team’s collective offensive effort wasn’t as stellar as it could have been.

Throughout the game, Knox tried to ignite the offense anyway he could, dishing out nine assists, but up until the closing minutes of the game, the Warriors kept settling for jump shots instead of trying to force it inside. By that time, the players sensed that their season was nearing an end.

“We got the stops that we needed, but we just couldn’t make shots,” Lawrie said. “We couldn’t put the ball in the hole and nine times out of ten, you’re going to lose the game.”

ÿWith the loss, the Warriors end their most successful campaign in more than 20 years, earning both a 20-win season and a playoff berth.

“I’m very proud of my players; they did a tremendous job as a team and hopefully we can grow from this and as a unit,” Fenison said.