By Jose Negron
Rallying from early deficits and ultimately falling short has become the story of the Elizabeth Forward boys basketball team’s season.
That was the case again Thursday as EF overcame a 15-point second quarter deficit before suffering a 63-59 loss to Bishop Canevin in non-section play.
“We’ve got a lot of fight in us. We’ve been in every game this year and it seems like it always comes down to the end, but the problem is we dig ourselves these big holes,” EF head coach Matt Loftis said. “You have to play a near perfect game after you dig a hole like that. There’s no room for error and it makes it really hard on you.
“The guys battled and I’m proud of them for getting back in the game and giving ourselves a shot in the fourth quarter, but we have to have some better starts with these section games coming up. We can’t get down early.”
Elizabeth Forward (3-6) struggled defensively in the first quarter, allowing the Crusaders (9-2) to score 21 points.
Because of the defensive woes, EF’s offense was held at bay, too. The Warriors were limited to 12 points in the opening eight minutes.
“When we get into these situations where we’re giving up three, four baskets in a row, it doesn’t let us get our offense running,” said Loftis. “We weren’t getting stops in the first half and they were getting straight-line layups. We weren’t doing what we normally do on that end of the floor. We paid for it and the scoreboard showed that.”
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