The ADM Tigers boys basketball team faced off against Saydel this past Monday in their home jamboree to kick off the season.

While it won’t count toward their regular season record, the Tigers rallied from down six in the final two minutes to knock off Saydel 27-26 in two quarters of play.

Head coach Aaron Mager acknowledges that a win is always a positive and something to build off of with the regular season opener just a few days away, but a lot needs to improve before Dallas Center-Grimes visits town on Tuesday.

“We’re still thinking in a lot of regards, we’re not reacting as quickly as we need to but we’re learning some new offensive concepts.  Right now we have at least one or two guys on the court at all times that are kind of still processing as we’re flying through stuff so that bogs you down–you don’t cut as quickly, you don’t make as quick of decisions and a lot times you don’t make as good of decisions either when you’re thinking.  And you know, that’s normal for where we’re at in the season.”

Mager says he was pleased with the offensive balance out of his Tigers on Monday.  Eight players put their name in the scoring column in just a half of basketball.  ADM only did that three times all of last season.

Mager was also pleased with his team’s ability to push the tempo against Saydel, as they got to the line 13 times in 16 minutes of play.  However, the Tigers only converted on six of those foul shots… so yet another area Mager will want to see some improvement moving forward.

One final positive from Monday’s contest–the Tigers had eight steals against Saydel.  Mager hopes to have his team picking pockets at least six times a half this season, so they’re currently ahead of that pace.