Hoops, Hounds, and Hurtin - Toros Get Bit By the Legends 105-97

(3/11/2012 - Cedar Park, Texas) It's a dog-eat-dog world out there, and the Austin Toros felt the dog days of March biting them at the Cedar Park Center on Sunday, falling to the Texas Legends 105-97 in a game that saw 9 ties and 12 lead changes.  While the fans were celebrating 'Hoops and Hounds', where they could bring their pets to the basketball game, the Toros were just trying to stay healthy.

Trying.

Lost for the game were Jamarr Sanders (knee), Josh Davis (back), and Eric Dawson (ribs).

"It's kind of a helpless feeling all of the sudden when you look down and there's only two guys sitting on the bench," said Coach Brad Jones after the game.

The losses of Eric Dawson, who was recently playing for the San Antonio Spurs, and Josh Davis really hurt the Toros ability to keep the Legends off the boards.  Texas out-rebounded the Toros 61-41.  While the Toros showed great spirit defensively, holding the Legends to 40% shooting, the 21 offensive rebounds by the Legends were just too much to handle.

"I thought in the second half our guys really competed, but we just fell a little short," said Jones.

STATS


Justin Dentmon has his shooting stroke going again!  While Justin had a minor drop in shooting percentage recently, he's come back with a vengeance the past two games.  Yesterday, he scored 25 points and today had a season's best 35 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists on 67% shooting.  Da'Sean Butler also improved to a seasons best 22 points on 7-15 shooting from the field.  Julian Wright pitched in with a double double as well.  Here are the stats from the rest of the team (Source: http://www.AustinToros.com):

INJURY UPDATES

I had a chance to catch up with star Center Eric Dawson after the game and he seemed very optimistic about being able to play in Wednesday's game.  The coach did not give out any specific details on Sanders or Davis, simply stating that they were going to see the Doctor on Monday.  Let's all give some good thoughts to our guys getting healthy and getting back on the court quickly!

DEFENSIVE INTENSITY


For the third straight game, the Austin Toros have held their opponents under 48%, with the last two being 42% and 40% respectively.

"We've worked hard on trying to get better defensively, "says the coach.  "We feel like that's a big key going into the playoffs this year.  I'm not sure we're there yet but at least there's a little bit better effort."

In addition to some new personnel, like adding Josh Davis and Brad Wannamaker, they've also tried some different schemes defensively.

"We've played a lot of zone the last two games too that's helped us keep guys out of the paint."

In a day where we celebrated mans' best friends, the refs were not the Toros' best friend.  Unfortunately, with the increased intensity on defense has come an increased number of fouls, as the Toros sent the Legends to the line 39 times.  The Toros were only sent to the line 16 times.  In a 1-2 possession game, those trips to the foul line can be the difference between a win or a loss. Get

Continued defensive intensity and a little break from the injury bug should help the Toros get back to their winning ways.

NEXT GAME


Some more home cooking will help the Toros as well.  Wednesday night, the Toros take on the 5th best team in the league, the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, at the Cedar Park Center at 7:30pm.

"It'll be a tough game," says Coach Jones.  "They play a good up and down pace, so we'll have to play good transition defense.  Hopefully we'll get our guys back healthy."

Wednesday's game is a 'Winning Wednesday' promotion, meaning that, well, let's let Austin Toros F Luke Zeller explain it:

Go Toros!