Boys basketball: Confidence returns in rout of Jaguars

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For Rosemount boys basketball coach Bryan Schnettler, predicting how his team will fare can come down to one key aspect — confidence.

While it might not decide wins and losses — the opponent has a say in the matter — Schnettler and the Irish choose to focus on how they play. If they have confidence, the coach expects his players to play well.

Schnettler believes confidence was the missing piece at the end of January as Rosemount lost three straight games. It was the first time all season the Irish had suffered consecutive losses.

“Our biggest thing is, we were missing our confidence,” Schnettler said. “When you don’t have confidence, it’s hard to play with passion. We got that back on Monday night, and hopefully we can keep it going.”

The Irish lost a disappointing 63-53 game at Bloomington Kennedy last week. On Monday, the Irish hosted Bloomington Jefferson and earned a 76-61 victory.

Some midseason blues didn’t help matters.

“It was also a combination of being January and a little over midseason,” Schnettler said. “It happens to a lot of teams. The really, really good teams find a way to win those games still. We were right in them. I think we will get it going again, and when guys believe in themselves we’re obviously a very good team.”

The Irish showed Monday night what can happen with confidence.

Rosemount came out strong and took an early lead. The Jaguars countered, but the Irish stayed strong to hold on for the win.

“We kind of let them back in it and this is one of the first games this year where we found a way to finish it off the right way and take control, which is what we need to continue to build the confidence as well.”

Zach Vraa scored 15 points to lead the Irish. Matt Larson added 12 points and Toriano Tatum chipped in with 10 points.

The scoring was an obvious factor in the loss to Kennedy.

The Irish only had four players score in the game.

Vraa had 29 points and Tatum finished with 16.

“The Kennedy game was a low, as a whole,” Schnettler said. “Zach played very well and Toriano scored well, but when you only have four guys score, and one had one point, it’s hard to beat anyone in the Lake Conference like that.”

Making the loss particularly sting is the fact Rosemount beat the Eagles by 14 points earlier this season.

“You have games like that, but learning from them is the biggest thing,” Schnettler said.

Schnettler has the confidence his team will have confidence from this point forward.

“The previous five games we had shot 30 percent, which makes it hard to win games,” Schnettler said. “But we had practiced well and we’ve been working hard. Guys have been competing and that’s a good sign.”

Tags: boys basketball, sports, rosemount, irish, minnesota, prep