Rochester fell behind early against Elma on Friday, and the Warriors never recovered in a 68-37 loss.
The Warriors scored just two points in the first and six in the second, but with just 60 seconds left in the half, they only trailed by 13.
For as poorly as the offense had performed in the first half, Rochester coach Caleb Sells thought 13 wasn’t actually that bad.
“We did a good job first half defensively mucking it up,” Sells said.
But back-to-back Elma threes in the final minute pushed it to 19. Rochester hit more shots in the third, scoring 20, but Elma continued to pile up points to pull away even further.
Sells said that while the scoring wasn’t there on Friday, he was still pleased with the looks that the Warriors were getting. He did note that with the lack of size, the Warriors will have to live and die with their outside shooting. Last week in a pair of wins, those shots fell, while on Friday, they were far less consistent.
“Even in the losses, we’re still playing hard and trying to do things,” Sells said. “It’s a young group, so every time you play, you try to continue to enforce good habits. All those little things will benefit huge down the road.”
Tyson Canales finished with 17 points to lead the Warriors, while Owen Driver hit three three-pointers to finish with nine.
“It was cool to see him catch fire from outside,” Sells said.
Rochester (2-13, 2-3 1A Evergreen) will have the next six days off before hosting Montesano on Friday, Jan. 30.
