• Mike Forman •
• Originally published January 16, 2009 at midnight, updated January 16, 2009 at midnight

Mid-term exams were not the only tests the Memorial basketball team dealt with over the past week.

The Vipers had to limit their practice time to take care of their academic responsibilities, while they tried to adjust to the absence of starting point guard Marcus Salazar.

Salazar did not play in last Friday night's District 27-5A game against San Antonio Highlands for what coach John Grammer called a "non-school issue," and will miss a minimum of two and possibly four more games.

Memorial (16-7, 2-2) obviously missed Salazar, who was averaging 7.8 points, 4.4 assists and 1.8 steals per game, in its 68-49 loss to Highlands.

The Vipers will attempt to snap their two-game district skid when they return to the senior campus gym to play Corpus Christi King (10-8, 0-4) on Friday at 7:30 p.m.

"I think we'll be OK," Grammer said. "Highlands is better than what some people might think and not having him and having one day of practice to get ready for the game made a difference.

"We'll do better this time. We have a home game and we'll play much better because we had a little chance to get ready for it not only physically, but psychologically."

The Vipers trailed Highlands 17-5 after the first quarter and could never recover, shooting 30 percent from the field and making only three of their 22 3-point attempts.

"We know it's going to be a challenge," said C.P. Camarillo, who has replaced Salazar as the starting point guard. "Marcus is such a great athlete. He really creates and helps the team a lot. This will be a good chance for me to step up and make the plays that he would make."

Grammer has made some changes in his rotation, but is more concerned about the quality of play he's gets from the team on the floor.

"We've got to make sure we score some points and keep our defense going," Grammer said. "I don't think our defense was affected as much. It's just our chemistry on offense and our substitution pattern had to change. I have to adjust and the players have to adjust. We'll do better this Friday than we did last Friday."

The Vipers will have to do better against King or their playoff hopes will be in serious jeopardy.

"The Highlands game was a big awakening for us and we'll step up in this game," Camarillo said. "This is a critical game for us. A large portion of how we finish our season will be decided by this game."

• Print
• •
• Share
  • Share this item

    Send this to a friend

    Share on FaceBook

  • Grab the link

    Copy and paste the link:

  • Blog about it

    Blog about this page.

  • Close
• •
• Post a Comment
• •
• Favorite
• •
• Report error
  • Thank you for your submission.
    Error report or correction

    Contact name (optional) Contact phone/e-mail (optional)  

    
  • Close
• •