He was always a really funny dude; then to see something like this happen to him really hurts. It was really sad around school those first few days.

We fell short a year ago. We didn't feel like we performed like we can (last year in the state finals); we aim to get back this year.

This year we've got a new lineup. But we still know how to play ball even though we're young.

I thought we couldn't win without James in there. He is our big guy, and we were a little out of sync without him.

I was feeling it the first half, but coach said we were shooting too many jump shots, and we needed to dump it more down to James because he had a mismatch in there.

We don't need him there to know he is a part of this team. He thinks he can't do anything to help us, but with him in our minds it affects our game more than he knows.

We learned once you get up in a game, you've got to be able to maintain that lead. You've got to be able to keep your composure. You can't let the other team get back into the game. Basically, we just gave the game away.

I think we did surprise a lot of people. We lost some games we shouldn't have lost and at times we didn't look like a good basketball team, but we pulled together when the state tournament came and now we're at state.

It was inspirational to see Jermaine there. It has been hard playing without him, but we have been trying to get through it.