Thompson Falls takes Troy down

The Trojans took third in the Western B boys' divisional tournament, despite losing in the consolation semifinal to Deer Lodge, 51-46.

An early Deer Lodge lead spelled doom for the Trojans last Thursday night, who led Troy 24-14 at the half.

“We came out really tight,” said Troy coach Tony Smith. “We had lots of opportunity, but threw up bricks in that first quarter.”

Still, the Trojans rallied in the fourth.

“It was close in the end,” said Smith. “We got down by 15 at the end of the third quarter - then we got within four with a minute and a half left.”

Fouls, along with mental defensive errors, contributed to the Deer Lodge victory.

“Really the teams were simply more athletic,” said Smith. “They were big - they won their football district last year and had seven seniors, who are very good athletes and fundamentally sound.”

Aaron Palmer paced Troy with 20 points, while Shado Garrett had 14.

“We created some nice opportunity for ourselves,” said Smith of the rally. “I'm very proud of the way they came back, but we really shot ourselves in the foot.”

Friday afternoon against Eureka was the Trojan's “best performance of the year, defensively,” according to Smith.

Troy defeated Eureka 59-46, with Palmer pacing the Trojans with 29 points.

Eureka had scored 80 points against Thompson Falls the week before, 83-80.

“Our defense was absolutely tremendous,” said Smith. “We played very good b-ball throughout the game, and excellent in the fourth quarter.

In the third quarter, the Trojans were ahead by one point, but broadened the gap, outscoring them 23-11 in the fourth.

Troy was 15 for 21 at the line and limited Eureka to eight freethrows.

“It was the first time the kids had won a divisional game in six years, but what really won it for us was the fourth quarter,” said Smith.

Zack McDougall broke their press and Shado Garrett had four threes in a row in the second half - making 14 of his 16 points in the second half.

“Those two were like daggers,” said Smith, adding Eureka was covering Aaron on the inside.

“We figured if we could hold them, then we would have a great shot at beating them,” he said. “We held their big guys to 28 points total, giving up 46 points to a team that had scored 80 against the number one team.

“They only way we can win at that level is to play great defense. I was very, very proud,” Smith added.

In the game against Thompson Falls, Troy didn't fare quite as well, losing 65-39.

“They just jumped out all over us in the first half,” said Smith. “We were just a step slow all morning - we couldn't throw it in the ocean.”

Smith said the team was off after a couple of days of being on the road - no excuse, but the reason.

Although Troy played Thompson Falls pretty much even in the second half, the damage had already been done.

“Defense feeds off your offense often,” said Smith. “If you can't score, you go flat on defense too, and that's what happend.”

The Bluehawks held a 20 point halftime lead, scoring 17 points to Troy's 9 in the first quarter alone.

“We had great looks that wouldn't go down,” said Smith. “But we played hard.”

McDougall had nine in the game, with Palmer leading for Troy with 19 points.

“It was an excellent tournament,” said Smith. “We're really going to miss our seniors and the kind of kids that they were - they have a lot of character,” he said.

“But we've got four starters back next year and there's a lot of things to look forward to - they're very dedicated and will have a little bit more depth and experience next year.”

Smith noted that not only are four of the Trojan leading scorers coming back, but plenty of younger talent.

“They'll continue to get better. We have a lot of good young players in a our program,” said Smith, noting that some of the largest schools in the state don't have enough kids for a C team, but Troy's teams consistently overflow.

“It's a good comment of our program,” he said. “That all those kids want to play for us.”

For the second year in a row, the Trojans were picked last in their conference and ended up third in their conference, but this year was their first time winning a divisionals match.

“I'm very proud of our kids and the way they've handled themselves both in victory and in losses,” said Smith. “I'm very proud that we won a game in divisionals and very grateful for the success we had this year.

“Kids are pretty resilient,” he added. “Just like the rest of us, you get a good nights sleep, and you realize it's not the end of the world that you lost. If our kids work hard, we'll come back even better next year.”