Trojans bounce back from TF, defeat Superior

In spite of a midnight trip back from a disappointing loss in Thompson Falls Thursday night, 76-43, the team re-focused quickly to overtake Superior Saturday, beating the Bobcats, 60-36 in Superior.

Superior, who is 2-3 in their conference, had beaten Troy by 16 points in Trojan territory last December.

"I think that early adversity we had in the first part of the season increased the resiliency of our kids," said Smith.

"We just came out of the gate really fast in the first half and had a 22 point lead," said Trojan coach Tony Smith. "We played the best first half of basketball that we've had all year."

At the end of the third quarter, the Trojans were ahead a whopping 40-18.

Aaron Palmer paced the Trojans with 23 points, grabbing 17 rebounds.

Jesse Day scored 10 points and Shado Garrett had 9, with senior Matt Rogers contributing 12.

"He's on fire," said Smith of Rogers. "He's showing us the kind of senior leadership that we really need."

Smith also mentioned sophomore center Brian Hammrich's superior defense.

"He basically controlled the middle of our defense," said Smith. "He shut them down all night with his defensive skill. It made all the difference in the world."

But the Trojans couldn't recover from a devastating 30 point loss to an undefeated Thompson Falls in the first half, eventually losing, 76-43.

"Their quickness absolutely broke us down," said Troy coach Tony Smith. "They got off to a very hot start."

Smith noted the Trojans especially struggled to generate an offense in the second quarter, but regained their composure in the second half.

"We lost the second half by 2 points," he said. "But we also had really good open shots all night that we just couldn't hit," he said.

Palmer led in scoring for Troy with 17 points, grabbing 11 rebounds.

Garrett scored 9 points and got 12 boards as leading defender.

"We're really pleased with the confidence he's been showing," said Smith of Garrett. "Last night he was very aggressive on offense and that was one of the most positives we got out of the game - his best game of the year was against the toughest opponent, and that says a lot about his development."

Smith also mentioned center Hammrich and Day's coverage of Thompson Falls' post, 6'5" Dallas VonHeeder, holding him to 4 points.

VonHeeder was all-conference last year and one of the premiere players in the league.

"But we couldn't stop their guards. They're just very good and they jumped all over us in the first half," added Smith.

The next game is January 25 in Troy against Plains, who is second place in the league. They are on the road against Noxon the 26th

Troy is still in third place and 2-3 in conference.

"They're going to be faced with some very intense practices," said Smith of his team. "They're not ready to sit back and congratulate themselves."

"If we play hard like we have been - and well - then we can compete with Plains and Noxon, but we will have to take care of the ball," he added.

"It's a real testament. We're a team that's headed in the right direction, yet I also recogize that we have a long way to go. I'm confident that our kids will continue to work hard."