Boys Basketball: Plains rallies to beat Trojans

The points were coming easy over the first six minutes of the game.

Troy High School’s boys had vaulted out to a 12-0 lead on Plains – a run that included seven straight points from Trent Cratty. But despite that deep hole and playing on the road, the Horsemen came from behind to take a 55-40 victory.

“We got up real quick and got a little lazy,” THS coach Cory Andersen said. “We had a little foul trouble, especially in the second half.”

Troy’s early run opened with an offensive rebound and hoop by senior Brian Hammrich. Cratty followed with a basket on a nice assist from Tom Roeder. Cratty scored again after stealing the ball under the Plains hoop and then he came down and hit a 3-pointer for a 9-0 Trojan advantage.

Dillon Curry and Hammrich hit free throws to complete the sparkling start.

Then, the Horsemen showed up.

Trent Thompson, a 6-foot-7 postman for Plains, took over the game. Although he got his fair share of hoops inside, he did the most damage from the free-throw line by hitting 13-of-14 foul shots and finishing with 23 points.

“We had to shuffle some guys around him,” Andersen said about Thompson. “They have an experienced team. Even when they got down early, they’re not going to panic.”

Troy still held on to a 27-22 lead at halftime and 32-30 with 3:10 left in the third. But the Horsemen took control with a 15-0 run that started in the third and continued into the fourth.

“In the third quarter, we couldn’t hit a shot … the penetration for them got us, that’s their game,” Andersen said. “I thought we out played them half of the game in a lot of areas.”

Troy (4-3, 7-7) was forced into gambling a little more in the late going and the Horsemen piled up points to win by 15.

Cratty and Hammrich each scored 11 for the Trojans.

On Saturday at Noxon, the Trojans suffered through a pair of long offensive droughts in a 30-25 loss.

The Trojans scored just two points in both the first and third quarters but still headed into the fourth deadlocked in a 17-17 tie. Noxon had the upper hand in the final eight minutes, however, to snag the win.

Mikey Ormiston netted seven points to top THS scorers.

Plains 55, Troy 40

Friday at Troy

Scoring by Quarters:

Plains    5    17    17    16—55

Troy     12    15      5      8—40

PLAINS (55)

Hermiston 4 1-2 12, Fryxell 3 0-3 6, Green 3 1-3 7, Firestone 1 0-0 2, Benson 1 0-0 2, Thompson 5 13-14 23, Ostrom 1 1-1 3. Totals 18 16-20 55.

TROY (40)

Rayson 2 0-0 5, Alexander 3 0-0 8, Cratty 5 0-0 11, Hammrich 4 3-3 11, Curry 0 3-5 3, Hoffman 1 0-0 2. Totals 15 6-8 40.

Noxon 30, Troy 25

Saturday at Noxon

Scoring by Quarters:

Troy       2    13    2     8—25

Noxon    7    6     4    13—30

TROY (25)

Rayson 2, Alexander 6, Cratty 2, Hammrich 6, Ormiston 7, Higgins 2.

NOXON (30)

Herbig 6, Stocking 2, Eichert 11, Stevenson 6, Linderman 2, Wilkinson 3.

For video highlights of Troy vs. Plains, click here