Boys Basketball: LHS boys beat Troy in defensive battle
With tournament time looming around the corner, both the Libby and Troy boys basketball teams wanted to put together sound performances on Tuesday night in a nonconference matchup.
Libby ended up with a 33-15 victory at the Troy Activity Center in a game that featured two exceptional defensive efforts. The Trojans forced the visitors to work hard for every shot opportunity. And the Loggers continually frustrated the Troy offense.
“It was an excellent defensive game,” Loggers coach Wally Winslow said. “Troy plays as good of a man defense as we’ve seen all year.”
Cory Andersen believes his team can play with the best of them when it comes to “D.” He’s just trying to get his players to mix in some offense along the way.
“We’ve been a good defensive team all year. Our problem’s been trying to generate points,” Andersen said. “I don’t know if we made a shot outside of three feet all night.”
It was obvious from the start that not a lot of points would be scored in this meeting. Libby took a 2-0 lead with an Alex Cislo hoop on the team’s first possession. But the Loggers would go more than five minutes before finding the basket again. Meanwhile, Troy’s only points in the first quarter came on free throws by Brian Hammrich and Ryan Rayson.
Midway through the second quarter, Libby held a 10-7 lead. The Loggers’ Colton Cannon scored in the lane and the Trojans finally got a basket on a Dillon Curry shot. Unfortunately for Troy, that Curry shot represented the team’s only field goal in the first half.
Libby finished the second quarter with a 5-0 run to take a 15-7 lead at intermission. T.J. Benson hit a jumpshot and the Loggers converted on 3-of-8 free throws for their biggest lead.
The two schools continued to battle hard in the third quarter. Cislo and Nate Broden scored for Libby and Trent Cratty and Kody Hoffman hit for Troy as the Loggers maintained their eight-point lead through the first seven minutes of the third.
The momentum went to Libby late in the quarter when Cannon sank a 3-pointer for a 22-11 advantage.
In the fourth, Troy opened with a Cratty hoop to cut the deficit back down to nine but Libby responded with a 7-0 run to pull away for good. During that stretch, Broden scored on a three-point play and Benson lit up the scoreboard 47 seconds apart with an offensive board basket followed by a jumpshot.
“You have to give them credit,” Andersen said. “They played hard on defense and made us take tough shots.”
Neither team had a player in double figures for scoring. Benson and Cannon each finished with eight for the Loggers. Cratty hit for five points for the Trojans.
“We just keep battling and find ways to win,” Winslow said.
Troy (5-4, 8-9) plays host to Eureka on Friday. Libby (3-3, 8-8) plays at home on Saturday against Polson.
For video highlights of the Libby-Troy game, click here.
Libby 33, Troy 15
Tuesday at Troy
Scoring by Quarters:
Libby 8 7 7 11—33
Troy 4 3 4 4—15
LIBBY (33)
Benson 3 2-2 8, Maloney 0 0-2 0, May 1 4-8 6, Craig 1 0-0 2, Cannon 2 3-4 8, Broden 2 1-1 5, Cislo 2 0-0 4, Webster 0 0-2 0. Totals 11 10-19 33.
TROY (15)
Rayson 0 3-4 3, Curry 1 0-0 2, Hoffman 1 1-3 3, Cratty 2 1-2 5, Hammrich 0 2-4 2. Totals 4 7-13 15.