Online Exclusive: Trojan boys reach 7-B title game; down Plains
In losses to Plains during the regular season, the Troy High School boys basketball team suffered through offensive lulls that impacted the final outcome.
When the Trojans met Plains in the District 7-B Tournament semifinals on Friday night, the offensive lull reared its ugly head for most of the third and fourth quarters. But this time, the Trojans persevered, finished strong and pulled away late for a 52-43 victory.
“Playing in a lot of close games has helped us,” Troy coach Cory Andersen said. “We came back and hit a couple of big shots.”
Troy (11-9) nows heads to Saturday night’s championship game at Ralph Tate Gymnasium on the campus of Libby High School to face regular-season champion Bigfork.
The Trojans wanted to establish themselves early and the gameplan worked with an 8-2 run over the first 2:38 of the contest. Both Ryan Rayson and Trent Cratty buried 3-pointers and Jake Alexander found the net for the early lead.
By the opening couple of minutes of the second quarter, Plains had fought back and tied the game. Trent Thompson, a 6-foot-7 senior postman, started to establish his presence and he tied the game, 16-16, with 5:52 left in the first half.
“We knew he was going to get his points,” Andersen said about Thompson, who finished with 17. “You just need to make him work for every shot. Over time, hopefully that grinds on him.”
Troy finished the half strong, however, and took a 35-24 lead in at the break. Alexander and Cratty hit 3-pointers, the Trojans were hitting free throws and the defense was frustrating the opponent.
But then came the third quarter and Troy’s offensive fortunes began to fade. The team scored just five points over those eight minutes on free throws and one field goal – that coming on a Brian Hammrich shot with 6:08 left in the quarter.
Plains put together an 8-0 run to get back to within 39-34 at one point. In the fourth, the Trojans continued to have offensive problems. Incredibly, Troy did not score a single basket over a stretch of 12:23 of game clock time. After the Hammrich basket early in the third, the next hoop didn’t come until Hammrich scored again with 1:45 left in the game.
That basket came just in time because the Horsemen had closed to within three at 42-39.
“It was really important to get off to a good start. We did the same thing down there but they came back on us,” Andersen said. “This time, they only got back to within three.”
Rayson and Cratty hit shots in the final minute and the Trojans took advantage of free-throw opportunites to pull away. In the final analysis, the defense came up big to carry the team while the offense sputtered.
Rayson finished with 17 points, Cratty had 14 and Hammrich added nine.
The championship game against Bigfork is scheduled for an 8:15 p.m. start at LHS.
Troy 52, Plains 43
Friday at Libby
Scoring by Quarters:
Plains 12 12 10 9—43
Troy 16 19 5 12—52
PLAINS (43)
Thompson 7 3-6 17, Fryxell 2 1-2 5, Green 5 2-5 12, Benson 2 1-4 5, Lilja 1 0-0 2, Hermiston 0 2-3 2. Totals 17 9-20 43.
TROY (52)
Rayson 6 3-4 17, Cratty 3 6-9 14, Alexander 2 2-2 7, Hammrich 3 3-5 9, Roeder 2 0-0 4, Curry 0 1-2 1. Totals 16 15-22 52.