Boys Basketball: Loggers hang on to down Troy, 35-29

Down by just four points with eight minutes to play, the Troy High School boys had battled back from a 15-2 hole in the opening quarter. Just when the momentum seemed to be in favor of the Trojans, Libby dug deep and snatched it away to end up winning, 35-29.

Kelly May and Colton Cannon made key baskets over the first 4-1/2 minutes of the fourth to help the Loggers pull away. May hit a 3-pointer with 6:22 left for a 29-22 lead and Cannon followed up with baskets at 5:34 and 3:37 to give LHS a 33-25 advantage.

It was not real pretty … I don’t think we shot particularly well,” said LHS coach Wally Winslow, whose team ended up at 31.8 percent from the field on the evening. “We continue to struggle with our shooting.”

Libby made 6-of-14 shots in the opening quarter to take that 13-point advantage. But the Loggers only hit 8-of-30 the rest of the way. On the other side, the Trojans didn’t make a field goal at all in the opening quarter and failed to score from the field until Ryan Rayson’s bucket 27 seconds into the second.

“The issue has been … we have seniors but they’re young,” Troy coach Cory Andersen said. “They’re going to play Libby and its an exciting game … they needed time to settle down.”

Making things worse was Brian Hammrich’s three fouls in the first quarter. Troy’s 6-foot-3 forward had to take a seat on the bench for a pretty good stretch.

Winslow was glad to get the good start because the Trojans began to mix up its defense. And that disrupted any offensive flow the Loggers had established.

“They changed some things up with multiple defenses that caused them to play on their heels,” Winslow said. “Coach Andersen made some good defensive adjustments.”

Andersen had similar comments about the Logger defense. But it was mistakes late that doomed the Trojans.

“We had three or four turnovers in a row and you can’t do that in a close game,” Andersen said.

May had a fair night shooting with a 5-for-12 performance from the field. With three of those shots 3-pointers and 2-of-3 free throws, the LHS junior finished with 15 points. Alex Cislo had a good game on the boards with seven. In fact, five Logger players had five or more rebounds – the other four being T.J. Benson, May and Cannon with six apiece, and Nate Broden with five.

Rayson, a 6-4 sophomore for the Trojans, hit 4-of-9 from the field for eight points. He also had a team-high six rebounds. Hammrich recovered from those early fouls to finish with five boards. Trent Cratty had a pair of 3-pointers for six points.

Libby 35, Troy 29

Friday at Libby

TROY (29)

Rayson 4 0-1 8, Alexander 1 2-2 5, Higgins 0 0-0 0, Cratty 2 0-0 6, Hammrich 1 1-2 3, Ormiston 1 0-0 3, Roeder 0 0-0 0, Curry 0 0-0 0, Hoffman 0 0-0 0, Orr 2 0-0 4, Hickman 0 0-0 0. Totals 11 3-5 29.

LIBBY (35)

Benson 0 0-1 0, Maloney 0 2-4 2, May 5 2-3 15, Cannon 3 0-0 6, Cislo 3 0-0 6, Broden 2 0-0 4, Craig 1 0-0 2. Totals 14 4-8 35.

Scoring by Quarters:

Troy (4-5)       2    12    8    7—29

Libby (4-4)    15     7    4    9—35

Three-Pointers–Troy 4 (Cratty 2, Alexander, Ormiston), Libby 3 (May 3). Rebounds–Troy 28 (Rayson 6), Libby 32 (Cislo 7). Assists–Troy 9 (Cratty 4), Libby 5 (Maloney 2, May 2). Total Fouls–Troy 14, Libby 13. Fouled Out—Rayson. Technical Fouls–May, Troy coach.