Trojans open season with OT thriller over Noxon
Troy senior Trevor Grant scored 13 points to help the Trojans beat Noxon on Saturday night. (Scott Shindledecker/The Western News)
Troy sophomore Wylee Alyea battles Noxon's Shane Murray on Saturday night. (Scott Shindledecker/The Western News)
Troy freshman Nolan Morris scored 10 points to help the Trojans beat Noxon on Saturday night. (Scott Shindledecker/The Western News)
The Troy Trojans boys basketball team opened the season with a 51-40 overtime win over visiting Noxon Saturday evening at the Troy Activity Center.
Things didn’t look good for the Trojans when Noxon took a 30-21 lead to the fourth quarter on the strength of a buzzer-beating 3-pointer. Another 3 by Noxon’s Justice Kayser with 1:24 left in regulation gave the Red Devils a 39-33 lead.
But Trojans head coach Justin Young turned up the heat as he called for full court pressure that Noxon didn’t handle well and Troy kept battling to force overtime.
A 3-pointer with 45 seconds left made it 39-36 and another one by Trojans sophomore Cody Todd with 32 seconds left knotted the score at 39-39.
The Trojans dominated overtime, outscoring Noxon 12-1. They did it without senior Trevor Grant who fouled out with 3:12 left. Grant scored eight points in the fourth quarter to help the Trojans get back in the game and hit a free throw to give his team a two-point lead early in overtime.
But with their senior leader on the bench and the Trojans holding on to a 41-39 lead, sophomore Kempton Sloan and junior Derek Cole stepped up to hit some key free throws as well as grab some important offensive rebounds.
Sloan made a steal, was fouled and hit a free throw for a 42-39 lead. Sloan missed the second free throw, but Cole grabbed the rebound and was fouled. Cole had struggled at the charity stripe, but he sank both shots to make it 44-39 with 2:30 left.
After Noxon scored to make it 44-40, Sloan and Cole each snared offensive rebounds and were fouled to put them on the line. Each player hit one free throw for a 46-40 lead with 1:52 left.
With 59 seconds left, freshman Carson Orr zipped a pass to Sloan for an easy layup to put the final nail in the coffin.
Sloan (5) and Cole (3) scored all their points in overtime.
Grant led with 13 points while Cody Todd had 11, Nolan Morris scored 10 and Orr had nine.
The Trojans have a busy week, playing at Mission today, hosting Thompson Falls on Thursday and finishing at Plains Saturday.
