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Boys basketball: Trojans handle tough environment
By Justin Thomas, jthomas@starlocalnews.com
The Colony's boys basketball team would have liked to enter the playoffs with momentum, but instead will have to settle for just having a chance to compete.
After coming up short Tuesday in their regular season finale against Frisco (50-44), the Cougars still managed to earn the no. 4 seed out of District 9-4A by virtue of Frisco Heritage losing against Frisco Wakeland (67-65). Had Frisco won, they would have faced the Cougars in a play-in game.
The Colony advanced to face Newman Smith in the bi-district round Tuesday (results not available as of press time).
The teams faced off four times during non-district play with the Cougars winning all four matchups. However, no winning margin was more than four points and the total margin for the Cougars was 10 points.
Against Frisco, the Cougars led entering the fourth quarter, 35-33, but the Raccoons turned it around with a 17-9 advantage in the final frame.
Steven Hedrington scored a game-high 15 points for the Cougars, while Bobby White contributed 11 and Aaron Miller had 10.
For Frisco, Jordan Ross, Kevin Stephens and Ryan Thomas posted 10 points apiece.
The Trojans, meanwhile, capped off their regular season with a 74-59 victory on the road over rival Creekview.
In a back-and-forth game, the Trojans jumped out to a 17-6 lead before being outscored in the second quarter, 25-12. The game again tilted in Smith's direction after the break, with the Trojans pulling away with a 22-8 run in the third quarter.
"I think the atmosphere of that game will really help us tomorrow when we get in the playoffs," said Perci Johnson, Smith head coach. "It was a playoff environment and we were able to take their best punch and overcome some adversity to get the win.
"It's always difficult for visitors at Creekview. Their fans do a great job and they are able to execute and go on a lot of big runs there. But in the third quarter we settled down and we picked it up with our transition defense and with the press."
Offensively, the Trojans received 19 points from Stephen Spurlock, 14 from Walter RIckett and 12 apiece from Darion Brown and Anthony Grayson.
"We got a little bit from everywhere," Johnson said. "Grayson is coming off the bench and doing a great job. He had been making contributions at the point, but now he has increased his scoring from the two with Darion at point. He's getting more minutes and has been very aggressive."
The Trojans now look the get their first win against The Colony and when it matters most.
"I told the guys we aren't nearly the same team as when we played them earlier," Johnson said. "It was kind of unexpected for us to finish on top of the district at the start of the season, but we accomplished that goal and we're playing good basketball and are very focused. But we can't go back to making mistakes. The Colony is a very good team, so we have to be on point on offense and defense and be ready for another game of runs."
Smith's last district title came in 2010, when they advanced to the third round of the postseason.
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