NTL BOYS' BASKETBALL: TROY PULLS AWAY FROM TOWANDA (2025-01-08)
BY CHRIS MANNINGNorthern Tier Sports ReportTOWANDA — Troy continued their dominance in NTL boys’ basketball as they pulled away from Towanda, 75-50, on Tuesday.
The Black Knights hung with the Trojans for a quarter-and-a-half, trailing just 26-25 midway through the second quarter. Troy would go on a 16-5 run to the end the frame, then scored the first 11 points of the third to pull away.
“I thought Towanda played really well, and we expected that,” Troy coach Bob Woodward said. “They have some good players, and I thought we responded by executing offensively, which was nice. We seemed to be in a little bit of a flow, and I don’t know if we’ve had that much yet, we’ve been a little rusty. I thought the guys shared the basketball well, and, defensively, I thought we played extremely hard tonight.”
The Trojans had 28 assists as a team with four players hitting double figures, led by Jack Burbage’s 20 points, six boards, and five steals.
Lincoln Chimics added 19 points, seven rebounds, four assists, and two steals, as Trey Teribury finished with 15 points, three assists, and two steals.
Joseph Frye netted 14 points to go with six rebounds, eight assists, and three steals, while Evan Woodward had six points, eight assists, three steals, and four boards.
Joey Lackey rounded out the scorers with one point, with Spencer Martin chipping in with three assists.
“I thought we shared the ball really well, and that’s an important part of what we do,” said Woodward. “Try to find the open guy, and whoever it is, it is, and keep it simple by playing defense at the other end.”
Defensively, Woodward believes his team turned it up a notch when they needed during the second quarter when Towanda showed they weren’t going away.
“I thought we were getting out on people a little better, and not allowing drive byes, and such,” explained Woodward. “And we turned that into some points at the other end.”
It was a good effort from the Knights, but their coach Landon Henry knows they’ll have to improve if they want to do better when they head to the Commons Building.
“I think tonight we’ve just got to get better,” Henry said.
Darrius Farrell had 15 points to lead the Knights, with Markel Garner adding nine points, and six blocks.
Boom Thompson chipped in with eight points, Bayley Poll scored six, as Landon Clark netted five. Conner Barnes added four, Ben Shrawder notched two, and Lucas Vincent rounded things out with one point.
Troy jumped out to a 10-0 lead right off the tip, seven of those points coming from Burbage, while Teribury had a 3-ball.
Towanda came back with buckets from Garner and Barnes. They would get it as close as 12-8 off a 3-ball from Farrell, and a free throw out of Garner.
However, Troy went on a 6-0 run with buckets out of Burbage, Woodward, and Chimics powering them to an 18-8 lead.
Thompson hit a 3-ball to make it 18-11, but Burbage came back with a lay-up to push the lead to nine points.
Thompson hit Towanda’s third three of the half for a 20-14 score, then the two teams traded buckets down the stretch for a 22-16 Troy lead at the first horn.
“I like to see us weather a little early storm, we got down by double digits real quick, and then I think some of our guys made some good plays,” Henry said. “They played under control, and got good looks offensively.”
Towanda got two early buckets to cut the lead to 22-20. Frye added a jumper, but Farrell came back with a 3-ball to amen it 24-23.
Burbage would hit a reverse lay-up to keep Troy ahead, but Garner made it a 1-point game, 26-25, off a Thompson helper.
The Trojans would surge again after that, going on a 14-0 run, beginning with a Chimics lay-up. Burbage then had a steal and lay-up, followed by four straight buckets from Chimics to put Troy up 38-25.
A pair of free throws from Burbage made it a 15-point game.
Poll would hit a 3-pointer to end the stretch, followed by Farrell knocking down a jumper to cut the deficit to 10. Chimics, though, dropped in a put back to make it a 12-point lead at the half.
Then in the third Troy held Towanda scoreless until the 2:40 mark, by that point they had built a 53-30 lead.
Frye hit two 3-balls during that stretch, with Woodward, and Chimics getting lay-ups, while Burbage hit a free throw.
Thompson hit a 3-ball to end the run, making it a 20-point game. The Knights would get the deficit to 19 points a couple times in the frame, but couldn’t get the run they needed to get back into it.
“We just have to defend better,” Henry said. “Giving a team 20-plus points in the first quarter, 40 at halftime, we’ve just given up too many points. Troy’s a good team, but we’ve got to work way harder, we’ve got to get better as a team.”
Towanda will travel to Wellsboro on Thursday, while Troy welcomes Athens.
The Trojans have quite the rivalry with the Wildcats, and know they’ll need good preparation going into that contest.
“We’re going to focus on winning tomorrow’s practice,” Woodward said. “We’ve been kind of behind the eighth ball here, and our practices are super important, especially after a game to repair some things.”
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PHOTOS BY CHRIS MANNING
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