BY CHRIS MANNINGNorthern Tier Sports Report
TROY — The Troy boys’ basketball team clinched their second straight NTL title, and third in four years, with an 80-50 win over Towanda Wednesday.
“These guys have put in a ton of work, and sometimes I don’t think that they understand, and other people don’t understand, how much work they’ve put in, and the way that they’ve done it,” said Troy coach Bob Woodward. “These guys are really good human beings, and they care a lot about each other. I’m just really proud of how hard they’ve worked for the right reasons.”
It’s the 36th straight league win for the Trojans, who used a combination of defensive blitzes and hot shooting to open up big leads in the first and third quarters to pull away from the Knights.
“The kids are excited to play with energy, and I think that’s changed over the past couple of weeks,” Woodward said. “With some bounce in our step, and wanting to play defense, and share the basketball.”
Troy opened the game with a 20-4 lead halfway through the first quarter. Towanda played them even for the rest of the first half as the Trojans took a 44-29 advantage into the locker rooms.
The third quarter they came out firing again, rattling off 13 points in a row, as they put the game into mercy rule halfway into the frame.
“Towanda is a good basketball team, and they were bringing a lot of energy in the second quarter,” remarked Woodward. “I felt like at halftime we needed to had to make a choice, we had to come out and play with energy, and I thought we did that in the third.”
Troy had two players eclipse the 20-point mark: JB Burbage had 26 points, six boards, and two steals, while Lincoln Chimics had 21 points, nine steals, five boards, and five assists.
Trey Teribury finished with 14 points, four boards, and three assists, as Evan Woodward had 12 points, and four assists.
Joseph Frye chipped in with seven points, and four assists, as Eason Teribury netted two points.
“It’s amazing,” Frye said about the league title. “It’s something we’ve all worked for for all four of our years, and I’m just happy to see the results that we knew we could get.”
Markell Garner had 11 points to lead Towanda, as Boom Thompson added 10 points, and three assists.
Darrius Farrell had nine points, to go with three assists, while Graham Welles scored six. Landon Clark, and Bayley Poll had five points apiece, with Conner Barnes, and Ben Schrawder both netting two.
“They’re a veteran group, they’re strong, and they’ve got great, great players, great athletes, and they work so hard,” Towanda coach Landon Henry said about Troy. “We got beat on the glass tonight, and on 50/50 balls they came up with more of them than us. Ultimately, playing a good team like that only can help us get better.”
The Trojans started off hot, hitting five 3-pointers in the first quarter, with four of them in the first four minutes.
Woodward and Burbage hit back to back 3-balls to start the game, followed by Chimics getting a lay-up to make it 8-0.
A 4-0 run from Towanda cut the lead in half as Clark and Barnes had back to back buckets.
Troy responded with a 12-0 run, kicked off by a Chimics lay-up. Frye and Trey Teribury nailed back to back 3-balls for an 18-4 lead.
Teribury and Burbage then had lay-ups for the 16-point advantage four minutes in.
A Farrell jumper ended the run as the Knights started to find their footing.
Chimics came back with a pair of free throws, but Clark hit a 3-ball to make it a 12-point game.
The two teams went back and forth - Frye had a lay-up followed by Garner getting a bucket - before the Trojans went on a 5-0 run for a 29-11 lead.
Farrell, though, hit a 3-ball to end the frame for the 29-14 Trojan advantage.
Thompson opened up the second with a bucket to cut the deficit to 13 points, but Eason Teribury got his name into the scorebook with a lay-up at the other end.
After a Thompson free throw Woodward bagged another 3-ball to extend their lead to 34-17.
Poll came back with a lay-up, but a put back from Woodward, followed by a pair of freebies out of Trey Teribury extend Troy’s lead to 19.
Garner cut into that with a 4-0 run himself to make it 38-23. After a Burbage free throw Thompson hit a lay-up to make it 39-25.
Trey Teribury responded with a 3-ball to extend the lead back to 17 points. A Farrell bucket made it 42-27, followed by buckets from Frye, and Thompson for the 44-29 halftime score.
The Trojans opened the third much the same way they did the game, with Burbage starting things off a lay-up.
Back to back steals led to buckets for Trey Teribury and Woodward, while a Burbage runner made it 52-29.
Chimics then nailed a 3-ball, followed by a Burbage steal and lay-up for a 28-point lead.
A Garner bucket staved off the mercy rule, but baskets from Trey Teribury and Woodward extended the Trojan advantage to 30 at 61-31.
The two teams played even after that, but Towanda never cut into the lead more than 22 points.
Towanda (11-9) hopes this game will help them as they host Wellsboro on Friday, in a crucial meeting for both teams.
“They got us the first time around, and I would love to get them at home this time,” Henry said.
Troy (17-2) will be looking to make it league win number 37 in a row as they travel to Athens Friday. Ironically, that’s the last place they lost a league game two years ago.
“We’ve got to just keep getting better,” Woodward said. “I think it’s been a slow crawl for a while in the beginning, and sometimes we feel like we’re making headway, but we’ve got to just keep going. I don’t know what that means, or what it looks like, but it’s our only option.”
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PHOTOS BY CHRIS MANNING
