Short-handed Trojans fall to Smoky Valley
With Hillsboro seniors Darren Enns and Aaron Stepanek both out of action Friday night, Smoky Valley used its bench strength to tucker out the Trojans, 54-40, in their regular season finale Friday night in Lindsborg.
"I was pleased with the effort, but I thought we ran out of gas just a bit," Trojan coach Darrell Knoll said. "It would have been nice to have a couple of more players tonight.
"They had more depth than we had, and that was probably bigger than anything. I was proud of how hard we played tonight."
Stopping a team that shoots 63 percent in a half and 59 for a game is a pretty tall order: about impossible when the Trojans made just 1-for-14 from long range and 39 percent for the game.
The lead changed hands four times the first quarter before ill-advised shot selections kept the Trojans scoreless the closing 2:00 to fall behind 16-12.
Lucas Hamm scored a team-high 12 points with eight in the first half, bringing the Trojans as close as they ever got — 21-19 — with about 4:00 left in the first half.
The Vikings hit a lapse, too, going the waning 2:30 of the half without scoring, but Hillsboro was only able to pull to 27-21 at the break.
The Trojans were still lingering on the premises the third quarter, never trailing less than three possessions.
But Smoky Valley got a boost from 12 free points the second half, en route to shooting 16-of-20 at the free-throw line while Hillsboro took just six trips to the stripe.
