Trojan season ends at sub-state
By RYAN RICHTER
Sports Writer
The Trojan basketball players who stuck around Saturday to watch the title game of the Halstead sub-state had to be disappointed they didn't get the same kind of game the Hesston Swathers got Friday night.
Instead, the Trojans got the top-seeded and second-ranked Southeast of Saline Trojans Friday on a night where they could've beaten anybody.
State-qualifying SES shot a blistering 56 percent from the floor and 5-for-11 from outside to bury Hillsboro (11-11) in a hole it never could dig out of, advancing to Saturday's title game with an easy 67-48 win.
"We didn't think we moved the ball very well offensively, and we didn't get the shots we needed to get," Trojan coach Darrell Knoll said. "They made everything they shot. They shot lights out and we didn't."
SES couldn't miss the entire night, much less the first quarter, making six-of-eight to jump to a 16-5 lead.
Senior center Lucas Hamm was sandwiched all night, as the SES Trojans packed the lane with defenders to help hold the Trojans to 9-of-22 and scoreless off second-chance points.
Hillsboro settled down the second quarter, hitting 7-for-12 with Lucas Hamm getting half of his game-high 24 points in the first half, but the Trojans were trying to battle back from a double-digit deficit for all but about 2:30 of the game.
Other than Hamm, who also closed out a stellar career with a game-high 12 rebounds for a double-double and 10-for-20 from the field, the Trojans groped to find offense.
Anytime Hillsboro made it look like they had some fire to get back in the game, SES came up with a shot to extinguish the flames.
The Trojans trailed at halftime, 34-23, with SES getting a combined 20 points from Nick Hardesty and Ross Terry off 8-for-10 while knocking down 4-of-6 from outside and 57 percent from the field.
Hillsboro chopped the deficit as close as 38-32 with 6:08 left in the third quarter with Spencer Brown canning a triple.
About three minutes later, the Trojans were down 49-32 after Hardesty triggered 11 unanswered points for SES.
Hamm scored on four straight possessions to start the fourth quarter, getting the Trojans to within 11 points twice.
SES closed the game on an 11-3 run with all five starters scoring in double figures paced by Mitch Muggler's 17 points.
"We came out the second half and cut it to six," said Knoll. "We didn't have enough and they answered everything we did. They played a really good ball game.
"I thought we competed hard all season and there were several games we gave up that we could have had earlier, and I think we were better than our record showed.
"We had a lot of obstacles to overcome this year. We played about as good of basketball as we could by the end of the year."
