Tri-County Falls in Double Header Against Iowa Valley and Highland

Published by admin on Wed, 02/07/2024 - 9:00am

Senior Gaige Mercer tallied 17 points, nine rebounds, three assists and five steals in the loss to Highland

By:

Sean Strohmayer

The News-Review

THORNBURG—On January 29, the Tri-County Trojans boys basketball team hosted a double header against the Iowa Valley Tigers and Highland Huskies. The Trojans fell to the Tigers by a final score of 55-28, then fell to the Huskies by a final score of 77-57.

The first half of the game against Iowa Valley was all Tigers, as they stormed out to a 30-7 lead.

The Trojans struck back in the third quarter, and out-scored the Tigers 14-8 to cut the deficit to 38-21.

The Trojans controlled the fourth quarter en route to the 17-7 victory.

Freshman Sean McCulloch led the team with 11 points, seven rebounds, two assists, one steal and one block.

Junior Jayden Smith also tallied nine points, four rebounds a steal and a block.

The second game was more of the same for the Trojans. A slow start led to them falling into a 39-23 halftime lead.

The Huskies controlled the second half en route to the 77-57 victory.

In the first quarter, senior guard Gaige Mercer found himself in foul trouble. Head Coach Dyland Springer spoke on how he adjusted to early foul trouble for the senior guard with, “Gage is one of our better defenders. It is troubling when we were short staffed tonight. When we brought him out, the rest of the guys did a great job. Even with four fouls in the second half, Gage still played hard. He got steals that led to fast breaks. He just never quits playing hard. He can play smart, he just got ticked with a few fouls early.”

In his absence, sophomore Boston Roorda crashed the glass with vigor. It took him under three minutes in the game to tally four rebounds. Coach Springer spoke of Roorda stepping up in the absence of Mercer with, “It means a lot. He hustles a lot. He is one of the best hustlers on the team. He is very sneaky fast. He just needs to learn to hold onto the ball once he gets it. He is only a sophomore, and this is first year of basketball. I am really impressed with his progress.”

The Trojans fall to 0-18 on the season, and will return to action on January 30, when they host the English Valleys Bears.