Troy High flies past Shen, 60-56
CLIFTONPARK, N.Y.>> The Troy Flying Horses boys basketball team flew by and over Shenendehowa Friday night, pushing the ball up the court, pressuring the Plainsmen defenders and when needed time and time again, drilling three-point shots on the road to remain undefeated in Suburban Council play.
Troy saw Latyce Faison drop 17 of his game-high 26 points in the first half, including fourth- quarter daggers as teammate Nazaire Merritt continued to provide a devastating 1-2 punch for the Flying Horses in the 60- 56 win Friday night at Shenendehowa’s High School East gymnasium.
Troy High (6-0 Suburban Council, 6-1 overall) never let its engine idle Friday night, pressing Shenendehowa (4- 3 league, 5- 5 overall) on nearly every possession, pushing the ball up the
court and whipping the ball around the half court and finding an open man inside or creating room for Faison or Merrit to do damage from beyond the three-point arc.
“Faison, I believe this is his third game, we had to take a feel with him,” Shenendehowa Coach Tony Dzikas said. “We knew he could score, we knew he could play, but I want to say he only had one or two three’s his first two games. He had five at the half.
“You would like to think that after he hit two or three, the guys would start tagging him a little better, but again their high school kids and they know what they’ve been preached too for two, three days getting ready for Troy. His first two games he didn’t look like an outstanding threepoint shooter, tonight he looked like an outstanding three-point shooter.”
When the Flying Horses didn’t have possession, they were in the back pocket of the Shenendehowa ball handlers on each and every possession coming up the floor.
“We were too passive,” Dzikas said. “It’s problematic and again the bottom line is that’s what we’ve struggled against. It is no fluke that we went into Schenectady and lost.
“Basketball in general, but particularly with high school basketball is matchups and Schenectady did a great job, Troy did a great job. All their players were up into us, making everyone handle the ball aggressively and we struggled.”
It is a message that has been delivered to the Plainsmen time and time again.
“Any player in Shenendehowa in our program when I say ‘ Turnovers are...’ they all reply ‘ The Devil,’ and we had way too many,” Dzikas said. “We have to do a better job at careless turnovers, getting shaky with the ball. Some of it is inexperience, but even guys that are experienced were struggling with the ball.”
The Flying Horses never cooled off coming out of the break, leading 36- 31 and opened up a 10-point lead in the third quarter, holding the Plainsmen to just seven points.
“We’re missing point blank lay- ups and Merrit goes crossover, crossover, three ( pointer),” Dzikas said. “Then foul shooting we missed some foul shots and were missing foul shots, wide- open shots, missing lay-ups and they’re making high degree of difficulty shots as a coaching staff all you can say is ‘Guys, keep at it. You have to make those shots; you have to make those shots.’
“Even some of the shots they made defensively, we’re not pouting as a coaching staff you kind of just hope that they miss.”
While Dzikas and his staff were left shrugging their shoulders, Troy High was able to bask in the key Suburban Council win.
“We’re a very mature, together basketball team,” Troy High Coach Greg Davis told Channel 10 News in a post-game interview. “You don’t beat a team like Shen without being a team. I think we showed that we are tonight; our record is reflecting that right now. We’re very proud of what we did tonight.”
Shenendehowa scratched back to within three-point with under a minute left as Lucas Seyoum hit a lay-up and then produced a steal and a transition bucket on the next possession.
Troy was able to run its offense, this time pressured by the Shenendehowa defense and Faison hit the front end of a 1-and-1 for the four-point lead with 27 seconds left.
The ending was bitter for the Plainsmen as senior captain T. J. Sangare looked to body his way up and under the basket along the baseline and was called for his fifth and final foul with 11 seconds left sending Dzikas, the Shen bench and its fans into a frenzy as possession and two free throw attempts went to the other end of the court.
Shenendehowa will host Shaker Tuesday, Jan. 8 and the Flying Horses are at Columbia. Both games are set for a 7 p.m. start.
TROY 60, SHENENDEHOWA 56 Troy High (60) Makai Cruel 1-2- 4, Lateef Johnson 3- 0- 6, Nazaire Merritt 8-3-24, JayQuan Moore 0- 0- 0, Latyce Faison 9-1-26. Totals: 21- 6- 60. Shenendehowa (56) Andrew Martin 5- 0-12, Nick Lemire 2- 04, Lucas Seyoum 4-2-10, Jonathan Ray 1-1-3, T. J. Sangare 3-2-9, Devin Dzikas 0-2-2, Jake Reinisch 4- 4-14, James Altenburger 0-2-2. Totals: 19-13-56. Troy High 21 15 11 13 – 60 Shenendehowa 16 15 7 18 – 56 Three-point goals: Troy – Merritt 5, Faison 7. Shenendehowa – Martin 2, Sangare, Reinisch 2.