Defending state champion Clark rolled into town like a big storm. Local fans just had to wait to see how much damage would be done. That was the way Trojans Coach John Toomer saw it. He just didn’t know what the damage was going to be. Clark (4-1 overall, 1-0 Sunset League) won big, 73-29.
“I just want my team to go out there and play their hardest and we will see if we can limit some of the damage,” Toomer said before the game.
The Chargers came in with their big 6-foot-4 inch forward, Darius Jackson, and it was like watching a basketball exhibition as he dunked the ball at will. By the end of the first quarter Jackson and crew had built enough of a lead (19-5) that Chargers Coach Chad Beeten took out the Jackson show for a rest. They came back briefly in the second quarter to increase the score to 38-11.
The Trojans are fielding only seven players and that right there puts a lot of pressure on a team. Nick Aberle is out with an arm injury. The seven Trojans went to a tournament in Hawthorne last weekend and went 2-3. Toomer was not down on his team and said the tourney helped him to see where they need to improve. According to him, the first thing that his boys need to do is to work on improving the shooting. This includes shots from the free throw line, which he said they only shot 60 percent one game out of five. Another thing Toomer wants to work on is how the guards handle pressure.
“Right now both guards don’t do well under pressure and we need to improve that if we want to win games,” he said.
The Trojans down the stretch need to probably bring up some more players so they won’t be worried about starters getting into foul trouble.
Also, they need the extra people in case someone gets hurt. In Wednesday night’s game, the players did appear winded in the second quarter. Toomer said this was a problem last week too.
Toomer said earlier that he probably will bring up some JV players, but he is waiting for some of the varsity players to return.
The Trojans (2-6 overall, 0-1 Sunset League) travel to Del Sol today (2-1 overall, 0-0 Sunrise League). The game is at 6:30 p.m.
The Lady Trojans also had some problems with Clark in their first home game of the season. The Trojans (1-5 overall, 0-1 Sunset League) lost to the Chargers 44-26.
Trojans Coach Jennifer Hagstrom said her girls played well the first half. The Trojans were down by only one point at the half, 13-14.
“We played with composure the first half and didn’t do much of that the second half. We even followed our game plan the first half. We just didn’t do much of anything the second half,” said the coach.
Hagstrom said it, the most spectacular play in the second half was a basket made by the Trojans, but since it was at the basket of the Chargers it counted for the other team. The girls made mistakes, but Hagstrom knows they are learning from them. She said the rebounding by the big girls had improved and this was led by sophomore Jill Smith.
“Bobbi Floyd for Clark is one of the better players and I really think we held her off the boards pretty well,” she said. “We had a good game plan for her and if you just take out the fourth quarter and the free throws …”
The Chargers scored eight times in the fourth quarter off free throws. The Trojans were outscored 27-11 in the second half.