TROY — Sidney wasn’t at full strength on Friday and went up against a squad that was.
Troy took control in the first half and pulled away in the second to beat the Yellow Jackets 57-50 and stay undefeated.
Sidney (4-2, 4-2 MVL Valley) made three 3-pointers in the final 30 seconds to make it interesting, but the Trojans continued to hit free throws, as they had all quarter long.
Troy (6-0, 6-0 MVL Valley) didn’t make a field goal the entire fourth quarter, but hit 11-of-15 free throws to secure the win.
It’s one of several things the Trojans did well. Troy, which has a senior-laden roster, shot well, rebounded well and handled it well.
“They’re good,” Sidney coach John Willoughby said. “All their players can do it all. They all shoot the ball well, they all pass well, they all move well, and they defend well. They’re all lengthy.”
Sidney scored the first four points, but Troy finished the first quarter with a 13-4 run to take a five-point lead. The Yellow Jackets tied it 18-18 with about three minutes left in the second quarter but didn’t make another field goal the rest of the half. Troy finished with an 8-1 run to take a 26-19 halftime lead.
Sidney pulled within 30-26 early in the third, but Troy finished with a 16-6 run to take a 46-32 lead into the fourth quarter.
“Those (scoring) droughts, it was mostly because we couldn’t execute offensively against them,” Willoughby said. “I thought we drove the ball well, I thought we got inside, but once you get in there, they’re 6-5, 6-5 and 6-5, and we had trouble scoring against that height if it wasn’t Mitchell (Davis).”
Myles Vordemark and A’zon Steele made consecutive 3s in a 15-second span to cut Troy’s lead to 53-47 with 13 seconds left.
But the Trojans made four late free throws to push the gap to 10 before Vordemark made a heave from half court at the buzzer to cut the final gap to seven.
Isaac Phillips, a 6-foot-3 senior guard, led Troy with 13 points. Kellen Miller, a 6-5 junior guard, scored 11. Hollis Terrell (6-5) scored 10 points, Noah Davis (6-3) scored eight and Nick Prince and Konyae Foster each scored seven.
“Overall, we did play pretty well. We played pretty good defense,” Willoughby said. “We had some mismatches. Phillips was tough to guard inside. I probably didn’t make a switch off early enough with Julius Spradling (5-9). I thought Phillips took Julius inside a little bit, and we probably should have made a switch earlier.”
Steele led Sidney with 11 points while Vordemark, Jy Foster-Wheeler and Sam Reynolds each scored nine. Davis and Spradling each scored six.
“Mitchell had been sick all week, missed the last two days of practice,” Willoughby said. “… He was worn out. We were without our sixth man, Jayce Daniel, because he’s sick. Sam says he’s feeling a little sick.
“Against a real good team and not being at full strength, I thought we competed well.”
Sidney is scheduled to play next on Tuesday when it travels to West Carrollton (2-3, 2-3).
Russia 61, Anna 38
The Raiders won a Shelby County Athletic League game on Friday in Anna.
Hayden Quinter led Russia (6-0, 4-0 SCAL) with 17 points while Vince Borchers scored 12.
Mason Carey led Anna (4-2, 2-2) with 13 points.
Fort Loramie 51, Fairlawn 13
The Redskins won an SCAL game on Friday in Fort Loramie.
Fort Loramie led 13-0 at the end of the first quarter, 23-5 at halftime and 36-11 at the end of the third quarter.
Caleb Maurer led Fort Loramie (3-1, 1-1) with 11 points while Logan Eilerman and Ethan Keiser each scored eight.
The Jets dropped to 1-7 overall and 0-5 in SCAL play.
Botkins 61, Houston 23
The Trojans won an SCAL game on Friday in Houston.
Carter Pleiman led Botkins (3-2, 2-1) with 23 points while Rylyn Paul scored 10 and JJ Meyer scored nine.
Rusty Vondenhuevel led Houston (1-6, 1-3) with six points.
Lehman Catholic 52, Riverside 41
The Cavaliers won a Three Rivers Conference game on Friday in De Graff.
Lehman built an 8-3 lead by the end of the first quarter and led 19-13 at halftime and 34-21 at the end of the third.
Justin Chapman led Lehman (4-3, 2-2 TRC) with 21 points while Da’Ron Pride and Donovan O’Leary each scored eight.
Myles Platfoot led Riverside (3-3, 1-3 TRC) with 12 points while Gavin Orsborne scored 10.
