Though they held a slim lead at halftime, the Trinity boys’ basketball team was unable to fend off a late run by Grayson County. The Raiders lost 65-57 in the second game of the district doubleheader at home.
Trinity (10-9) held a 19-15 lead after the first quarter thanks to a last-second 3-pointer by Trenton Morris, who led the team with 15 points. They couldn’t pull away, as the Cougars (8-13) cut the deficit to two points by halftime.
Grayson County managed to go in front and led 41-40 heading into the final frame.
The Cougar’s stretched the lead to as many as eight points, but a final Raiders’ run was capped off with 32 seconds to play, when Will Edge converted a layup to make it 60-57. It was the closest the Raiders ever got to the Cougars in the final minutes.
Head coach Nathan West felt as if his team came out flat, saying they’ve played similarly in two other games this year.
“I didn’t think we had much energy at all tonight,” West said. “We didn’t cut well or run the offense and our passing was lackluster at best. This is probably the third time this year we have come out flat and I think we are 0-3 in games where our effort and intensity aren’t as high as we want them to be.”
The physicality of Grayson County gave the Raiders fits all night in both the halfcourt offensive and defensive sets. West was quick to credit Cougars’ coach Travis Johnston after the game, feeling as if Trinity could learn from their opposition’s approach.
“Grayson County came out and was physical and played great man-to-man defense for which they are famous,” West said. “We had a hard time matching their physicality and the tougher team dictated the game flow tonight, which caused us to pick up a lot of unnecessary foul calls. We definitely want to learn from their approach and come out more aggressive in each game moving forward.”
After going down 48-40 midway through the fourth quarter, West called a timeout and charged his team with a call to redouble their efforts. They were able to rattle off seven unanswered points, cutting the Grayson County lead just one at 48-47. The late run was not enough to fend off the efforts of the Cougars, who shot the ball well from the free throw line down the stretch.
Accruing 19 fouls in the second half and eight in the first half, the Raiders sent Grayson County to the line for a total of 37 free throw attempts. The Cougars were able to convert 28 of those tries, 19 coming in the final period of action.
Up next: Trinity at Meade County, 7 p.m. Tuesday
Scoring
Trinity: Trenton Morris 15, Will Edge 13, Ethan Howard 8, Landon Hall 7, Brenden Wathen 7, Joe Brown 5, Ben Goetz 2
