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The St James Trojans won three out of their four games last week capping it off with a 52-24 win over the Holy Childhood Apaches to take third place in the Althoff Feeder Tournament held at Althoff Catholic High School in Belleville. It was a combination of pressure defense, opportunistic offense and consistent hustle that led to the win and continues to characterize the St James Trojan’s play this season.
The Trojans came out with full court pressure early against the Apaches and it became apparent that Holy Childhood would have difficulty. The Trojans played great defense and the Apaches could not match up against the Trojan offense. As a result the Apaches were fouling the Trojans early and often, putting St James in the bonus with only 1:33 left in the first quarter. And the Trojans capitalized at the free throw line to help them take an early lead, 12-5 after one quarter.
With the Trojans playing well and the Apaches having difficulty defensively, there stood the possibility that the Trojans could run away with the game. Especially being in the bonus so early in the game. The Apaches committed their tenth foul of the half with 6:02 left in the second quarter, putting the Trojans in the double bonus. So now with the Trojans shooting two every time they’re fouled the Apaches had really placed themselves behind the eight ball. St James played patiently on offense relying on Holy Childhood mistakes to help them score. The play of Sam Haudrich in the second quarter was key for the Trojans as they extended their lead to 28-12 at the half. Haudrich made good defensive plays as well as taking good care of the ball for the Trojans.
In the third quarter the Trojans continued their route of the Apaches while Holy Childhood struggled to stay in the game. In a classy move Coach Johnston began to work his bench players into the game in the third quarter but keeping one or two starters in the mix. The Trojans continued to find ways to score and led the Apaches 42-15 after three quarters.
The Trojans continued to dominate in the fourth quarter despite all of the substitutions and were running away with the victory. Both coaches emptied their benches with 1:37 left and the end result pretty much decided. The Trojans coasted through to victory 52-24. St James Coach Shaun Johnston said of the game, “The press was really good today, it kept them out of their offense the whole game and they never really got a chance to set it up. We rebounded well and pushed it and got some easy baskets. We played with a lot of intensity today, full speed the entire game. That’s what we set out to do, we were going to push hard the whole game.”
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