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The St James Trojans 8th Grade boy’s basketball team faced what is possibly the best team in the Diocese when they took on the Queen of Peace Raiders in the semi-finals of the Althoff Feeder Tournament on Saturday at Althoff High School. The Raiders boast a starting lineup with two players over six feet tall while the Trojans have depended on overall athleticism and defense to win this season. The Trojans gave a valiant effort but came up short losing 51-37.
Queen of Peace took control of the contest from the start with a 6-0 run. The Raiders were determined to work the ball inside to their taller players and they were out rebounding the Trojans getting second and third chances at the basket with regularity. But perhaps what was most impressive was the play of their point guard who scored when it was needed but was also the key to what they did on offense setting up his teammates. Defensively the Raiders keyed on stopping Kyle Sweeney and were doing a good job of keeping the ball out of his hands. As a result the Raiders were leading 17-4 after the first quarter.
The Trojans continued to have difficulty with the size of the Raiders and their inside game while the Raiders’ point guard was confounding the Trojans defense outside. The Trojans tried moving from a zone defense to a full court press in the second quarter with little effect and their man-to-man defense wasn’t working either. Still the Trojans were scrappy and fighting to stay in the game. Cole Rakers was working hard defensively against the larger Raiders players and Sam Haudrich hit a three pointer to bring the Trojans to within ten points at 21-11 midway through the second quarter. Then a few moments later Haudrich hit another three pointer cutting their deficit to eight points at 22-14. And again Haudrich hit a three pointer making it 24-17. The Trojan’s second quarter effort was keeping them in the game 29-21 at halftime.
When play resumed in the third quarter it was much the same as the second quarter. The Trojans were keeping pace with the Raiders but unable to catch them, never seeming to be able to get past the seven-point threshold. The Raiders moved one of their big guys to the high post and that was making it easier for them to work the ball to the low post as well as giving them scoring opportunities from the lane. The move helped the Raiders maintain their lead and regain momentum as they led 41-28 after three quarters.
Realizing that time was running out the Trojans moved to the full court press again in the fourth quarter. But the Raiders had things working on offense and defense in the fourth quarter and were pulling away from the Trojans. The Raiders held a commanding sixteen-point lead at 49-33 with 2:50 left in the fourth quarter. Both teams played their remaining bench players at the 1:50 mark to finish the game with the Raiders coming out on top 51-37.
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