In the boys’ game, it was clear from the outset the Tigers were going to face a challenge in battling Carrollton’s size with 6-foot-6 inch sophomore Monte Glenn, 6-6 senior Byron McCall and 6-5 junior Will Hesterlee controlling the lane on both ends.
Troup never led in the game, but came within striking distance in the third quarter after getting as close as four points.
Troup was unable to get closer, though, and would later go down by as many as 14 in the fourth quarter before losing by 11.
“We’ve got work to do,” coach Thermond Billingslea said. “Even at this point, we’ve got work to do. We would throw a live ball away. There was no reason to throw the ball away, because it was not like we were trying to get the ball inside. We were throwing the ball away deep on the sideline. What advantage we were going to have, I don’t know.”
Two of Troup’s starters, Lakeithin Buckner and Daryl Dunlap, did not start the game, but reported in several minutes later and the impact was immediately felt.
Buckner’s penetrating drives seemed to have a stabilizing effect on the offense and Troup picked up its game making several key steals and rebounding on the defensive end.
Carrollton led after the first quarter 16-8 and was ahead by as many as 10 before Buckner’s 3-pointer at the end of the second quarter cut the Carrollton lead to seven, 27-20.
Despite a poor shooting third quarter that saw the Tigers only go 3-for-14 from the field, the Tigers managed to make a run.
The Tigers battled hard in the quarter getting second, third and in some cases four chances at put-backs, but rim gremlins were out in force as 11 of those shots in the period refused to fall.
Still, the Tigers closed to within four at 36-32 at the 2:04 mark in the third quarter, but Carrollton managed to gather itself and extend that lead back to eight before ending the third quarter with a 40-32 lead.
After that, Troup would never get any closer.
For the game, Troup shot 14-of-51 from the floor and 13-of-28 from the charity stripe.
Carrollton shot 20-of-47 from the floor and 15-of-21 from the free-throw line.
Carrollton committed 21 turnovers for the game to just 13 for Troup.
Buckner led all scorers with 16 points.
In Tuesday’s girls’ game, the Lady Tigers were never in it.
They were down by 12 points before their first score, and Carrollton led 17-2 after the first quarter, and it went into the break leading 39-5 before extending the lead to 45-10 through three quarters.
Carrollton shuffled its lineup most of the night and a few starters remained in the game until around two minutes to go when they were all replaced with subs.
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