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By KEVIN ECKLEBERRY

Daily News

The Troup Tigers continued their challenging non-region schedule with a 69-53 road loss to Class AAAAAA powerhouse Langston Hughes on Saturday night.

It was Troup’s second straight loss after winning five in a row, but head coach Blake Craft was proud of the way his short-handed team competed.

The Tigers (5-4) have played their past two games without some key players, allowing some other team members to step up and get considerably more playing time.

“We played a bunch of freshmen and sophomores again,” Craft said. “We were led in scoring by two sophomores, Deo’vionTucker and Jaylen Young. They’re playing well.”

It was a tough matchup for Troup against a Langston Hughes team that won back-to-back state championships in 2017 and 2018.

While the final deficit was 16 points, Troup kept it fairly close most of the way.

“I don’t believe in moral victories, but I do believe in getting better every day, and we got a lot better,” Craft said. “We hated to not have (the missing players), but the future’s in good hands.”

Deo’vion Tucker, Jaylen Young and Nick Philpot each scored nine points to lead the way in scoring, and K.J. Tucker and A.J. Tucker each had six points.

In a loss to East Coweta a few days earlier, Young paced the Tigers with 12 points, and Deo’vion Tucker added 10 points.

“It’s all about learning,” Craft said. “I don’t want young guys to think they know it all. Let’s take some lumps, and by your junior or senior year, we’ll be giving people lumps.”

Troup begins its Region 2-AAAA schedule on Friday with a home game against Hardaway.