JAKE’S TAKE: When the lights come on, the effort comes out
Pick any big shot. Troy star junior James Young’s 3-pointer after a drive-and-kick by point guard Zak Noor. Noor’s game-tying triple with 6:33 left. Young’s driving, acrobatic, did-that-just-happen layup with 1:30.
Seniors like Bryan Martin and Leo Ayrault and sophomores Danny Wunderlich and Craig Duggan were blowing the roof off the place. The whole Troy bench rose and roared like this 69-63 win over Super 10-ranked Detroit Community saved the season.
It just might have.
It started with Young, who poured in a season-high 32 points, finally playing how he, the team, and the coaches had expected.
He did more than bring it up and shoot. His sticky, mammoth hands grabbed 12 rebounds. His slick instincts dished the ball to the open man. His gravity-defying penetrations eluded the Community defenders in the air.
“It’s just good to come out of a game feeling good about it again,” senior captain Jeff Holmes said.
“Beating a team that’s the (sixth)-ranked team in the state of Michigan,” fellow captain Leo Ayrault said, “It not only brings our respect back, but it also brings our confidence back.”
These seniors deserve it. They came back for one more year, expecting big things after a league championship in 2011. They were sorely disappointed early.
The rough outings piled up. A 23-point loss to Okemos in front of one of Young’s recruiters, Michigan State coach Tom Izzo. A defeat at Southfield where Young shot 0-for-11. A slim one-point victory over Birmingham Seaholm — at home.
“We’ve been through a lot of ups and downs,” Young said. “A good win like this will get our spirits up.”
The expectations were realistic. With Young playing all-around, sophomore Maceo Baston providing some scoring punch, and junior Joe Leonard shooting the lights out, a trip to the Breslin Center was not out of the question.
This team slumped because of effort, or lack thereof. They were standing around, they weren’t rebounding, and they were taking poor shots.
Saturday, there was none of that. There was movement in the offense, hustle on the glass, and penetration through the lane. Baston played Pippen to Young’s Jordan with 21 points, and Noor assisted two of the biggest shots of the game and hit another.
“I’m proud of ‘em,” Fralick said. “That’s by far the best game we’ve played all year.
“Tonight I felt it was one team coming together as one unit, and a unit that was determined to put on a good show…This is a team game, no matter how good any one player is.”
Play after play — Baston’s clutch free throws, Young’s blocked 3-pointer, Baston’s clinching steal, there was tension gushing out of the Troy bench. After a trying time of an expected special season, it seemed everything was going to be OK.
When asked if he could talk after the game, Ayrault said excitedly, “It’s about time!”
It was about time.
“It really brings us together as a family,” Ayrault said. “The problem was, we weren’t really playing together. After this type of game, we’re going to be a family.”
“We hit big shots, and we fed off each other,” Martin added. “For once, it was a team effort.”
It wasn’t just the shooting, the athleticism, the talent. The effort was there. After a month of inconsistent basketball, things were finally going right.
And everybody felt like cheering.
(Jake Lourim is a junior at Troy High School and part of the AdaVan Media Group / www.northoaklandsports.com Student Correspondence Program. He is also publisher of the TroyColtSportsUpdate.com. He can be reached at j.lourim@comcast.net.)
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