Young, Troy outduel Tatu, Clarkston, edge Wolves for first time since 1999

BY DAN STICKRADT

SENIOR EDITOR

TROY — James Young put in another super-relative performance on the hardcourt Tuesday evening. And it was nearly outdone by another.

Still, in the end, it was the effort by Troy’s entire boys basketball team that was most pleasing to veteran Colts coach Gary Fralick.

Young shattered the single-game scoring record with a game-high 49 points, and added 20 rebounds for good measure, which aided host Troy’s 79-74 triumph over Class A sixth-ranked Clarkston in an OAA crossover game.

“James Young had another great game. I don’t have to go out on a limb and say it’s our school record,” admitted Fralick. “But more importantly we beat Clarkston for the first time, I believe, since 1999. We had then up 21 points with seven minutes to go in 2004 and lost in double overtime. This time we were able to hold on.”

Superman Young had a counterpart in Clarkston’s Nick Taut. A senior guard, Nick Tatu fired in a team-high 47 points for Clarkston, believed to be the second-highest total in school history as former all-stater Dugan Fife scored 50 against Waterford Mott two decades ago.

Tatu did break the school record convincingly with 12 three-pointers, which amounted for 36 of his 47 points. Still, the OAA Red Division leading Wolves (12-2) lost for only the second time this season, with both of those losses being non-league games.

Senior point guard Mitch Baenziger added 15 points for Clarkston.

Troy has lost two players from its rotation this season and Fralick believes that his team is actually playing better “team basketball” at the present time.

“I like the way we are playing as a team. We are playing team basketball and doing the little things as a team to win basketball games” added Fralick, who lost sophomore Maceo Baston last week to transfer and senior guard Evan Mahone for off-the-court issues. “We’ll see if we can keep this going. We need to come ready for practice Wednesday and be ready for Berkley on Friday. We have a long ways to go.”

Juniors Zak Noor and Joe Leonard have seen their minutes increase significantly, with Leonard scoring 10 against Clarkston and Noor adding eight points.

“We’ve had to change our rotations some, but I think some of these guys are playing some good basketball. They are stepping up,” said Fralick. “James Young has become the leader of this team and it’s guys like Leonard and Noor who are getting better. We’ll need that for the rest of the season if we are to remain in contention for our league (the OAA White Division).”

Troy (10-4) led 17-13 after the first quarter and the two teams were tied 30-30 at the half. The Colts went on a 20-16 surge in the third quarter and outscored Clarkston 29-28 in the final stanza to prevail.

“It’s not every day that we beat Clarkston. They are always a terrific basketball team,” admitted Fralick. “We beat them in 1997 in their old gym and we beat them again in 1999 and we haven’t beaten them since. We’ve been close a few times and we’ve had a lot of great games with them, but we were always coming up short. It feels great to beat them this time.”

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