BOYS BASKETBALL: North Farmington pulls away from Troy in second half
BY JAKE LOURIM
STUDENT CORRESPONDENT
FARMINGTON HILLS — Gary Fralick didn’t have any answers.
The veteran Troy boys basketball coach saw his team go into the locker room down only one at North Farmington Friday night, but ended up with a 68-42 OAA Red Division loss that pushed them to 6-10 overall and 3-6 in the league.
North Farmington moved to 13-4 overall and 8-2 in the league, only a game behind Clarkston in the loss column.
“We just have to play harder than the other team and be more physical,” Fralick said. “We lose it at halftime. I don’t know why. Are we tired? Maybe. But why? I don’t know. We play enough guys where we shouldn’t be totally exhausted right now.”
North Farmington came out of halftime on a quick 9-2 spurt that kept Troy scoreless for more than four minutes. The Raiders had shot only 1-for-10 from long range in the first half, but heated up in the second half.
Still only up by nine points after three quarters, North Farmington opened the fourth quarter with two 3-pointers and a putback.
“We just need to slow down and play at our speed, and everything works better for us,” North Farmington coach Todd Negoshian said.
Then, Troy extended its man-to-man defense, but it was ineffective. The Colts had to call time out after a North Farmington dunk made it 53-33 with 5:32 to go and again after a fast-break layup made it 59-33 with 4:55 left.
“Right off the bat, we’re turning it over and we’re not getting stops,” Fralick said. “Sometimes it’s a really simple game.”
At that point, the Raiders led the second half, 33-8, and the game was effectively over.
“They didn’t do anything differently. We didn’t do anything differently,” Fralick said. “They just played harder than we did. They’ve got some kids that can flat-out play. I thought we missed some easy shots in the third quarter, and then I think we started feeling a little sorry for ourselves.”
As with the first meeting between the teams, a 57-36 North Farmington win at Troy on Jan. 18, the Raiders’ full-court, energetic pressure wore down Troy and began to force it out of its offense.
In the first two minutes, Troy broke down the pressure and hit junior Chris Dorsey — playing his first game since suffering an ankle injury Jan. 29 — for two easy layups.
“We just had a lot of energy. We came out really strong,” Dorsey said. “That’s how all of our first halves are like. We let down and lost the intensity we had in the first half. We stopped doing the right things.”
Dorsey led Troy with 14 points, 10 points in the first half, but was the only Colts player in double figures.
Troy shot 50 percent from the floor in the first half with only two 3-point attempts, getting the ball inside instead. Finally, the North Farmington pressure became effective.
“We run it for one reason: we don’t think teams can withstand it for 32 minutes,” Negoshian said. “Coach Fralick had them really organized. I think it just wore them down a little bit. That’s our goal — to use it to wear people down.
“We wanted to make them put it on the floor. We felt like they’re uncomfortable doing that,” added Fralick. “That was a big thing for us. We worked on it all week.”
Troy was also beaten on the boards in the second half, playing undersized against a front line led by 6-foot-6 Jeron Rogers, 6-4 Sterling Sharp and 6-4 Cameron Darden. Rogers paced North Farmignton with 17 points and nine rebounds. Sharp chipped in with 16 points and four assists and Caleb Hogans also reached double figures with 11 points.
North Farmington won on the glass 15-8 in the second half.
“I’m disappointed, but they’re playing hard for the first half,” Fralick said. “They don’t have the same fight in them in the second half right now.”
After losses by 18 and 26 points this week, the Colts now must travel to Clarkston, which leads the OAA Red at 7-1, features a healthier team than the one that played Troy on Dec. 21 and will be searching for revenge after a 58-57 Troy upset.
Meanwhile, Troy continues its search to regain its 4-1 start, a search that has Fralick looking for answers.
“I don’t have answers right now,” Fralick said. “I just have questions.”
(Jake Lourim is a senior at Troy High School and a member of the S.H.P. Media Group / www.northoaklandsports.com Student Correspondence Program. He is publisher of website www.troycoltsportsupdate.com and a member of the Troy school newspaper editorial staff. He can be reached by e-mail at j.lourim@comcast.net)
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