Trojan men's basketball drops opener to Northeastern

Men’s Basketball loses opener to #15-ranked Northeastern
Nov. 3, 2008

The Colby Community College men’s basketball team kicked off their season Sunday, Nov. 2 with a 91-77 loss against No. 15 ranked Northeastern Junior College of Sterling, Colo. The Trojans started four freshman and only two players over six feet, five inches, but outrebounded and defended well in the first half. CCC held Northeastern to 32 percent shooting in the first half. The game was tied at 34 after the first half.

“The first half is were we want to be defensively.” Head Coach John Woods said. “We work everyday in practice on rebounding and blocking out. We emphasized positioning around the basket, blocking out and defending around the basket. With a small lineup, we had to.”

However, in the second half Northeastern picked up their intensity and the young Trojan squad was unable to respond. The Trojans were hampered by foul trouble to sophomores Erick Peguero and Daray Hill. Both had fouled out with 12 minutes remaining in the second half.

“Our youth showed in the second half,” Woods said. “It’s hard to finish a game with all freshman. We asked Erick and Ray to guard their best player in Alex Garcia. They did a good job, but he’s tough to guard and as a result they were in foul trouble most of the game.”

Throughout the entire game the Trojans were able to drive to the basket and get to the free-throw line. Overall, the Trojans had 46 free-throw attempts and converted on 31 of them. The Trojans, offensively, relied on setting up 6’0” Shamar Acuay, who scored 27 points and had a team leading 6 rebounds. Acuay drove to the hoop often, and was 15-of-18 from the free-throw line.

“Shamar is a viable offensive threat. We intend to go to Shamar a lot,” Woods said. “He can score the ball, and even if they double him, he can kick it out to our outside shooters.”

Freshman point guard Derrick Thomas finished with 16 points on 5-of-10 shooting from the field. Thomas scored 12 of his points in the second half. Charleston Smith added 13 points and 5 rebounds and Aireus Stephenson had 11 points.