by Anthony Robinson

With only one returning starter from last year’s boys varsity basketball team, the Trojans had many questions coming into the 2010-2011 season. Luckily, the Trojans played their first game of the season at home Tuesday night against the Guthrie Center Tigers. The Tigers defeated the Trojans 35-32 in a hard fought battle.

The only return starter on the team, sophomore forward Dalton Franken, got into early foul trouble, committing two early fouls in the first 1:10 of the opening quarter. Franken sat the remaining 15 minutes of the first half on the bench. “At the start of the game we were a little nervous. We got a lot of dumb fouls in the first minutes,” senior forward Derek Tjepkes said. Sophomore guard Chad Christensen opened up the scoring for the Trojans with two three-point field goals midway through the first. After another three-point basket by sophomore guard Sam Markham, the Trojans led 9-4. The Tigers went on an eight to four run to close out the quarter.

Neither team could buy a basket in the early stages of the second quarter. Markham hit a three-pointer from the left baseline at the 4:29 mark. This basket proved to be the only score of the quarter for the Trojans. The Tigers were able to tie the Trojans, 16-16 with 1:50 left in the second quarter. After a three-point field goal by sophomore Adam Courtney, with less than a second to go in the half, Guthrie Center took a 21-16 lead into the locker room.

In the beginning minutes of the second half, Franken was able to get his first two points of the season. The Tigers led 23-20 with 4:23 to go in the third, before Markham hit a shot in the lane to pull within one: 22-23. Guthrie Center closed out the quarter on a five-to-nothing run to take a 28-22 lead into the final quarter.

Early in the fourth, junior Gunnar Blum picked up his fourth personal foul of the game. With a five-to-two run, the Trojans pulled within three points of the Tigers with 1:26 remaining in the game. Guthrie Center led 33-29 before Markham hit another three-pointer from the corner with eight seconds remaining. With 6.7 seconds left, the Tigers hit two free throws from the charity stripe to pull ahead 35-32. As time expired, Christensen attempted a three ball that fell short to the left.

Markham, the team’s leading scorer with 15 points on the night, commented on the team’s performance. “We didn’t run the offense as well as we could have. The defense played pretty well.  Over all it was a good performance.”

The Trojans will be in action Friday night in Glenwood, to face the Rams in their first Hawkeye 10 conference game of the year.