Tri-Lam’s height advantage and second-chance shots prove to be too much for Team Lob City.
Tri-Lam needed just four players to beat Team Lob City Tuesday night.
Tri-Lam lacked six of their 10 players, but still stormed out to an early lead. A fifth team member arrived late in the first half but by that point the score was already 24-12.
The game could have been worse for Team Lob City, but it was called because of the mercy rule with 10:25 left in the second half with the score at 45-15.
It was Tri-Lam’s first win of the season.
Tri-Lam utilized a 2-2 zone defense to stifle Team Lob City’s offense in the first half and switched to a 2-3 zone once the fifth player arrived.
Sophomore Tyler Matthews from Tri-Lam said they had to play a zone defense especially when they only had four players.
“We can’t play (man-on-man) in a five on four situation,” Matthews said.
He also had a scouting report on most of the players on the opposing team.
“I knew all the guys,” he said. “I’ve played basketball with the guys on the other team for a year now.”
Matthew Farr, freshman for Tri-Lam, scored 10 points and took some risky long-range shots, including one from 35 feet that grazed off the rim.”
Tri-Lam uses a combination of outside shooting and domination on the inside on their way to beating Team Lob City even with just four players to start Tuesday’s game.
“All I’m about is fun,” Farr said. “I’m like Aaron Rodgers: F-U-N, fun.”
In its first game of the season, Tri-Lam was on the wrong side of the mercy rule, even with five members showing up at the start to play.
A major factor in Tri-Lam’s success in Tuesday night’s game was sophomore Alex Beckerson.
Standing at 6 feet, 6 inches, Beckerson towered over most of Team Lob City’s players. He collected 15 rebounds and scored 21 points in the game.
At Burgin High School in Mercer County, Ky., Beckerson averaged a double-double — around 20 points and 10 rebounds, he said.
“So this was a pretty typical game,” Beckerson said.
In the second half, Team Lob City couldn’t score. Meanwhile, Beckerson continued to score.
“We are just here to play as friends,” said Thomas Mix, junior from Team Lob City. He scored six of his team’s 15 points and shot 50 percent from three-point range.
Captain of Team Lob City Ronnie Mills said they were “clearly a little shorter but we had a lot of fun.”
Story by Blake Bernier, Contributing writer