Orange County Sports / Prep Basketball : Freeway League : Troy Plays Its Game and Wins

Ed Graham, Troy High School boys’ basketball coach, thought his team needed to do one of two things to defeat Buena Park Friday night:

“Shut down either Gary Hunter or Kevin Graddy,” Graham said, referring to Buena Park’s two top scorers.

It turned out Troy didn’t need either.

Graham’s either/or became a neither/nor, as neither Hunter (25 points, 17 rebounds) nor Graddy (23 points, 7 rebounds) could be stopped, yet Troy still won.

Troy defeated Buena Park, 64-61, in a Freeway League game at Troy.

How did Troy manage?

“I think the kids made a lot of good decisions tonight,” Graham said.

The best one being the Warriors’ decision to play their own game.

Though Troy spent some of its efforts defending Hunter and Graddy, it didn’t exhaust itself on defending the two. Instead, Troy concentrated on its own offensive strategy: Just get the ball back as fast as possible and score.

Troy center Tim Morris scored six straight points in the first quarter to help the Warriors to a 10-6 lead. But Graddy answered with eight points, and Buena Park held Troy to a three-point advantage (15-12) going into the second quarter.

Hunter starred in the second quarter, scoring seven points mostly on fast-break drives. But it wasn’t enough to hold Troy, which outscored the Coyotes, 16-14, to take a 31-24 halftime lead.

In the second half, Buena Park tried to run with Troy, but it resulted in eight turnovers in seven minutes, and Troy took a 45-37 lead into the fourth quarter.

In the fourth period, Graddy and Hunter took over, and pulled Buena Park to within four points (51-47). But again, Buena Park lost its momentum with sloppy passing, making two turnovers in the final four minutes.

Morris, stepson of Buena Park Coach Ken Bell, led Troy (14-6, 6-2) with 15 points. Jeff Holland (10 points), Jim Bridges (12 points) and Matt Crothers (11 points) also scored in double figures for Troy.

“I thought we did an excellent job all around,” Graham said. “I think the final score was much closer than the game itself.”

Sunny Hills 71, La Habra 54--Brian McCloskey scored 13 points and David Chisum added 10 points in the opening eight minutes of play. The Lancers opened with 28 points in the first quarter and cruised to the victory.

Fullerton 91, Sonora 73--Pete Bach made 15 of 18 shots and scored 30 points to lead Fullerton (12-7, 6-2). The Indians, who were playing without center Alan Lewis, led be six entering the fourth quarter, then outscored Sonora, 27-15. Fullerton’s Dieter Horton had 24 points and 8 assists. Grayle Humphrey had 30 points to lead Sonora (6-12, 2-6).