Bobcats lose home game

Nick Ianniello

Mineral Independent

The Superior Bobcats lost a close game at home against the Troy Trojans Saturday evening when they fell behind in the fourth quarter.

“The boys played well, they played hard and they came up short,” said Bobcats Head Coach Dan Lucier.

The Bobcats started out the game playing tough and outscoring the Trojans 16 – 4 in the first quarter with baskets from Tyler Stenberg, Travis Stroot, Wesley Yarnall and Brian Labbe.

Stenberg was a big part of the Bobcat’s early success in the game, scoring 10 of the Bobcats’ 16 first quarter points.

The Trojans answered with some tough offensive play in the second quarter, outscoring the Bobcats 17 – 5 and tying the game up at 21 – 21. Stenberg and Rollin Rennick each nailed two-point baskets in the second quarter and Stroot brought in a free throw.

Coming into the second half the Bobcats turned up the heat on the Trojans again, outscoring them 18 – 13 and taking a 39 – 34 lead. Stenberg, Rennick, Labbe and Drew Walen each brought in points in the third quarter.

The Bobcats had a rough time in the fourth quarter, with the Trojans outscoring them 19 – 2 for a 53 – 41 win in the game. Walen scored the only basket for the Bobcats in the fourth quarter.

Lucier said that the Bobcats really played their best in the first and third quarters and just could not manage to keep things going through the fourth quarter of the game.

“They hit some threes on us that we didn’t cover and we couldn’t answer them either,” Lucier said.

The Bobcats also went out with a man-to-man strategy in the fourth quarter that left them open for several of the three pointers that gave the Trojans their win.

“It’s hard when you’ve got to play those guys one on one,” Lucier said.

He went on to add that the Trojans are a tough Division B team to play and the Bobcats did well playing against a bigger team that is out of their division.

“That was our best game so far this season. Troy’s really a good team, they’re one of the two top teams in Division B,” Lucier said.

Tyler Stenberg led the team in scoring for the evening with 10 baskets and 20 points. Lucier added that Walen had had a great night as well, doing a lot to pull the team together throughout the game.

“Tyler Stenberg had a really great game tonight and so did Drew Walen. They just both had a really good night,” Lucier said.

So far the Bobcats are 6 – 0 for in conference games.

“We got better tonight, and I think they played really well,” Lucier said.