This past week the Trojans played in two district games. They played Johnson away on Tuesday the 17th and Akins at home on Friday the 20th. Anderson came out of the week with a 1-1 record, losing to Johnson 49-73 and beating Akins 76-58. The Trojans will be looking to learn from their loss to Johnson and build needed momentum with their win against Akins.
About halfway through the first quarter of the game against Johnson, it was a tight, low-scoring contest with the Trojans leading 4-3. Unfortunately, due to some Anderson turnovers and the Jaguars getting on fire from beyond the arc, Johnson ended the first quarter with a 19-4 run, leading 22-8. They extended their advantage by ten more points at halftime, leading 41-17. Anderson cut the lead by 4 to make it 35-55; Johnson after the third quarter but could not mount a comeback in the fourth, leading to the final score of Anderson 49; Johnson 73. This game came down to three-pointers and turnovers. Johnson shot 50% from three-point range, scoring 42 points from deep, which accounted for well over half of their points. Zeriah Kincaid was the main reason for this, shooting 6 for 8 or 75% from three and finishing with 23 points. Anderson shot just over 22% from range which was not enough to keep up with the Jags. Anderson also had 23 turnovers versus Johnsons’ 13, giving a hot Jaguars team more opportunities to score and win this game.
Three days later, Anderson had a matchup with a bottom-of-the-district Akins team. Although not as talented a team as Johnson, Akins beat the Trojans in their last matchup, so Anderson needed to ensure they were locked in, ready, and focused for this game. Anderson had a great first quarter, outscoring Akins 24-6. A big reason for this was the pressure they applied on Akins, which was the product of a great gameplan Coach Pittsford and his staff used to force Akins into errant passes and turnovers. By the end of the first quarter, Akins had a 72.4% turnover ratio, leading to countless easy layups at the other end for the Trojans. Continuing to use their physicality by trapping the smaller Akins guards, Anderson went into halftime with a 50-24 advantage and closed out the game with a 76-58 18-point win. Anderson had three players who scored 17 points; Campbell Duncan, Mitchell Whitlow, and Bennett Blackerby. Campell had the play of the game with an alley-oop slam from an assist by Mitch in the second quarter. This dominant win over Akins gives Anderson some needed confidence and momentum before going into their most challenging week of district play, with a game away against Westlake and a game home against Lake Travis, which will test this Anderson team to the limit.
