Trojans dominate Maroons

CLINTON - It seems like any time a Clinton sports team has an opportunity to take down their rivals six miles to the south, they simply cannot do it. 

The Maroons lost to the Maroa-Forsyth Trojans, 60-38 Tuesday night in Clinton.

Clinton head coach Shawn Leischner admitted to the Decatur Herald and Review after the game that his team came out and played lackadaisical. Maroa jumped out to a 10-2 lead and held a 17-6 advantage after the first quarter. 

The Trojans led by 10 and halftime and really  put away Clinton in the third quarter, outscoring the Maroons by 10 in the frame. 

The Maroons are most successful when Aaron Ennis has a big game from beyond the arc. He did not have that kind of impact Tuesday as the Maroons hit only one of eleven shots from long distance. 

Wyatt Washburn had 18 points to lead the Trojans, who improve to 2-1 in the Okaw Valley Conference. 

Leischner also admitted that Maroa dominated the game offensively and defensively. 

Both teams are very much improved from last year. But it is apparent that the Trojans have made the greatest strides. 

Clinton should take the approach Lovie Smith did when he took over as head coach of the chicago Bears in 2004. Goal Number 1: Beat Your rival, Goal Number 2: Win conference.

Before the Maroons can put themselves on the list of Okaw contenders, they must defeat Maroa-Forsyth. 

Brown, Meridian outlast Trojans

MAROA - Tuesday night was a career-day for Meridian's Caleb Brown. 

Brown, who had only scored 36 points all season, poured in a game-high 26 points for the Hawks as they defeated host Maroa-Forsyth (8-4, 1-1) 62-47. 

"Caleb Brown did a tremendous job moving," Maroa-Forsyth head coach Chad Cluver said. "He did a nice job off the ball and getting to the basket. We didn't do well enough getting a body on him and boxing him out."

Brown posed problems all night for the Maroa-Forsyth defense, a squad that is not used to giving up more than 50 points a game. 

"We don't ever want anyone on an opposing team to get 20 points, and that's not what happened last night," Cluver said. 

Blake Stelzreide started things off well for the Trojans, who held an 11-7 advantage at the end of the first quarter. Stelzreide scored the team's first seven points and ended up with 20 the whole game. 

"This is something we kind of expect from Blake," Cluver said. "He has a great pull up jump shot and has worked on his outside shot. He handles the ball extremely well and knows how to finish.

"He had a good game. I thought he did fine offensively, but all of us could have done a better job defensively."

The third quarter was particularly tough on the Trojans. Trailing by only three (26-23) at halftime, Maroa was outscored 23-9 in the period. 

"Our goal is to win every quarter, regardless of what happened before," Cluver said. "We especially put an emphasis on playing well in the third quarter, but we did not Tuesday night."

Most of the Trojans offense came on jump shots and three-pointers. Center Jordan Moore was held in check most of the game, only scoring two points and bringing down a pair of rebounds. 

"He doesn't have to have a huge game, but he has to touch the ball more," Cluver said. "He needs to be more active on the glass and we need to do a better job trying to get him the ball."

Defensive struggles and being outrebounded 38-22 in the game is what Cluver cited as reasons for the loss. 

Wyatt Washburn added nine points and Austin Jackson tallied eight for the Trojans. 

The loss was the first in conference for the Trojans this year. 

"The bottom line is that they were more physical than us and played better than us," Cluver said. "We need to work on being more mentally tough and playing our best basketball on a given night."

The Trojans will try to rebound Friday night with a home conference game against Shelbyville.

"We've got to get better every night, no matter if the team your playing is in the top echelon or not," Cluver said. "Shelbyville does a great job preparing and we will have a tough time Friday night."

Although Tuesday was far from their best effort of the season, Cluver is pleased with the progression of this team so far. This may be one of the more balanced teams Cluver has had. There is no 20-point scorer on this team like he had when Robo Kreps and Jordan Zelhart were suiting up for the Trojans. 

This team is much better than last year's version. They just need more consistency on defense and a more all-around offensive game. 

Photo: Maroa-Forsyth's Bo Banning (5) attempts to save the ball from going out of bounds.