Troy guard Aiden Luis looks back at a 23-point night and a Trojan win over Miamisburg in Monday’s district semi-final game. (Press Pros Feature Photos)
Coach Mark Hess called it being healthy, finally, at the right time…and at Miamisburg’s expense. Troy advanced to the district finals on Monday with a confident win over the Vikings.
Vandalia, OH – Officially, Troy’s senior guard Aiden Luis was credited with 23 points in the Trojans’ 64-49 win over Miamisburg Monday in the Division II semi-final at Butler High School.
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Unofficially, it’s altogether possible that he had 24, as he was credited for a trio of made three-pointers when he might have had four. When he was asked about it later he just shrugged. Didn’t matter. The Trojans won a tournament game, extended their season, and the mood outside the locker room was one of validation.
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“I thought I had four,” the diminutive Luis nodded. “But I don’t know. All I know is that my teammates played great tonight, nobody played selfish, we just wanted to produce. Coach had a good game plan, we wanted to stick together, my teammates got my shots open, and I want to thank them for helping me tonight. It feels good to win like this.”
It’s true that Miamisburg had struggled to a 5-18 record throughout the year, and had lost nine of ten entering Monday’s contest at Butler’s Student Activity Center.
And Troy’s win brought their record to 13-11, a feat unto itself given the ups and downs of their own season and a 10-8 record in the Miami Valley League Miami (North) Division.
But it was the manner that Troy won Monday, in Luis’ words, the way they shared the basketball…the confidence with which they played…and their commitment to play their most consistent four quarters of basketball all year that made you notice.
Troy’s Malakyi Hall nails a shot from the paint in the third quarter, 2 of his 10 for the game.
“It’s really the first time we’ve been healthy in a long time,” said coach Mark Hess, afterwards. “And the first quarter I didn’t like our shot selection. We made it harder on ourselves than we needed to. But we settled in, made the right plays in the second quarter, got into the teeth of the defense, and make that right play. Nobody was worried about ‘me’ scoring. Tonight the focus was on ‘us’ scoring.
“And I don’t use it as an excuse, but I know tonight was the first time we’ve all been healthy this calendar year. Guys have been able to play in games, but they haven’t been able to get reps in practice. So the last two weeks is the first time since the first of the year that we’ve had everybody together. So we said let’s see what our cards look like now that we’re finally together. We’ve gotten some reps, we’ve had some continuity, and now we’re making the right plays, making shots, and it’s fun to see.”
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Trailing Miamisburg 9-8 at the end of the first quarter, Aiden Luis (pronounced Lou-ees) ignited in the second quarter – more like exploded – for a pair of three pointers, a pair of buckets from the paint, and a trio of free throws – scoring 13 of the Trojans 17 points in the quarter to propel Troy to a 20-15 lead at halftime.
Miamisburg’s defense was vulnerable to Troy’s athleticism and Malakyi Hall’s ability to probe, draw an extra defender, and then find an open teammate. That was the case throughout the first half, and fatally, at the outset of the second half.
Brady O’Leary turned a Viking turnover into points during the Trojans’ 17-0 third quarter run.
Luis would start things for the Trojans with his third three-pointer of the game, followed by a three from Hall, a three from Ethane Atkins, a three from Josh Murphy, a bucket from Brady O’Leary on a Viking turnover at halfcourt, and another two from Luis that looked suspiciously like a made three-pointer, counted as two. He didn’t know, and it didn’t matter.
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In the meantime the rim shrunk on their end for the Vikings, who would go 6:35 deep into the quarter before scoring. And by the time they did score Troy had completed a 17-0 run to extend their halftime lead to 42-22, and effectively make Miamisburg think about the spring sports season. They had been outscored 19-6, and trailed at the end of three, 44-26!
The final quarter would become a foul fest, Miamisburg allowing Troy to shoot with the clock stopped as the Vikings attempted to make up for lost time by getting as many shots as they could on the other end. It worked, kinda’, but not nearly enough. Troy would cash in 15 of 17 attempts from the foul line while Miamisburg scored 23 points, their best eight minutes of the night. But the best they could do was cut what had been a 24 point deficit to 15…a 64-49 Troy win.
Aiden Luis led all scorers with 23 points, Malakyi Hall had 10, Ethane Atkins finished with 13 points, Brady O’Leary had 6, Josh Murphy had 5, and Austin Hart had 2 points.
For Miamisburg, Gavin Sudimack finished with 11 points, Corey Brightwell and Kellen Toadvine each had 10 points to lead the Vikings in the scorer’s book.
Mark Hess’s voice was about gone by game’s end. His team had won its second consecutive tournament game, and had stamped its ticket for a district title opportunity later in the week against Cincinnati Aiken. Aiken blew out King’s Mill Kings 64-47 later in the evening.
Troy’s Ethane Atkins finds a crease in the Vikings defense for 2 of his 10 points.
“I’m happy for the kids,” Hess hoarsed. “The season didn’t go as planned, but they didn’t pack it in. They set the goal for this tournament, this game, and I’m so proud of their fight.
“Aiden’s been shooting the ball really good, and layups for us sometimes aren’t shots at the rim. We’re not very big. So an open set three for Aiden is a layup. An open set three for Brady O’Leary is a layup for us. Josh Murphy can shoot it. So shots for us look a little bit different. And Aiden’s been shooting with a ton of confidence. He’s put in a lot of work.”
And the Trojans’ mini-mite maintained that he wanted to remain humble, just in case he should get too confident in himself.
But….
“Tonight feels amazing,” he smiled. “I don’t have to go on the bus thinking about the shot I missed in the second quarter. I can go on the bus and enjoy this win with my team.”
And no thought, whatsoever, if that one shot was a two or a three.
It went in, and that’s all that counts.
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