Trojan Shield Weekly Update: November 26, 2018
Greetings from Trojan Country!
The 83rd annual Trinidad State Junior College High School Invitational Basketball Tournament takes center stage this week. This great Trinidad State tradition tips off the high school basketball season with 24 games over three days at Scott Gym. Returning this year in the women’s bracket are the defending champions from La Junta. They will start their season with a rematch of last year’s amazing double-overtime championship thriller with Springer. That game will be on Thursday at 4:30pm. The men’s champions in 2017, the La Junta Tigers, fresh off a state title football win on Saturday, will start their title defense against last year’s third place squad, Primero at 6pm on Thursday. Other opening round matchups on Thursday include Hoehne and Raton opening play at 9am/10:30am, John Mall facing Maxwell at noon and the Panther boys facing Manzanola at 1:30pm. To wrap up the first day, tournament newcomers Kim will be taking on Trinidad High at 7:30 and 9pm.
You can view the brackets here - http://trinidadstate.edu/xyz/athletics/programs/hs/2018/brackets.pdf
We are sad to say there will not be a cheer competition this year. We found out just last week that CHSAA has a new rule against these types of competitions and none of the Colorado schools would have been able to compete. Because of this information we decided to cancel the competition for this year.
The tournament will continue until late Saturday evening when the champions will raise the trophies at the annual awards presentations. We will again award the Rich Arguello Outstanding Coach plaque and the All-Tournament Team. There will be two sessions daily, and tickets will be good for both sessions. Cost for entry will be as follows:
No Charge: 6 and under
$4.00 for children and students
$5.00 for adults
Make plans to stop by and cheer on the teams at the 83rd TSJC Tournament!
Last Week's Results
Women’s Basketball –
- Defeated Laramie County 70-65
- Fell to Western Nebraska 110-62
- Fell to Eastern Wyoming 85-67
Men’s Basketball –
- Defeated Laramie County 87-68
- Defeated Rainy River CC 94-90
- Fell to Indian Hills 81-60
This Week
Tuesday -
- Men’s Basketball hosts Lamar JV at 6pm in Scott Gym
Wednesday -
- Women’s Basketball hosts Casper College at 5pm in Scott Gym
Friday -
- Women’s Basketball travels to Cheyenne, Wyoming to face Gillette College
Saturday -
- Men’s Basketball travels to Cheyenne, Wyoming to face Laramie County CC
- Women’s Basketball travels to Cheyenne, Wyoming to face Laramie County CC
Trojans defeat Golden Eagles
TSJC got the week off to a great start on Tuesday evening when they ran past the Golden Eagles of Laramie County Community College 87-68 in Scott Gym. The Trojans got off to a slow start, trailing 7-2 early, but came back to take the lead 19-17 on a Goy Wang jump shot seven minutes into the game. TSJC led the rest of the way, taking a 39-33 lead into halftime and extending that to as much as twenty near the end of the contest. Freshman Keontae White led all scorers with 24 points. Joining him in double figures were Bilal Shabazz with 19 points/10 rebounds and Issac Essein with 13 points. Ian Kelly pulled in eleven rebounds to lead both teams.
Over the weekend the Trojans split a pair of games, defeating previously unbeaten Rainy River Community College 94-90 and then falling to Indian Hills 81-60.
TSJC is now 8-2. They will host Lamar CC JV on Tuesday at 6pm in Scott Gym, and then travel to Cheyenne, Wyoming on Saturday for another game with the Golden Eagles from LCCC.
Basketball defeats Laramie County 70-65
The Lady Trojans won a back-and-forth contest with Laramie County 70-65 in Scott Gym on Tuesday evening. The Trojans jumped up 7-0 early, but quickly found themselves trailing 19-10 near the end of the first quarter. A late rally, a pair of free throws from Adonica Baca-Martinez and a jumper from Nuria Saez made it 19-14 at the end of one. The Eagles maintained a slight lead until a Shaylynn Choate 3-pointer tied it at 23 midway through the quarter. The Trojans again struck late in the quarter, a pair of charity shots from Hannah Gilmore and a steal and layup from Kate Rohr made it 30-26 at the half.
The teams continued their tight play with TSJC holding a slight lead for most of the third quarter and into the fourth. TSJC started to finally distance themselves when Julia Trujillo hit a jumper to make in 67-61 with a minute left to play. TSJC survived the free throw shooting at the end to win it 70-65. The Trojans got great work from their post players in the game. Cassia Mccaskill led the team with 18 points, Trujillo was next with 15 points and nine rebounds, and Gilmore was one rebound off a double-double with 11 points and nine boards.
The Trojans did not fare as well on the road over the weekend, falling to a hot-shooting Western Nebraska team 110-62 and then to an undefeated Eastern Wyoming 85-67.
The Trojans are now 7-3. They will host 6-3 Casper College on Wednesday at 5pm, and then travel to Cheyenne, Wyoming this weekend for a pair of games with Gillette College and LCCC.
New signings this week
Three new Trojans committed to play at TSJC in 2019-20. This week’s new signees include – for Baseball, Luke Finn from Lucas, Texas and Juan Villarreal from Golden, Colorado, and from Softball, Marley Moralez from Andrews, Texas. Moralez photo is below.
Some photos from the week
Quote of the Week -
"Failure I can live with. Not trying is what I can't handle!" - Sanya Richards-Ross
GO TROJANS!
#DMGB - Doesn’t Matter Get Better
Mike Salbato
Athletic Director
Trinidad State Junior College