It was clear what the Community R-6 boys had to do at halftime on Saturday.

Gary Filbert Classic Photo Gallery

The Trojans trailed Calvary Lutheran 34-23 in the 13th annual Gary Filbert Classic in Mexico but ended up winning 57-52 after outscoring the Lions 34-18 in the second half.

Calvary Lutheran (4-4) closed the first half strongly, compiling a 12-0 run pushed the margin to double digits for the first time and leaving Community (3-6) with another big deficit to surmount. Head coach Kody Asquith said he believed and conveyed to the Trojans they were already doing well defensively but needed to take the “next step” in addressing Eddy Brooks and Will Kuhlman, who had a respective 22 and 19 points but mustered a combined 15 points in the second half.

“We located their shooters (Brooks and Kuhlman), and I told the guys. ‘If we stop them, we cut their scoring down,” Asquith said. “It was my top guys Mason Rohan and Caden Thomas and told them, ‘If you see them, know where they’re at all times. Don’t lose them.’”

Calvary Lutheran, however, lost Rohan and Thomas several times since Community finished with 10 3-pointers. Thomas accounted for four in the first half while Rohan binged in the third quarter with all three of his 3-pointers. Thomas finished with 18 points and Rohan had nine points to follow Mason Carroll’s MVP game of 21 points, six rebounds and six steals.

Thomas stuffed the stat sheet to include six assists and four steals, using those assists to set up shooters after his teammates did the same for him earlier in the game. He found Rohan on all of his 3-pointers, including one to cut Calvary Lutheran’s lead to single digits for the first time since the first half at 41-34. 

“He was definitely able to slow it down a little bit and was able to look at the floor more effectively and find those open guys,” Asquith said. 

Community still trailed 43-41 going into the fourth quarter but eventually took its first lead since the first quarter at 47-45. Clayton Eikel knocked down a 3-pointer for his first points after pulling down six rebounds to give Community a 54-50 cushion with less than a minute left. That 3-pointer happened off yet another Thomas assist as Thomas flashed three fingers as he did after every other made 3-pointer.

“We started playing at our pace in the fourth quarter,” Asquith said. “We were able to slow the ball down a little bit, get movement out of the ball, open up the middle and even open up some shots outside for us.”

Carroll put back a miss to give the Trojans’ their aforementioned 47-45 lead, and prior to that, the senior leading scorer steadily contributed on the offensive end, with seven points in the first quarter and three made free throws in the fourth quarter.

He and Thomas combined for almost all of Community’s points in the first half other than a bucket by Aaron Carter while Calvary Lutheran had a similar setup going on with Brooks and Kuhlman.

“Mason was an animal tonight,” Asqiith said. “He got a lot of boards tonight and was very effective in trying to score the ball.”