The Community R-6 boys made every man count on Monday.

Community R-6 vs Silex Photo Gallery

The Trojans went in 0-6 but came out the winners of a 43-42 game against Silex at home. Chase Vehige hit the first free throw but missed the second in the final seconds as Community escaped with a victory.

Assistant coach Tyler Kobush said Community (1-6) had a smaller roster and were without head coach Kody Asquith since he was coaching the junior high team in Paris. Kobush had to take over head coaching duties and went through quite a bit of emotions as the Trojans desperately tried to grab rebounds to seal the game in the “nerve-wracking” final two seconds.

“I was saying a prayer, and I was pulling my hair out the whole time,” Kobush joked after the game. “We controlled at the end. That’s fine. We’ll take the win any way we can.”

In Community’s season so far with a roster full of underclassmen, the Trojans’ smallest margin of defeat had been 21 points but were involved in a tightly contested game throughout. The 42 points was by far the least amount allowed by the Trojans this season and the first time they kept a team below 50 points.

Kobush said Community has been primarily a 2-3 zone defensive team this season but thought man-to-man defense was doable against Silex (1-2). The Trojans used that clinging defense to jump ahead 19-7 and prevented Silex’s conversions from the field.

“I thought we could match up well with them tonight,” Kobush said. “I didn’t think there was any mismatches at all. We saw them at the jamboree and thought then we could play them man-to-man. Being able to do it for a full four quarters tonight was huge for us.”

Kobush complimented Layton Wright for his efforts off the bench, securing the rebound at the end and making a key bucket in the fourth quarter that was set up by a Rett Curtis pass from the post. Brett Beamer knocked down three 3-pointers to finish with nine points off the bench, giving Community the lead back at 37-36 halfway through the fourth. Starter Caden Thomas was unavailable and hopes to be back next week, according to Kobush.

The freshman KaTavyn Wheeler scored eight of his points in the fourth quarter, including hitting four of his five free throws for a perfect night from the line. Wheeler finished with a game-high 16 points to go along with eight rebounds and four assists and nailed two free throws to give the Trojans a 43-41 lead with 39 seconds left in the game.

“I just zoned everything out, didn’t look at the score and felt like I was at home,” Wheeler said about shooting the free throws. 

Wheeler hopes picking up this first win will begin a good run for the Trojans. He said Community moved the ball better than in previous games and especially were strong on the defensive end.

“I guess we were more dedicated tonight than other nights,” Wheeler said about the defense. “We were more determined.”

Silex did a lot of its scoring from the free-throw line, finishing 21-28 on foul shots. The free throws started to increase dramatically starting the second quarter as the Owls took the ball to the rim, led by Chase Mullen and his 12 points and 6-for-8 shooting at the line.

However, Community intended to take the ball to the rim as well with someone who was a mismatch for Silex a lot of the time. The sophomore Curtis finished with 11 points, eight rebounds and two blocks as he towered over the Owls, catching the lob passes and finishing at the rim. He eventually drew double and triple teams when he caught the ball but still finished with a better outing than the previous times he had started.

“Our lineup is so different with him matchup-wise and offensively-wise, depending if we want to go fast or pound it down low,” Kobush said. “He stepped up big when he got the minutes, didn’t foul out and didn’t do anything silly. If he is working down low and he is making his moves, it’s hard to stop him with his size and being able to go over anybody that we’ve played so far.”

Kobush said Community was more energized to start this week after taking the weekend off. He said the morale was low following a 78-42 loss at Mark Twain on Friday, but on Monday, the bench remained loud and engaged.

“The freshmen stepped up, and even with Clayton Jennings being the only senior, he was talking the whole time on the bench,” Kobush said. “The bench was great for as short as they are. They stepped up, they were loud and were involved. I just loved it from them.”