It has been a rough season for the Community R-6 boys and recent developments made Tuesday even tougher.

Community R-6 Senior Night Photo Gallery

The Trojans, like many others in the area, have been dealing with a flu outbreak that limited them to seven players and one coach in a 66-26 Senior Night loss to Central Activities Conference foe Sturgeon. Community allowed 22 steals and eight 3-pointers to the Bulldogs.

Assistant coach Tyler Kobush, who was filling in the lead role for a sick Kody Asquith, said starting point guard Katavyn Wheeler being out as well due to flu was already bad, but the Trojans were at about 70 percent attendance and had one player unavailable in the first half. Regardless of that big factor, Kobush said Community (3-18, 2-6 CAC) still struggled in the areas it has all season.

“It’s the little things: offensive rebounds and turnovers,” Kobush said. “They killed us like they have been. The energy was OK right off the bat and then it just petered out the rest of the way. We didn’t have it the whole game, and that’s normal when you only have two dudes off the bench.”

Kobush said the Trojans did well by staying out of foul trouble as it was obviously a concern going into the game. Since keeping a couple players off the floor would completely deplete the bench, he said the defense had to be careful.

Connor Lawson made Community pay with 23 points and five 3-pointers, including four of them in the first half before Sturgeon (10-11, 4-3 CAC) led 41-19 at halftime. Alex Ducayne followed with 15 points, and Josh Kelly had 12 points, which was a positive result since Kobush said the Trojans wanted to limit him.

“We stayed in a zone pretty much all night,” Kobush said. “We have been playing a lot better, but unfortunately, Lawson shot the lights out tonight. The kid couldn’t miss.”

Because of the roster shuffle, freshman Layton Wright started his first varsity game and had to fill in as the point guard. Wright led Community with nine points and hit all three of his 3-pointers in the first half. He used three assists to involve Rett Curtis, who finished with eight points and seven rebounds to match senior Clayton Jennings’ stat line.

“It was really nice to see him get those minutes,” Kobush said. “I think he’ll start coming around more. He just has to get a little bit stronger and see the pace of a varsity game. He does really well for us on the junior varsity and hopefully he can start doing well for us on that varsity side too.”

Jennings is the only senior for a Community roster this year full of underclassmen. After his parents walked out his sister, Callie, to midcourt for the Senior Night ceremony before the game, they booked it for the door to walk him out. The seven basketball and cheerleading seniors including him; Aaliyah Welch, Rylee Rafferty and Amy McCurdy for girls basketball; and Callie Jennings, Ella Duenke and Kate Robnett — who was out with the flu.

When it comes to describing Clayton Jennings’ worth to the team this season, Kobush said the word “vocal” stands out. He said Jennings is the ideal senior at practice and during games.

“He’s always vocal at practice and is a good leader,” Kobush said. “He doesn’t ever miss days as he is always at school, doesn’t miss practice and doesn’t miss games. He’s very coachable and just having him being vocal and communicating on the court is what we’re going to miss a lot.”

Community plays at conference foe Glasgow (13-7, 4-2 CAC) at 7:30 p.m. Friday.