The Community R-6 boys had a bit of a reset recently before hosting Bunceton/Prairie Home on Monday.

Community R-6 girls, boys vs Bunceton/Prairie Home

The Trojans went in with an eight-game losing streak and were coming off a 70-41 loss to New Bloomfield that eliminated them from the Sturgeon tournament last week. They lost to district foe BPH 67-53 for the second time this season but had a better showing than the 74-40 loss that happening during this rough stretch.

“We just went back to the beginning,” head coach Kody Asquith said. “It was back to the basics a little bit, like we worked on some passing to help get over that turnover thing. It seemed to work tonight.”

The Trojans (3-15) had “significantly less” turnovers than they’ve been having to result in one of their “better games of the season,” according to Asquith. Community kept the game close until being outscored 21-11 in the third quarter. The Trojans only trailed BPH (12-6) 30-24 at halftime and even took the lead on three separate occasions after 3-pointers, which were set up by good passes.

Mason Carroll led Community with 23 points, eight rebounds and four assists, Cooper Rohan followed with a season-high 16 points and four 3-pointers, and Caden Thomas added nine points and four assists. The problem was BPH is still a talented team that has much versatility, Asquith said.

“They can shoot, and they’re big and stout and can bully people to the rim too,” Asquith said. “They got several ones underneath the basket. A couple of times we slacked off is when they cut underneath the basket.”

Jackson Pitts is a prime example of one of these versatile players as he had a fair share of inside buckets but knocked down four 3-pointers in the second quarter, resulting in a game-high 27 points. Wyatt Case followed him with 19 points, hitting three of his four 3-pointers in the second half, and Layne Brandes added 16 points.

Asquith said it became tougher to compete with BPH in the third quarter since the Trojans couldn’t convert from the field at times. Thomas had the lone Community bucket of a 14-2 BPH run that closed the third quarter 51-35 in favor of BPH.

“They were hitting shots, and at times, we couldn’t get the ball to fall,” Asquith said. “We were taking good shots, but they just weren’t falling tonight.”

Asquith has expressed his desire this season to have the Trojans spread the scoring around. Carroll made his usual impact in the scoring column, but Rohan and Clayton Jennings each hit 3-pointers to momentarily give the Trojans the lead in the first quarter. 

Rohan, in particular, had an offensive awakening, as even while Community was dealing with a fourth-quarter deficit hovering around 20 points, he knocked down two more 3-pointers. He and Carroll each supplied points to attempt the Trojans’ comeback after a lopsided third quarter that carried over into the fourth.

“I saw he was looking to score the basketball instead of looking to pass it,” Asquith said. “He was attacking well. He might not have scored the layups well, but he was looking to attack and looking to shoot the ball.”

Asquith said he’d like to see the younger or overlooked members of the roster have nights like Rohan’s or just steadily contribute to give the Trojans a fighting chance against future opponents. They have four Central Activities Conference games this week, including Tuesday against Cairo and then at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at district foe Madison, who the Trojans defeated 79-24 earlier this season. 

“I’d like to see three, four, five guys look to score the ball more,” Asquith said.