Colonie @ Troy (boys' basketball), 12/20/18

Nobody had to tell Greg Davis & Troy High that they had a monkey on their collective backs headed into tonight's home game vs. Colonie. Troy had not beaten the Garnet Raiders in four tries since entering the Suburban Council.

Then again, Colonie hasn't been the same since Will Aybar & Isaiah Moll graduated, having only won one game, that against Averill Park in their last game on Tuesday. As it turned out, that made all the difference.

The first half was mostly a defensive struggle, with points at a premium. Colonie's defense keyed on Nazaire Merritt, but he still torched them for 13 points in the first half, and Troy entered halftime with a two point lead at 20-18. The defense, however, clamped down on Merritt in the second half, limiting him to just one three point basket, and Merritt finished with 16 points, a season low.

However, as has often been the case, Merritt's teammates stepped up to back him up. Lateef Johnson was the only other Troy player in double figures with 11. Jay-Quan Moore iced the game with a three pointer with under a minute left in the game, and finished with 8.

For Colonie, Aaron Satin had a breakout game, and led all scorers with 19 points. Marcus Shelton added 10, and Josh Aybar finished with 6, including the game's final basket, but it wouldn't be enough, as Troy goes to 5-0, finally snapping their losing streak vs. Colonie with a 51-46 verdict. Colonie falls to 1-5 in Suburban Council play, having had one game under their belts before everyone else began league play 2 weeks ago.

Troy's JV's destroyed Colonie, 72-46. Some of this year's JV's will be on next year's varsity, and that makes Troy even scarier going forward.

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Unfortunately, Troy's women lost to Colonie, 53-27. Alaina Holmes led Troy with 11 in a losing effort. Troy has yet to win a road game this season, and is on a two game losing streak heading to Middletown on Saturday.

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While today's match vs. Colonie hasn't been reported at press time, it looks like Troy's bowling team has turned the corner, having routed Shaker, 20-12, on Tuesday at Spare Time Latham (formerly Latham Bowl). We should have information on the Troy-Colonie bowling match within the next 24-36 hours.