Trojans fall to 6-2 with home loss to Oil City

Dan Hiner, The Herald, Sharon, Pa.
·4 min read

Jan. 7—GREENVILLE — The Greenville boys basketball team will spend some time reviewing tape from Friday night.

The Trojans fell to Oil City at Greenville High School, 57-24, for their second loss in the last three games.

Greenville (6-2) couldn't get anything going offensively. The Oilers came out in a 3-2 zone, forcing Greenville to swing around the 3-point arc and attempt outside shots.

"We did a bad job," Greenville head coach Scot Vannoy said. "We got the ball reversals but we never really looked inside to attack."

Noah Philson led the Trojans with 11 points he also grabbed five rebounds with two assists. Nate Stuyvesant contributed six points, Mason Vannoy scored three points with three rebounds and two assists and Logan Lentz and Jase Herrick each finished with two points.

The Oilers did most of their damage from the inside in one-on-one situations — either with the pick-and-roll or isolation.

Oil City's Jake Hornbeck led all scorers with 16 points with six assists. Sayyid Donald scored nine points, and Cam VanWormer and Will McMahon each had seven points. VanWorner also had six assists and a game-high eight rebounds.

The Oilers (8-2) jumped on Greenville early. They led the Trojans 18-6 by the end of the first quarter. The lead increased to 29-10 by the halftime break.

Greenville was unable to work the ball into the paint due to the Oilers' defense. Instead, the Trojans passed the ball along the outside and reversed to try and get an open shot. However, those openings never materialized.

The Trojans aren't known for their outside shooting. However, they made six 3-pointers on the night. They usually make a few 3-pointers a game, so the zone defense by the Oilers put the Greenville offense in a challenging situation.

Due to the lack of offense, Greenville was unable to keep up. Oil City finally forced the running clock with just under six minutes to play.

"I think coming into today, we're 28 percent from behind the (3-point) arc," Scot Vannoy said. "That is horrible for a high school team. We're not hitting six, eight 3s a night or anything like that. We're lucky to hit four at times."

After the game, the message was about getting work done in practice and learning from film. The players and coaches know there are areas to improve, it's just a matter of getting back in the gym and finding solutions.

"We're gonna come in tomorrow morning and just practice hard," Herrick said.

The Trojans will need to find some answers to the Oil City defense. The two teams will play again on Tuesday in Oil City.

Back-to-back games against the same team are not common in high school basketball. The oddity occurred because the flu made its way through the Greenville roster. Tuesday was the only open day both teams had available after the first game was canceled.

"We're gonna watch film in the morning. Go over the game with 'em and figure out a game plan from there," Scot Vannoy said. "Show the guys what we could see from the sidelines a little bit better than they can see on the floor at times. Just share some knowledge with them."

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OIL CITY 18 11 11 17 57

GREENVILLE 6 4 6 8 24

OIL CITY — Highfield 2-0-0-4, Knox 2-3-4-7, Hornbeck 7-1-1-16, Ames 0-0-0-0, Stephens 2-0-1-2, McMahon 3-0-0-7, Teeter 0-0-0-0, VanWormer 2-2-4-7, Hoganrader 0-0-0-0, Donald 4-0-0-9, Liderbach 1-0-0-3. 3-pt. goals: Hornbeck 1, McMahon 1, VanWormer 1, Donald 1, Liderbach 1. Totals:23-6-10-57.

GREENVILLE — Herrick 1-0-0-2, Stuyvesant 2-0-0-6, Philson 4-0-0-11, Lentz 1-0-0-2, Cano 0-0-0-0, Hedderick 0-0-0-0, Vannoy 1-0-0-3, Leskovac 0-0-0-0. 3-pt. goals: Philson 3, Stuyvesant 2, Vannoy 1. Totals: 9-0-0-24

JV: Oil City, 49-20.