Inside the O&B
-Archives
-Mailing List
-O&B Staff
-Editorial Policy

-Trojans defeat West High again
by Cory Goldsmith
O&B Reporter

The men's basketball season at East High has been a roller coaster of emotions. With districts starting today, the Trojans will look to steady the ride.
The Trojans have been in a dogfight in the Mississippi Valley Conference this season. With a record of 5-7, East is stuck in the middle of the pack.
With only six seniors on the squad, the young players have had to step up their play this season. Mike Henderson, Breian Micou, and Milan Moses are all freshmen playing on the varsity team.
Henderson has played well this season, scoring in the double digits on various occasions. Micou and Moses, through not having the success of Henderson, have also played well this season.
Even with the lack of senior experience on the team, East started the year 2-2, beating Iowa City City High and Dubuque Hempstead and losing to Iowa City West and Cedar Rapids Xavier.
It was after these first four games that East had to play against one of their metro area rivals, the Cedar Falls Tigers. After a scoreless first quarter for the Trojans, they managed a score of 11-9, but that is as close as it would come. The game ended with the Tigers on top 47-33.
After the fourteen point loss to Cedar Falls, the men of East High competed in many close games, the first of which came against Cedar Rapids Jefferson. The Trojans lost 49-56.
On February 21, sixth ranked Cedar Rapids Prairie came to town. The game went back and forth all night. Russell Dixon was on the free throw line with 3.7 seconds to go, and the Trojans were hanging on to a one point lead. Dixion made one of his free throws to extend the lead to two points. Unfortunately, two would not be enough for East High as Derek Krueger nailed a three point shot for the hawks from half court to win the game as time expired.
"I was shocked. I felt I was watching 'Plays of the Week'," said Henderson.
East played a good game from start to finish as they made Prairie turn the ball over 26 times and scored 18 second-chance points.
"We played good. Prairie beat us on a lucky shot," said Coach Steve McGraw.
East had only a few days to regroup before they had to go to play their cross-town rival, West High. With the game against Prairie seemingly out of their minds, the Trojans hit 21 shots from the field and pulled down 16 offensive rebounds to defeat the Wahawks, 54-41.
The Trojans would then suffer back-to-back losses against Linn-Mar and Dubuque Wahlert before getting back on the winning track against Dubuque Senior. With a 98-39 victory, the Trojans hoped to carry the momentum to their next game against West High.
The game got off to a slow start with a 16-15 half-time score in favor of West. The second half, however, was the same game, but a completely different story. East put thirty points on the scoreboard in the third quarter, and they continued to add to their lead in the 4th quarter. Led by Marcus Wynter, who had 15 points, the Trojans defeated the Wahawks for the second time this season, 66-37.
"Since it was the last game that I would ever play against West, I didn't want to lose," said Wynter.
McGraw said that he has not been happy with the team's overall performance this season, but they do have the potential to go to state.

Updated 3/13/00 by Mike Bowser