By Dan Truttschel
Correspondent
East Troy High School’s Jake Nixon has been on a bit of a scoring binge as of late.
That’s an understatement.
Nixon poured in 101 points combined in three games for the Trojans, including a 46-point explosion Saturday to help East Troy past Division 1 foe Kenosha Indian Trail 82-77.
The non-conference win was East Troy’s sixth straight and eighth in its last nine to improve the Trojans to 11-4 overall.
East Troy coach Darryl Rayfield was pleased with his team’s 3-0 week.
“(We’re) moving in the right direction,” he said. “We’re playing very unselfishly and understanding that we are not just a first-pass shoot team. Defense is still a work in progress.”
Indian Trail led 41-37 at halftime before the Trojans rallied in the final 18 minutes. East Troy outscored the Hawks 45-36 in the second half.
Nixon, named this week’s wissports.net Player of the Week for his efforts, finished with 12 field goals, including two 3-pointers, and was 20 for 28 from the free-throw line.
“The thing about (Nixon) is he did it while getting everyone else touches,” Rayfield said. “He is all about winning. He really cares about these guys he’s playing with.”
Joseph Ciriacks added 25 for East Troy.
“Both (Nixon) and Joe are a very good one-two punch,” Rayfield said.
The win Saturday came on the heels of two more Rock Valley Conference victories for the North Division leaders, who improved to 9-0.
East Troy opened the week with a 67-54 win Jan. 19 at Beloit Turner, followed by a 72-60 win Jan. 22 over visiting Whitewater.
Ciriacks led three scorers in double digits against Whitewater with 22 points, followed by Nixon with 21 and Jake Remsza with 14. Johnathon Brehm chipped in with eight.
East Troy jumped out to a 33-21 lead over Turner in the week’s first game and never looked back.
Nixon had a game-high 34 points to lead the way, followed by Remsza with 10, Ciriacks with nine and Brehm with eight.
East Troy, which leads the RVC North by a game over Evansville, hosts Parkview Thursday night at 7:15 p.m. The Vikings began play this week at 2-13 overall and 1-8 in the RVC.
