By Dan Truttschel
Correspondent
Slow starts have been a bit of an issue early in the 2016-17 season for the East Troy High School boys basketball team.
That again was the case in a tough Rock Valley Conference matchup last Thursday night with visiting Clinton.
Fortunately for the Trojans, they overcome their struggles just in the nick of time.
Behind a 39-point effort by Jonathan Ciriacks, the Trojans turned a one-point halftime lead into an 80-73 victory to improve to 3-3 overall and 3-1 in the RVC.
Clinton fell to 3-2 and 2-2 in conference play.
“In rivalry games, it is nice to just win,” East Troy coach Darryl Rayfield said. “We were fighting foul trouble and poor shooting in the first half.
“We just haven’t gotten off to good starts so far and not shooting it well enough. We are good shooters, but need to be focused. We’re looking to continue improving on that.”
Rayfield expected a battle all night from the Cougars, as the teams have had some classic battles to the finish in the past.
“Clinton just has tough kids,” he said. “They compete. It was a good game that tested our young kids’ toughness.”
Ciriacks, who is averaging 23.7 points a game, came through in a big way for the Trojans, Rayfield said.
The 6-foot-5 senior dropped in four 3-pointers to help East Troy’s cause.
“We were up the whole game, but (just for) a small amount of time in the first half,” Rayfield said. “A strong second half by (Ciriacks) was key for us.
“We leaned on him for his leadership and play. He came up big. Our other kids really trust him. The thing about him is you don’t have to worry about him being ready every day to work hard or be ready to play. He gets it.”
Michael Polakoski added 10 points for East Troy, followed by A.J. Vukovich and Logan Mitchell with eight and Nick Bourdo with seven.
Mitchell and Bourdo also helped East Troy in other areas, Rayfield said.
“(They) had great games,” he said. “Just awesome rebounding and defensive efforts with energy.”
East Troy had been scheduled to travel to Milwaukee Destiny on Saturday, but that game was postponed because of weather. No makeup date had been set this week.
The Trojans now are idle until Jan. 3, when they travel to Edgerton for a 7:15 p.m. RVC matchup with the Tide.
There’s plenty of work to do in the meantime, Rayfield said.
“This team has a little fatigue right now, but they just love playing,” he said. “It’s very refreshing how they get along. We just need to continue getting better.
“We will be off for a couple of weeks and need to take care of our skill work and keep at it.”
The focus for after the holiday break remains the same, Rayfield said.
“We are still in the hunt for the league title,” he said. “Our defense and rebounding has to get better.”
