By Dan Truttschel
Correspondent
The East Troy High School boys basketball team has played in its fair share of hard-fought, down-to-the-wire games already this season.
A road trip to Parkview last week for a Rock Valley Conference contest wasn’t one of them.
East Troy quickly erased all thoughts of a nailbiter with a 61-21 halftime lead and cruised to a dominating 103-31 victory. The win improved the Trojans to 7-6 overall and 7-3 in the RVC.
The Trojans hosted Big Foot on Tuesday night. Results were unavailable by press time.
Heading into that game, East Troy was two games behind co-North Division leaders McFarland and Evansville, both at 8-1. Behind the Trojans are Whitewater at 5-4, Jefferson at 4-5 and Edgerton at 3-6.
East Troy coach Darryl Rayfield said the easy win over Parkview afforded him the chance to play everybody and work on some parts of the Trojans’ game they may need down the road.
“I think it was a great opportunity to play guys a lot of minutes,” he said. “We were able to run and work on different combinations.”
Jonathan Ciriacks continues to be an offensive force for East Troy, as he poured in a game-high 32 points to lead six players in double figures.
Ciriacks is averaging a team-high 22 points a game so far this season.
“(He) continues to play at a high level,” Rayfield said.
A.J. Vukovich added 19 points for East Troy, followed by Jared Brehm with 16, Nick Bourdo with 15, Logan Mitchell with 11 and Michael Polakoski with 10.
Rayfield also was pleased with Mitchell’s effort.
“(His) energy and efficient play was really nice to see,” Rayfield said. “He has it in him. Consistency is the key with him and the younger guys.”
Rhe Trojans travel to Evansville tonight to face the Blue Devils at 7:15 p.m.
With the post-season fast approaching, it’s important for East Troy to taking positive steps, Rayfield said.
“As we head into February, it seems like we are making good strides,” he said. “Our next few weeks are full of high-level games, so it will get fun.
“This is what our kids play for. We still have a very high ceiling. A lot of teams have peaked. We have plenty of work to do. We know that, and we have plenty of time left.”
