By Dan Truttschel
Correspondent
With a long break for the holidays, there could have been a little rust for the East Troy High School boys basketball team to shake off when it hosted Evansville last week.
Not a chance.
East Troy jumped out to a 32-22 first-half lead and cruised from there for a 66-44 Rock Valley Conference victory that improved the Trojans to 7-3 overall and 7-0 in conference play.
“After a long layoff, it was nice to get back at it again,” East Troy coach Darryl Rayfield said. “The game was just a nice start to the new year, a good competitive win.
“It is time to start having some things come together. I thought we played well for most of the night.”
The Trojans built on their lead in the second half with a 34-22 advantage to keep any thoughts Evansville had of a comeback at bay.
A.J. Vukovich led a balanced scoring attack with 23 points, followed by Nick Bourdo with 14, Michael Polakoski with seven and Jered Brehm, Michael Rosin and Logan Mitchell all with six. Brehm also had eight assists.
Mitchell held Evansville’s Zach Mielke, who came into the game averaging 18 points a game, to just five.
“It was another great defensive performance for Logan Mitchell, who has been awesome all year,” Rayfield said.
East Troy returned to conference action Tuesday night at Beloit Turner, followed by a RVC home matchup tonight against Brodhead at 7:15 p.m.
The Trojans continue to lead the race to the conference title at 7-0, followed by Turner and McFarland at 6-1, Edgerton at 5-2, Jefferson and Evansville at 3-4, Whitewater and Brodhead at 2-5, Clinton at 1-6 and Big Foot at 0-7.
With the holidays now behind them, the grind of the schedule is approaching, Rayfield siad.
“We have a big couple weeks here from the standpoint of getting healthy again,” he said. “(Polakoski), who had a great game versus Jefferson is coming off a seven-day flu bug. (Quentin) Lottig is recovering from a bad ankle that has had him out for three weeks.”
Brehm also has been on the injured list with a knee ailment, which forced Rayfield to alter his rotation – but he’s been pleased with Michael Rosin, who has seen his minutes increase.
“He is so multi-skilled that it has been an easy adjustment for him,” Rayfield said. “Defensively, him and Logan (Mitchell) are super, but now we need more offense from him.”
