Trojans have no answer in loss to Northwood

How do you stop a 6’5”, 250 pound opposing center? For the undersized Sacred Heart Trojans, there was no answer. The Northwood of Lena center, Michael Layssard, poured in 24 points, as the Gators handed the Trojans an 82-46 loss at Sacred Heart on Friday. Sacred Heart now drops to 2-8 on the year. The Trojans will next host Vermilion Catholic on Monday.
The game started with both teams exchanging baskets up until the 3:55 mark of the first quarter. At that point, the Trojans led 15-13. Sacred Heart’s Sean Fontenot played string music with the net as he poured in 16 points, including four three-pointers in the quarter. However, Northwest utilized a 1-2-2 half court press to cause several turnovers and go on a 17-point run, overtaking the Trojans 29-15. Fontenot netted a three pointer with five seconds left in the period to cut the score to 29-18.
The Gators came out in the second quarter and picked up from where they left off. A six-point run to start the period extended the Northwood lead to 37-21. After a three pointer by Sacred Heart’s Mikey Laughlin, the Gators went on another seven-point mini-run to extend their lead to 44-21 with 3:10 left in the quarter. The second period ended with Northwood leading 49-26, as both teams exchanged baskets to close out the half. The first half was played very cleanly, as the two teams combined for only seven team fouls.
Another six-point run gave the Gators the 55-26 lead to start the second half. Sacred Heart was able to swap baskets with Northwood through the middle part of the third quarter and trailed 64-36 with 1:53 left in the period. The Gators finished the quarter with seven unanswered points to extend their lead to 71-36 as the period came to a close.
With Northwood having a commanding lead at the start of the fourth quarter, both teams began to freely substitute. The scoring in the period wound up being pretty even. The Gators were able to add 11 points to their total, while the Trojans notched 10 points. The Trojans ended the game with 16 turnovers and only shot 34 percent from the field.
Leading scorer for the Trojans was Fontenot, who poured in 26 points. Christopher Tate chipped in six points for Sacred Heart. Laughlin led all rebounders with four boards in the loss.