Home Page Sports

Ty Barrett poked the ball away and knew this was the moment. The senior star scorer was alone in the open court as Lance Heasley’s pass hit him in stride. He laid it up and in with his right hand, and scored his 1857th career point, newly the most in the illustrious and successful history of the Troy Trojan program. He and fellow senior stars Ethan VanNoy and Mason Imbt combined for fifty-seven points as Troy defeated Canton, 78-54 in the semifinals of the NTL Showdown Thursday evening.

“It’s a lot of hardwork and a lot of shots, a lot of extra hours. It’s something I’ve been looking forward to ever since I started playing,” Barrett said.

The senior’s record is even more impressive when you consider the circumstances. It wasn’t until the last decade where teams could only play twenty-two regular season games, as compared to the old twenty-four game limit. Barrett missed all but nine games his freshman year with an injury, and had a shortened season due to COVID-19 last year as Troy, who would’ve played for a trip to the state tournament in a normal year, only played twenty games as opposed to 27.

None of that could slow him down. Barrett, who has frequently played his best against the best competition, has made twenty point nights an off-night, with twenty-five points being very much the norm.

He’s an amazing young man who’s gonna do great things. Go on to play college basketball. he’s He knows how to dedicate himself and commit himself. He’s been doing it for ten years, and it pays off on the court,” Troy coach Steve Renzi said.

His twenty points Thursday night is below his average, and credit to a Canton Warrior team who played him as well as anybody has all year. But, his fellow senior three-year starters in Imbt and VanNoy came to play. The other senior starter, Zeb Oldroyd, had seven of his own.

It was a slow first quarter for both teams, but a quick five by Barrett in a two-minute stretch on a floater and his patented stepback three from the top of the key had Troy up 13-8 in a game that looked like it may be tense the whole way. That is, until Ethan VanNoy got red hot.

VanNoy has struggled shooting this year while battling injuries, but he made seven triples against North Penn-Mansfield Tuesday and made another six Thursday evening en route to twenty-three points. Three makes from deep in a four possession span, coupled with a Barrett jumper, turned a 13-10 lead into a 24-10 lead in a flash. After Barrett scored the record-making basket, which stopped the game as a packed Troy Commons Building gave him his laurels, Troy continued to pour it on, led by VanNoy. His seventeen points, including five threes, in the frame r turned a five-point lead after the first quarter into a nineteen-point halftime lead.
“I had a couple of bad shoots but I just kept shooting and made six (threes) again tonight,” VanNoy said.

A game that seemed like it may have the same fate as the first matchup between the two, which ended up as a mercy-rule Troy victory in mid-January, was temporarily turned on its head by strong play from Canton in the third quarter. Troy got the lead to twenty-two on the first possession of the quarter on an Oldroyd three, but Caiden Williams sparked a Warrior run. His seven points in a 1:45 stretch helped Canton get the lead down to 48-35 with just over five minutes to play in the third quarter. But, Williams picked up his fourth foul with just under five minutes to play, sending him to the bench, and shifting the long-term hopes of a Canton comeback.

Canton kept trying to claw back, and a Cooper Kitchen three and Austin Allen jumper cut the lead to eleven with 3:16 remaining in the third, but Troy’s Justice Chimics immediately answered with a three and just two minutes later the lead was back to twenty on another chimics basket, this time of the two-point variety. Three straight by Canton to end the quarter got the deficit back to seventeen at 62-45, but Troy had regained control of the game.

Troy continued to exert their dominance to start the fourth quarter. Their pressure defense, which troubled Canton all night, took hold once again and after a Barrett three with 4:44 left to put the Trojans up twenty-five, the benches for both teams were emptied as Troy finished off the game, 78-54.

It is not the result Canton wanted against their biggest rival, separated by ten miles on Route 14, but the score does not reflect how well the Warriors played. When senior center Caiden Williams was on the floor, Canton played Troy basically even on the scoreboard. But, he battled foul trouble in each half and Troy took advantage of the situation both times. Isaiah Niemczyk showed why he was an all-state selection last year with strong play on both ends, and guards Cooper Kitchen and Weston Bellows showed why they will be as good as any tandem in the district 4 AA field in the backcourt. Games like this in front of a hostile crowd against a real district title threat in class AAA that has gotten attention by state rankers this year will only help Canton as they look to capture their first district title in school history in the next two weeks.

Canton will look to districts, where they will likely face Line Mountain at Canton Elementary School Tuesday, February 22nd. Troy will play Athens in a rubber match between the two teams for the NTL Showdown Crown Saturday at 7PM at Sayre High School.