Rockdale started off hot against a strong, athletic Troy team taking a 21-9 lead at the close of the first quarter.
However, the Trojans took away their steam, outscoring RHS 24-9 in the second half, taking a 33-30 lead at halftime.
The game remained close in the third with Troy leading 47-43 at the end of the quarter, but in the fourth, THS slipped away for good and took ran away with the victory 62-52.
Rockdale coach Marcus McNeil described the game as one the Tigers started off well, but ran out of gas in the final quarter.
Ross Loth, Anthony Dansby and Raymond McBride each had 11 points for the Tigers.
RHS was without senior Mekhi Crawford, who has been a leading scorer for the Tigers this season.
Troy was led by Tyler Jarolik’s 28 points and the help of a supporting cast made up of many of the same faces from the Trojan football team that went four rounds deep in the 2019 post-season.
This group included seniors Beau Workman, Sam Jones and Ben Pressley.
Jarolik, who averaged 25 points last season, was key for the Trojans beating RHS with five three-pointers in last year’s overtime matchup that Troy won 57-56 on Jan. 4, 2019.
LAST WEEK–Three days before, the Tigers fell 68-48 to Academy, the 10th-ranked team in Class 3A by the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches.
Loth led RHS with 12 and J.J. Moreno ended the night with 11.
THIS WEEK–The Blue-and-Gold played on the road Tuesday in Rogers.
The Tigers face 25th ranked Franklin in the RHS Gymnasium on Friday.
Rockdale is 0-3 in district play and has still has to play area rivals Cameron and Lexington before starting the second half of district.
Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
JUNIOR VARSITY–
The RHS JV lost 45-35 to Troy.
Jake Hasselbach led with 13 points and Cade Mar-burger had eight.
Three days earlier, they lost 70-25 to Academy.
Hasselbach and Adrian Rubio were the team leaders with six points apiece.
FRESHMEN–The ninth graders went the entire week without a loss.
On Friday, they clobbered Troy in their own gym 41-15 with 10 points from Colten Bradshaw and seven from Chris Miles Jr.
On Tuesday, they destroyed Academy in the old RHS Gymnasium 51-19.
Bob Owens led with 17 points, Bradshaw had 10.
The freshmen team plays all their games in the old gym at 6:15 p.m., while the JV plays their games in the new gym at five.
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