If the defensive goal was to get him out of his comfort zone and work him outside, it didn’t work, because the end result wasn’t much different during the few times he found himself on the perimeter.
The undersized, undermanned River Ridge boys basketball team simply had no way to counter the senior for the Foss Falcons.
Trent scored 19 of his game-high 24 points in the first half to power the Falcons to a 67-36 victory over the Hawks at the fifth annual South Sound Classic at Saint Martin’s University’s Marcus Pavilion on Wednesday night.
“Trent’s a difference maker,” said River Ridge coach Jeremy Landram, whose squad fell to 4-4. “He can take over a game, and that’s what he did tonight.”
The shorthanded Hawks started the game with seven available players before losing senior wing Tre Petty to a concussion in the first quarter.
“It’s a lot to ask out of a team We played back-to-back nights and finished tonight with just six players,” Landram said. “Fatigue was definitely a factor.”
Howie Harper led River Ridge with 14 points.
Trent hit five of his first six field-goal attempts, helping Foss race out to a 14-3 lead five minutes into the contest.
“We were trying to go inside early on,” said Trent who made two of his three attempts from 3-point territory and grabbed 12 rebounds. “We’re just trying to win. This team has matured a lot since last year, got older.”
The Falcons (6-0) were never challenged the rest of the way, using a 21-1 run while holding River Ridge without a field goal for nearly 10 minutes between the first and second quarters to establish a 37-10 lead.
Noah Hunthausen started the Falcons’ run by hitting back-to-back 3-pointers before assisting on a pretty alley-oop to Dontiea Hankins.
A Harper putback ended River Ridge’s field goal drought with 1:20 to play in the first half as the Hawks missed 21 out of 26 shots and turned the ball over 11 times in the opening half.
Trent closed out the first half by hitting his first 3-pointer, giving the Falcons a 42-12 cushion at the intermission.
The Hawks’ offense found a grove in the third quarter, outscoring the Falcons, 16-11, with Harper scoring eight points.
