Tigers outshoot Waskom for year-end win

Lepelley

Cody Lepelley and Jake Johnson saved the best for last as both had their biggest games of the year in Troup's final contest against Waskom.

Lepelley racked up 25 points while Johnson added 15 points and four blocked shots to lead the Tigers to a 71-59 win at home.

The team's leading scorer, Reginald Wade, was sidelined much of the game with foul trouble, but still chipped in 15 points, followed by Der'Rick Thompson with 7, Jeremy Richardson with 5 and Nick Reeves 4.

Waskom jumped out to a quick 6-2 advantage, but back-to-back treys by Lepelley put the Tigers ahead, 8-6. The Wildcats responded with a free throw and a basket to retake a one-point lead, but Troup quickly captured the advantage for good.

Baskets by Richardson, Wade, Reeves and Johnson led to a run of 10 unanswered points for the Tigers, and the Waskom coach called a timeout with Troup leading 18-9

The break slowed the Tigers a little, as did Wade leaving the game with three fouls, but another basket by Lepelley gave Troup the first-quarter advantage, 20-14.

Waskom cut the lead to two, 21-19, two minutes into the second quarter, forcing a timeout by Troup head coach Brent Smith. Johnson scored on an inbounds play following the break, but Waskom responded to keep it close, 23-21.

Johnson

After a flurry of turnovers on both sides, Jeremy Richardson broke an almost two-minute break in scoring with a threepoint play. Richardson scored off a nice feed from Reeves and then converted the free throw to give Troup a little more breathing room, 26-21.

Johnson hit one more basket, but solid free throw shooting from Lepelley made the difference as Troup scored its last seven points from the charity stripe to take a 35-28 halftime lead.

The Tigers extended their lead after the break, outscoring Waskom 18-12 in the third period. Most of those points came quickly off fast break opportunities. After a layup by Wade at the 2:30 mark, to give the Tigers a 51-36 lead, Troup didn't score again until Johnson blocked a shot on one end and then made a nice move to the basket on the other to close the third stanza, 53-40.

Waskom outscored Troup 19-18 in the final period, but couldn't overcome the earlier deficit.

Senior Reggie Wade slams one home in Troup's 71-59 win Monday. Wade, pictured below with father Reginald Wade during senior night, is the team's top scorer, averaging 19.3 points per game.

The Tigers continued to play well and showed unselfish play with several points coming from key passes.

Johnson had another double - a block on one end and points on the other - and Lepelley continued to be bankable at the free throw line.

The win gave Troup a 5-9 district mark and avenged an earlier 57-54 loss to Waskom.

Although the Tigers struggled in a tough district, the young team will return all but two players next year, seniors Reginald Wade and Zach Childress. Wade averaged 19.3 points on the year and scored a high of 32 points three times during the season.