Coach Jon Brown’s club, playing against a Pirates’ squad content on packing in its zone defense, was allowed to fire away from beyond the arc.

The Trojans hit 14-of-31 attempts from 19’9” in a dominating 75-31 victory in the opening round of the Greater Egyptian Conference Tournament on Monday night.

Breaking away in a first quarter with a barrage of bombs from the outside, the Trojans improved to 17-3 overall and will face Hardin County on Thursday night in the semifinals.

Caleb Perry, a 5-foot-11 senior, led the way with 17-points while his teammates all got into the scoring fun.

Gunnar Galloway added 15-points while Josh Emery chipped in 12.

In fact all 12 Crab Orchard players who got into the game scored points in the lopsided win that was basically over at intermission.

“We lost focus in the second quarter for a while but we got back on track,” said Coach Brown. “The way they were packing in their zone, it left us a lot of open shots. I thought we did a good job of moving the ball and finding the open man.”

The Trojans piled on the points while no Pirate player reached double figures.

Two of the Pope County players, JD Ward and Cody Harris, finished with seven points each as the club fell to 2-14 overall and into a consolation semifinal against Carrier Mills on Thursday.

Crab Orchard, after a couple of minutes into the game, scored the game’s first nine points and when Galloway nailed his second of three 3-point shots, the Trojans led 12-2 with 4:25 left.

When he nailed his third trey, it was part of a 9-1 run (all 3-pointers) with Emery and sophomore Lane Hutson added shots as Crab Orchard led 23-5.

Pope County’s only run came in the beginning of the second quarter.

The Pirates scored eight-consecutive points, forcing Coach Brown to use a timeout.

If there was a bright spot for Pope County, it was the offensive glass as they got 10-rebounds in the contest on second chances.

Two of the baskets in the run came on offensive rebounds.

Harris, Xavier Bramlett, Ward and Zach Fasolo each scored in the run with Harris and Fasolo rebounding their missed shots for put backs which cut the Trojans’ lead to 23-13 at the 6:01 mark.
Unfortunately for Coach Jim Simmons’ team, that was the best run of the night.

Crab Orchard hit six more trifectas in the quarter as the lead ballooned to 24-points by halftime.

Emery hit yet another bomb from the right wing, which was followed by a pair of shots by Perry.

The Trojans scored the second quarter’s final ten points with senior Tyler Deaton scoring eight consecutive points.

Two of his baskets came on 3-pointers and when he nailed the second one from the right wing on a pass from Perry, Crab Orchard led 45-21 at the break.

Coach Brown saw his club come out of the intermission with purpose, putting the outcome to rest with an 18-1 quarter.

After a free throw by Pope’s Ward with 6:15 left, the Pirates didn’t score again in the frame and trailed 65-22 at the end of the third.

Senior reserve Zach Ray got in on the act, scoring seven points for Crab Orchard.

When he hit yet another 3-point shot for the Trojans, in closed a 14-0 run for that 43-point lead.

The fourth quarter, by GEC tournament rules, was played with a continuous clock.

The Trojans finished 29-of-59 overall from the field and held a slight 27-25 rebounding edge.

Crab Orchard took care of the basketball, committing just three turnovers in the contest.

For the Pirates, they were just 14-of-42 overall and missed all seven of their shots from beyond the arc.

Pope County committed 15-turnovers, with eight of them coming in the third quarter.

“We have respect for all of the teams in our conference. Coach Simmons has done a great job there at Pope County since he has been there,” said Coach Brown.

Coach Rodney Lane’s team advanced to play Crab Orchard on Friday night.

B.J. Austin led Hardin County with 22-points while Smith finished with 11-points with three 3-pointers made, including the last shot of the game.

Freshman Tyler Winters added seven points for the 11-6 Cougars.