Basketball is a game of transition. From offense to defense and back again. The key is to make that transition a smooth one, each and every time possible.

Plains Horsemen coach Tyrel Allen fears his boys are getting a little lost in the transition at times, like when they fell to Troy 67-47 in Plains Saturday.

“We continue to struggle a little with the transition game on defense,” Allen said, “and then we didn’t shoot very well from 3-point range, like 16% to their 40%, and didn’t block out very well on rebounds, that kind of compounds things.”

Allen liked how his team took care of the ball, committing only 12 turnovers, but that was partially offset by poor free throw shooting (28%) by his young Horsemen.

“We have some things to work on but are making progress,” Allen offered.

The Horsemen did get a lot of players involved with eight breaking into the scoring column against Troy. Jarrett Weeks paced Plains with 11 points, Jackson Revier added eight, Chase DePoe and Tristan Allen six apiece, Ben Aldridge five, Eddie Siebert and Cooper Meredith four each and Jeff Siebert three.

One of the players from Hot Springs, Aldridge was seeing his first action after injuring an ankle playing 6-Man football for the Heat last fall.

Meredith had a team-best six rebounds, Allen said.

Carson Orr and Thomas Guinart scored 17 points apiece to lead Troy and Nolan Morriss chipped in with 13. The Trojans improved to 4-0 overall with the win while the Horsemen fell to 0-6.

Plains has two games this week, hosting Superior Tuesday and visiting Darby for a quick rematch with the Tigers Friday. The Horsemen hosted Darby, coached by former Trotter coach Richard Griffin, in Plains before the holiday break.

    Plains Horsemen goes for two under the basket against Troy. (Tracy Scott/Valley Press)