A statement win for Troy

Troy

Rich Hurley elected to take off his sport jacket for a postgame interview Friday night, a decision that revealed the Troy High boys' basketball coach's sweat-drenched purple dress shirt.

"I coached my kids hard, man," Hurley said.

As hard as Hurley worked the sidelines, his charges did their coach one better through a spirited performance against Christian Brothers Academy.

Fueled by the backcourt offense from sophomore Dyaire Holt and Zach Radz, plus relentless work at the defensive end against a much-more experienced opponent, the Flying Horses delivered an early-season statement with a 59-48 victory in Big 10 action.

"I was nervous. I had six guys playing their second varsity game going against those guys," Hurley said. "This certainly ranks up there with one of my favorite wins I've had in my career. They were fantastic."

"We're really happy getting this win," said Radz, who finished with 15 points. "Going in, we knew what we had to do to get this win. We listened to everything coach Hurley had to say."

After playing mostly man-to-man defense in the first half, Troy (2-0, 2-0) played almost exclusively in a 2-3 zone after intermission. CBA did not shoot well against either alignment, making just 15 of 58 field goals (25.9 percent), including 2-for-18 accuracy from 3-point range.

Troy opened up a 13-7 advantage after one quarter and never had its lead dip below three points the rest of the game. Most of the night, the Flying Horses owned a double-digit cushion.

Holt, using some acrobatic drives to the rim, led all scorers with 24 points to go with nine rebounds and three steals. He worked over the summer with Talor Battle, who played at Penn State and is a pro in Italy.

"It is definitely the footwork (Battle) taught me from over in Europe," Holt said. "It is...