Fort Zumwalt West rallies past Troy Buchanan
Zumwalt West 69, Troy 60 • Graham overcomes early foul trouble to score 23 points.
O’FALLON, MO. — On the night when he was honored as the all-time leading scorer at Fort Zumwalt West, Brandon Graham entered Friday’s league game against visiting Troy with some lofty expectations.
But after picking up two quick fouls, the 6-foot-1 guard spent most of the opening half on the bench.
“You have no idea how hard it was, watching my teammates and not being able to do anything to help,” Graham said.
But Graham overcame his slow start by scoring 15 of his game-high 23 points in the third quarter to spark West’s comeback in a 69-60 victory over Troy in a key Gateway Athletic Conference South Division game.
The Jags, who have won eight of their last nine games, improved to 13-7 overall and are 4-0 atop the league standings. Troy, the defending GAC South champ, is 15-7 and 4-1.
“It’s the first time we’ve ever beaten Troy, so it really means a lot, especially for the seniors,” said Graham, who eclipsed the 1,000-point mark and surpassed Greg Damrell as West’s scoring leader in separate games last week. “Coming out in the second half, I was handling the ball more and that helped get me back into the flow of the game.”
Added West coach Chad Towers: “Brandon really stepped up, but so did (fellow seniors) Steven Harris and Jackson Jewkes. The whole team battled, but the three of them pretty well put the team on their shoulders tonight.”
Troy junior guards Cullen Devins and Neil Branham each connected on a pair of first-quarter 3-pointers as Troy set the pace early. The Trojans led 24-15 early in the second quarter and had a 31-26 lead at halftime.
“Considering we were without Brandon most of the half, we felt pretty good about only being down five,” Towers said. “At the same time, we knew we’d been outworked, especially on loose balls and on rebounds, in the first half.”
With Graham leading the way, West went on a 13-0 run early in the second half to take a 48-45 lead into the final quarter.
Troy’s Allen McKinney scored on a drive to open the fourth, making it 48-47. But West’s Harris answered with a 3-pointer and then came up with a steal and a layup. From there, the Jaguars stayed in control.
Harris, who finished with 22 points, scored nine in the final quarter. Jewkes chipped in with 10 points while another senior, Zach Ohl, came off the bench to hit three big 3-pointers.
Branham (17), Devins (16) and McKinney (12) all finished in double figures for Troy.
