Warrenton guard Troy Anderson’s strong offensive performance helped the Warriors earn their 10th win of the season last week. 

Anderson scored 33 points to lead Warrenton (10-10) to a 63-33 home win over STEAM Academy last week. 

“I didn’t think I had that many,” Anderson said. “I looked up at the scoreboard and it was pretty high up there. We just kept running the offense and I just found ways to score.”

Anderson scored 11 points in the first quarter, including a three-pointer at the buzzer, to help Warrenton claim a 22-5 lead after the opening quarter. The Warriors jumped out to an early 9-0 lead in the quarter. Anderson said Warrenton’s strong transition offense in the first quarter helped them claim the early lead. 

“We knew that they couldn’t shoot very well outside,” Anderson said. “So we packed in our defense. We transitioned well and we started hitting shots.”

Warrenton boys basketball coach Mark Thomas said the Warriors wanted to use their transition offense. He thought they shared the ball well early in the game. 

STEAM Academy opened the second quarter on a 7-2 run to trim the Warrenton lead to 24-12. Thomas called a timeout with 4:39 remaining in the second quarter. After the timeout, Warrenton outscored STEAM Academy 7-0 the remainder of the quarter. Thomas said it was important for the Warriors to regain control of the game heading into halftime. 

“That’s why I called timeout and just said hey, let’s start playing our game,” Thomas said. “They do a really good job of when they bring that pressure, it makes teams come out of what their gameplan is and makes you start playing their style of basketball. And that’s not us.”

The Warriors faced the pressure look from the Bulldogs for most of the game. Thomas thought the Warriors handled the pressure really well at times and not well other times throughout the game. He said they made a change later in the game to make sure the Warrenton guards were handling the ball during the Bulldog pressure. After having a post player pass the ball in bounds earlier on in the game, Anderson passed the ball in bounds to make sure the Warrenton guards were handling the basketball. 

“At first, we struggled with it,” Anderson said. “There was a stretch where we couldn’t break it and we were just running with our heads cut off. But then we called a timeout and we got it figured out and we broke it after that.”

After STEAM Academy outscored Warrenton 7-4 early in the third quarter, the Warriors ended the third quarter on a 7-0 run, aided by Anderson scoring six of the last seven points of the quarter. Anderson scored 11 points in the final quarter, including a three-pointer to put Warrenton up 60-30.

Warrenton boys basketball coach Mark Thomas saw Anderson’s competitive nature come out throughout the game. Thomas noted there was a lot of jawing going on throughout the game. 

“That’s the worst thing you could do to Troy is talk,” Thomas said. “If you get talking, if he gets one, he’s going to go off. We tried to keep the ball in his hands as much as possible once we saw that that’s the mode he was in because we’re comfortable with that. I know what he is. He’s a killer shooter whenever people are talking trash to him.”

After scoring 32 points and failing to make a three-pointer in their loss to St. Charles West the previous week, Warrenton responded with a strong offensive performance in last week’s win. Anderson and Deadrick Forrest both reached double figures in points for Warrenton. 

“Not making a three last game against (St. Charles) West and coming out here and putting up those numbers, it was good to see. It was good to feel,” Anderson said. 

The win gave Warrenton their 10th win of the season, a win total they have not reached in three years. Warrenton finished the 2019-2020 season with a 10-15 record. 

Warrenton dropped its opening game of the Southern Boone Tournament Monday. The Warriors fell to Southern Boone 63-57 in overtime. Warrenton fell to Ft. Zumwalt South 62-38 in the second round of the Southern Boone Tournament. 

Warrenton will play their final game of the Southern Boone Tournament either Friday or Saturday.